PLAINS TWP. — A few years separate Pittston Area senior Mindina Lieback and freshman Lexi Felinski. Together, however, the duo showed exactly how potent the Patriots’ offense can be.
On Wednesday, Pittston Area pounded out 24 hits, including eight total from the Lieback and Felinski duo. The two also drove in eight runs. Lieback finished the game with three hits and a grand slam in the seventh inning. She had six RBI. Felinski hit her first career home run, while finishing the game with five hits in six at-bats.
“She’s the combination of power you want and has the ability to hit line drives,” Pittston Area coach Vito Quaglia said. “She’s a legitimate five-tool player.”
Through the first two conference games this season, Felinski is hitting .900 (9-for-10) with eight runs scored and three RBI. Including three exhibition games, Felinski is now hitting .824 (14-for-17) with seven RBI and 13 runs scored. She also homered against Wyoming Seminary in the first exhibition game of the season.
“She can flat out hit,” Quaglia said. “She doesn’t try to do too much for us.”
Dominique Quaglia, Nina Cencetti and Alexa McHugh each finished the game against Coughlin with three hits. Cencetti got the win in the circle by pitching all seven innings. The only hiccup for the Patriots game in the fifth inning when Coughlin scored five runs to make it 8-5.
Quickly, however, Pittston Area responded with 13 runs in the top of the seventh inning, including Lieback’s slam. Cencetti was able to close the door to give the Patriots their second win of the season.
“She had to pitch with a little pressure there,” Quaglia said. “They just had an inning where they strung together a bunch of hits. Maybe we were a little bit complacent.”
Pittston Area scored four runs in the first, three in the second and one in the third before failing to score in the following three innings. That allowed Coughlin to creep back into the ball game.
Wyoming Area 5, Dallas 4
Wyoming Area held off a seventh-inning rally by Dallas, holding on for a 5-4 victory over a young Mountaineers team.
The Warriors led 4-0 going into the bottom of the sixth when Dallas scored two runs. The Mountaineers then made the Warriors sweat on the 39-degree day in the bottom of the seventh, by scoring two runs in the sixth and two in the seventh.
Wyoming Area’s Gwen Glatz had two hits and an RBI, while Bree Bednarski drove in two runs. Heather Nametko also drove in two runs.
Tunkhannock 2, Wyoming Area 0
Wyoming Area was held to just six hits in a loss to Tunkhannock on Wednesday.
Julia Kopetchny had two hits in the loss. Gwen Glatz pitched all seven innings, giving up just one earned run.
The Warriors had a chance in the bottom of the seventh to take the win. With two runners on and one out, Bree Bednarski connected for a deep fly ball, but the wind held the ball up and the catch was made. The next batter was retired.
Pittston Area 9, Berwick 3
Lexi Felinski went 4-for-4 with a triple and an RBI as the Patriots won their opener at home on Tuesday.
Taylor Baloga struck out eight for the win while adding a double and two RBI at the plate. Taryn Ashby also tripled for the Patriots. Alexa McHugh had two hits for Pittston Area.
Wyoming Area 13, Lake-Lehman 2
Gwen Glatz was 2-for-2 from the plate, with two doubles, three runs scored, and an RBI in the Warriors’ win on Tuesday.
In the circle, Glatz went five innings, striking out five and giving up three hits. At the plate for the Warriors, Heather Nametko and Annie Karcutskie each had three RBI in the victory.
