Titans shut out Eagles behind Dobnak

The West Mifflin pitcher tossed a two-hitter and struck out 9 as the Titans beat Serra Catholic.

In a non-section battle between two local Mon Valley teams on the softball field, it was all West Mifflin in a 6-0 win over Serra Catholic on Monday.

The Titans (2-1) got an outstanding outing on the mound from Rylie Dobnak to earn the win. She allowed just two hits and walked four while striking out nine batters over seven shutout innings.

“This weather was a little sketchy early on,” West Mifflin coach Erik Hilligsberg said. “The wind was blowing some of those pitches around and causing some balls. But Rylie settled in and pitched a really good game for us.”

Serra Catholic’s Kelly Morrissey also pitched a strong game, but she was charged with the loss. Over the full seven innings, she allowed five hits and six runs with just one earned. She struck out 13 batters and issued just one walk as the Eagles (0-2) committed five errors.

“That was just uncharacteristic of us and who we want to be,” Serra Catholic coach Julie Opferman said. “But I think in the middle of the season and as it goes on that we’ll be a different team than what we saw today.

“We just have to continue working on our fundamentals, but we’re still figuring out who goes where. We have to cut down on our outfield mistakes and those infield errors.”

Due to overnight rain, the game was moved from McKeesport to the turf field at West Mifflin, but the Titans batted first as if they were away. From there, it didn’t take them long to get on the board.

With the wind swirling from behind the plate towards left field, Taylor Krivanek opened the game by hitting a triple right into that wind.

From there, Rylie Dobnak hit a single to shallow center field that quickly got West Mifflin on the board at 1-0.

Morrissey and the Eagles settled in from there, forcing two straight outs, before a few mistakes allowed the Titans to plate another run. While Kaleigh Tatters was at the plate, courtesy runner Lia Salopek reached third base on two wild pitches. Then, Tatters hit a pop-up between second and shortstop, but it fell to the ground and allowed Salopek to cross home plate to make it 2-0.

That capped off the scoring in the top of the first, turning things over to Rylie Dobnak on the mound. She started things off strong with two strikeouts before Morrissey and Keyara Watkins both drew walks. After a wild pitch during Giana Foster’s at-bat, she had the chance to knock in two runs with a base hit as both runners advanced.

Foster drew another free pass, loading the bases for Johanna Domek, but she eventually popped out to Rylie’s sister, Brianna Dobnak, behind the plate to strand three runners.

Both teams managed a baserunner in the second frame as Abby Jakubovic singled for the Titans and Aubrey Chamberlain drew a walk for the Eagles, but it remained 2-0 after two.

Morrissey mowed down West Mifflin in the third inning with three strikeouts as Serra Catholic similarly failed to score after Watkins hit a double. But in the fourth, the Titans added to their advantage.

Tatters reached first, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and then made it to third on a passed ball. Bri Dobnak then earned a walk to give Sam Tomko an opportunity to drive a run in, but instead it was another wild pitch that allowed Tatters to score and make it 3-0 in favor of West Mifflin.

After Morrissey earned her eighth strikeout of the contest, a passed ball helped Bri Dobnak make the WM lead 4-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth. The Eagles were unable to come up with any offense in that frame, going down 1-2-3 with two strikeouts as Rylie Dobnak worked out to six strikeouts of her own.

Both sides went down 1-23 in the fifth inning before the Titans again put up two runs in the top of the sixth. After Brianna Dobnak and Tomko reached base on errors, Adilee Salopek crushed a 2-RBI double to bring West Mifflin’s lead to 6-0. Serra shortstop Alonna Morton made a nice catch on a lineout to end the frame as both squads made some impressive defensive plays.

Morton was solid all game, and the outfield of Krivanek, Tatters and Mia Bey made several ranging plays to rob the Eagles of a few hits.

As the Eagles returned to the plate, they just couldn’t get anything going as Rylie Dobnak continued to blank them. Morrissey popped out to Adilee Salopek at first, Watkins flew out to Bey with a tough catch and Foster flew out to Tatters to retire the side. After Watkins’ double in the third frame through the sixth, Rylie Dobnak didn’t allow a single baserunner.

That changed in the bottom of the seventh as it remained 6-0 to WM. With one last chance for the Eagles to rally, Domek led things off with a hard-hit single. But three outs followed and West Mifflin closed out a 6-0 win well.

Both squads are back in action on Wednesday as Serra Catholic will host Sewickley Academy and West Mifflin will host Seton LaSalle.