MILLERSVILLE — Too many errors and too much Brittany Hook proved to be too much for Chambersburg to overcome Thursday afternoon.
The Trojans dropped an 8-1 decision to Penn Manor in a District 3 Class 6A quarterfinal softball playoff at Manor M.S.
Chambersburg ends its season with a 15-8 record. The Comets (16-2) will play Tuesday in a semifinal game against Central Dauphin (14-5), which beat Exeter Township in the quarterfinals.
“We picked a bad time to play one of our worst games,” Trojan coach Chris Skultety said. “When you make seven errors, you can’t win. And Hook is a great pitcher and she hit her spots. She was really excited to beat us.”
Chambersburg had defeated Penn Manor, with Hook pitching, in the last two district championship games.
This time, Hook allowed only three hits (2 by Kirsten Johnson and one by Sara Washabaugh), walked one and struck out 13.
The Comets scored two unearned runs in the first inning off losing pitcher Mackenzie Stake (8-5), two unearned runs off Brooklyn Miller in the fourth and four unearned runs off Erin Pattillo in the sixth.
Chambersburg’s run came in the top of the fourth, making the score 2-1.
“I think the rain hurt us,” Skultety said, referring to a postponement of Tuesday’s games to Wednesday. “We won an emotional game yesterday, then had a bus ride of 2 1/2 hours today, and we just didn’t have that fire that we’ve had lately.”
Skultety, however, is very proud of what his young team accomplished this year — a Mid Penn Commonwealth Division title, a berth in the MPC tournament championship game (which was canceled because of weather), making it to the District 3 quarterfinals and 15 wins.
“If you ask if I’d be happy with that when we started the season, yeah, I definitely would have been,” he said. “We had a lot of new varsity players and we only got outside to practice twice in the first month. I feel like we were in survival mode and trying to catch up.
“But these girls grew up and bought in, and did a great job. The future is really bright for us.”
The Trojans had only senior on the squad this year, Hannah Weagley.
(Photos by Darby Sell)