ADAMS TWP — Softball is merely a term.

Team Pennsylvania Sroka plays hard and at a high level, as evidenced by its second-place finish at the recent 98-team Scenic City Summer Showcase in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Kara Sroka is a Mars graduate and former standout softball player for the Planets. She is an assistant coach at Mars under Michele Goodworth.

She also runs a highly-competitive summer travel team.

“We've had this organization for a number of years now,” Sroka said. “The players on our team are looking to play ball in college, they're very serious about the sport.

“If we need to fill a position, we'll go out and find that player. Often times, the talent comes to us.”

Through its first three tournaments this summer, Team Pa. Sroka was 16-1-1, including two wins in a rain-shortened tourney in Philadelphia over the weekend.

Brynnae Coe, an incoming senior at Knoch, plays center and left field for Sroka and bats in the leadoff spot. Seneca Valley's Maddie Gross is a pitcher-first baseman who bats in the middle of the lineup.

Incoming Mars senior and shortstop Danielle Bednar plays outfield, second base and third base for Sroka. She usually bats in the lower third of the lineup.

Bednar missed the Scenic City Summer Showcase to watch her brother, Will, pitch in the College World Series. She rejoined her team, in Philadelphia for a tournament last weekend.

“We're such a close-knit group,” Bednar said.”We all love playing ball together. I kept getting texts saying , 'we miss you, we miss you,' and we exchanged hugs when I rejoined the team.

“The chemistry and desire to win is very strong with this team.”

At the Scenic City Summer Showcase, Team Pa. Sroka went 6-0 in pool play, then won three straight games to land in the championship contest. One of those three wins came in extra innings, the other two in come-from-behind fashion.

The Indiana Magic won the tournament by defeating Team Pa. Sroka, 1-0, in the finals.

“The only run of the game was unearned,” Sroka said. “Still, we had a great showing. A lot of southern teams were in that tournament and no one thought a Pennsylvania team would be one of the last teams competing.”

Two other Pennsylvania teams reached bracket play in the tournament.

“That's a huge testament to (softball) progress made in our area,” Sroka said.

While Sroka's team got together for practices and workouts during the winter, it does not do so during the summer. The players' only time together is at tournaments.

“It's definitely an adjustment,” Coe said. “With your high school team, you're used to practicing or playing together every day.

“With this team, everyone knows her role. And there's so much talent here ... hitting, pitching, defense, it's all here.”

Coe hit .490 in Chattanooga, collecting two homers, two doubles, a triple and seven RBI.

“Brynnae has been getting on base at a feverish pace,” Sroka said. “She hits a lot doubles and has great speed. Her defense is phenomenal. We can play her anywhere in the outfield.”

Coe plans to study nursing in college and was not figuring on playing softball at the next level.

Coaches from Evansville and Bucknell approached her in Tennessee, however, and that may be changing.

“Now I'm on the fence in that regard,” Coe said of collegiate softball. “I'm starting to look at that possibility.”

Gross had seven RBI during her team's run to the second-place finish in Tennessee.

“Maddie pitched a lot for us that weekend,” Sroka said. “She always seems to get the hits when we need her to. She's had a hot bat and is a very consistent player.”

While most of the girls on the team are still sorting out college plans, Bednar committed to Saint Francis University earlier this year.

“That affects my playing time a little bit,” she said. “I may only get two at-bats in a game and I'm fine with that. We want to showcase some of our players who haven't committed to a school yet.”

Sroka and Bednar's father, retired Mars baseball coach Andy Bednar, have known each other for years.

“Danielle is such a heady and versatile player,” Sroka said. “She hits left-handed and draws a lot of walks. We can use her almost anywhere in the field and she's all about the team.”

Sroka has players from Fox Chapel, Bethel Park, Trinity, Latrobe, Uniontown, Franklin Regional, Villa Maria, Dallastown, Montoursville and Forest Hills.

Mackenzie Borkovich, a pitcher from Fox Chapel, was named runner-up national player of the week and Team Pa. Soroka was named runner-up national team of the week by ExtraInningsSoftball.com for its performance in Chattanooga.

“I'm so proud of this group,” Sroka said. “This is as good a team as I've ever had.”