Bearcats ready to follow up historic softball season

No seniors were lost from last year’s team that reached the WPIAL finals and won a PIAA game.

Bentworth softball enjoyed a historic season in 2024.

The Bearcats posted 18 wins, won their section with a perfect 12-0 mark, advanced to the WPIAL championships for the first time ever and won the program’s first PIAA playoff game.

The Bearcats are still hungry to add more accolades on the softball diamond, and they will do it this season with a team that lost no seniors from a year ago.

“Last year was special, but hey that’s in the past already and the girls are doing a great job of always looking ahead,”said coach Jack Cramer, who will be entering his 15th year in the dugout for Bentworth. “Our open gyms have been great and everyone is back for us. We are not sneaking up on anybody now and we know we are going to get everyone’s very best.”

After ending the regular season on a 14-game winning streak, Bentworth soundly defeated Shenango in the quarterfinals and then scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh for a 2-1 triumph over Laurel in the semifinals. The Bearcats dropped a 3-0 decision to Neshannock in the finals.

In the PIAA playoffs, Bentworth upended Everett in the first round before suffering a 5-3 setback to Laurel in the second round.

“All the wins are great, but sometimes you remember the losses more,” Cramer said. “I told the girls right after the Neshannock loss in the finals to remember this feeling and to let it motivate you for the future. We were a couple of plays away from winning that game.

“In a close game against top-level competition, it can come down to those little things and which team can avoid the mental miscues.”

Sydney Gonglik is back in the circle and near the top of the lineup for the Bearcats after a superb freshman season. In 2024, Gonglik compiled 18 wins, registered 11 shutouts and had a minuscule 1.03 ERA. Teams batted just .129 against her, as she had a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 271 to 13.

“She is super competitive,” Cramer said of his ace. “She needs to always remember to control her emotions in the circle and to bring the right mindset for every pitch. I think she will do that for us. She is now a stronger, faster and more intelligent pitcher now than from last year.”

With all her video gamelike pitching stats from last spring, sometimes her offensive talent gets forgotten. Last season, she batted .764 with 25 RBIs and 24 extra- base hits (10 home runs).

“I know last year, a lot of teams would just intentionally walk her,” Cramer said. “That frustrated her a lot, but hey that is going to happen when you smash the ball a mile out of the park every atbat. But another thing with Syd is her base-running, it is elite too (18 stolen bases last year).”

The other key part to the Bearcats’ success was a balanced lineup that came up with key hits in clutch situations.

Juniors Sofia Gaussa (.394/28 runs scored/11 extra-base hits) and Zoie McDonald (.478/29 RBIs) are already impact players, while top run producers senior Kyleigh Glaze (.324/18 RBI’s/4 home runs) and junior Nora Lindley (.361/29 RBI’s/9 extra-base hits) will look to take that next step.

Other key pieces for Bentworth are seniors Kayla O’Dell (C), Willow Eckles (OF) and Aubrie Logan (OF/ INF), as well as sophomore Hailey Tatar (INF/OF).

“Our offense should be potent again,” Cramer said. “We have power in the middle with a lot of speed at the top and at the bottom. We need to get that steady production from our five through nine hitters. We might work on some smallball stuff and capitalize on our team speed.”

The Bearcats will be in Section 4-2A this spring and will see plenty of new faces as Washington is the only section holdover from last year. New squads in the section are Brownsville, California, Frazier and Waynesburg.

“It’s a good group of teams in our section,” Cramer said. “That will be a positive for us, as we will be tested every game in section play. Frazier is a perennial playoff team and has won a lot of playoff games over the years. Both Waynesburg and Brownsville have a lot of talent and are well coached. I think Washington might surprise some teams. They are always improving. Should be pretty even in section.”

Section play starts April 3 at Waynesburg.

As for Class 2A, Cramer thinks the usual suspects will be at the top of the list come May.

“Neshannock brings a lot of talent back from last year,” he said. “Laurel and Shenango lost some key players, but they are always tough. OLSH and Chartiers- Houston are other top teams in Class 2A. But I think for us, you have to block out that outside noise and focus in on your section. If you win your section, you will get a good seed. We just have to worry about us and our next opponent.”

After starting the season with four games in Tennessee against some high-level opposition, Bentworth’s first couple of non-section games up north will be Avella (March 26), McGuffey (March 28) and South Park (March 31). Another key non-section game on the schedule is defending Class 4A champion Elizabeth Forward