Butler girls claim 15U softball title
JEFFERSON TWP — Talk about your growth spurts.
Butler’s 15U girls softball team took a major one this summer in winning the Alle-Kiski Fastpitch Softball League championship.
“We bowed out in the first round of the playoffs last year,” third-year Butler coach Colleen Coleman recalled. “We had to play the top-seeded team in the tournament in the first round and got crushed.”
Butler was one of the youngest teams in the league last season. It was one of the youngest teams in the circuit again this season — but with a much different result.
Coleman’s team was 9-6 in the regular season before going on an improbable playoff run. Butler defeated Valley, 12-8, in its playoff opener. It then defeated No. 2 seed Burrell, 10-9, before taking on undefeated Saxonburg in the championship game at Laura Doerr Park.
Butler stunned Saxonburg, 9-6, to win the league title.
“I don’t think anybody expected this,” Coleman said. “We were down in all three of those games, by as many as three or four runs. The girls came back to take the lead in all of them.”
Three different pitchers won the playoff games. Alicia Coleman and Mikayla Crouch are the team’s regular pitchers and won a game each in the postseason. Kyra Olivares, who along with Brooklyn Mills played on Butler’s championship 12U team this year, joined the 15U team and pitched a complete-game playoff win.
“Those two girls came up to help us for a couple of games and they contributed,” Coleman said. “We only lose two girls from this team for next year. This was an extremely young 15U team.”
Coleman credited the championship run to solid outfield play and clutch hitting. The outfielders included Gracelyn and Jasmine Gump, Annalyn Schnur, Gianna White and Kaylee Kniess.
“We caught the ball and made the plays,” the coach said. “The 2009-10 birth year ... This is a good group of players.”
Alexis Myers and Leeah Croll are also on the team.
