’Dores face familiar foe with championship berth on the line

By JEREMY SELLEW

jsellew@yourmvi.com

When Frazier softball coach Don Hartman looks across the field today, one thought going through his mind will likely be, “So, we meet again.” Just like Doc Holliday had Wyatt Earp, the Commodores have reached their recent nemesis.

The No. 3 Commodores will face off against No. 2 Laurel at 2 p.m. today in a WPIAL semifinal game at Mars and the two teams are no strangers to one another. The Spartans (15-1) and Commodores (16-3) have stood in each other’s paths the last few years in the postseason.

When the Commodores won their WPIAL championship in 2017, they beat the Spartans, 7-6. The next two seasons, Laurel won WPIAL championships by beating the Commodores, a 1-0 decision in 2018 and a 9-3 win in 2019.

In 2019, though, the bigger prize went to Frazier as they went on to win four straight games after the WPIAL championship loss to capture the PIAA state championship.

“Here we are, my friends from Laurel,” Hartman laughed. “We go way back the past few years, don’t we? We’re different teams, for sure. But we know them, they know us. We know what they want to do, and they know us. I know their coach, and he knows me. It’s going to be a battle.

“Seeing them play the other day at North Allegheny, they’re a typical Laurel ball club. They have strong, powerful girls. They have a big girl in the circle, whose sister we’ve faced in the past, and she’s going to throw hard. They have girls that can run and they’re going to hit the ball hard.”

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