COMMONDOOR, Pa. — Sixth-seeded Bishop McCourt Catholic used the momentum from Friday’s first-round win to take an early advantage, going strong in the first set.
Purchase lineman Rylee Mahaffey took over from there, neutralizing the Crimson Crushers the rest of the way and leading the third-seeded Red Dragons to a 3-1 win in the District 6 Class 1A softball quarterfinals on Monday in a matchup of sophomore right-handers.
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Buyline (16-3) countered Bishop McCourt’s early offense with two points of its own in the bottom of the first quarter and added another in the third. Bishop McCourt sophomore pitcher Laria Myers refused to let the game end. She settled down over the final three innings, limiting the Red Dragons to two hits and trapping runners in scoring position to keep the Red Dragons alive.
Myers went 6 innings, allowing 6 hits and 3 runs, striking out only 1 and walking 10 times.
“She saw things in the first few innings that I didn’t see,” Bishop McCourt coach Jimmy Myers said of his daughter. “She came in and said, ‘Let’s go another way.'” That’s when things settled down. The first few games were a little rough, but she wanted to make adjustments and we agreed. “
Laliyah Miles made the switch after a slow start for both sides. Bishop McCourt (10-12) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Hannah Pfeil singled to right and then advanced to second on a passed ball and scored on a bunt single by Myers.
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The buy line responded quickly in the middle of the half-inning. Freshman Leah Nelson hit a single to center and advanced on a passed ball before Alorra Phillips loaded the bases. Lariah Myers struck out the leadoff runner on a grounder, but Kaitlyn Houser followed with a two-run double over the center field fence.
Nelson opened with another single to right. Phillips made the sacrifice that elevated her to second place. After Myers struck out Matko, Houser struck out again – hitting her second double of the game to left, scoring Nelson for a 3-1 lead. Nelson and Hauser each had two hits, with Hauser driving in all three buy-line games.
“She was pressing the ball the last two-thirds of the season,” line coach Mike Ninoski said of Hauser. “Everything she hits is a rocket. We’ve been doing a good job of getting runners ahead of her, and she’s succeeded.”
After allowing a first-inning run by Bishop McCourt, Mahaffey retired eight straight innings before Lalia Myers broke it up with a two-out single in the third inning.
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Bishop McCourt nearly scored in the fifth inning. Kristin Stiles lined up a clean single to right. Pfeil followed with a blast to almost the same spot, but right fielder Kelly Himes extended to her right and pulled the ball in for the third out – a move that likely prevented both runners from scoring.
Mahaffey finished with five hits and one run, striking out 10 and walking just one.
In the sixth inning, Myers hit a Mahaffey ball over the left field fence, but Lillian Stover caught the ball on a run to steal the extra base. Riley Zeglin followed with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch, but Mahaffey got a flyout and a strikeout, ending the threat.
“We had some runners on base but couldn’t hit the ball in time,” Jimmy Myers said. “That’s the big difference this time around. I’m hoping we can get more hits here and there when we need to.”
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Bishop McCort also lost to Purchasing Line in the 2025 quarterfinals, 7-4, but still showed growth this spring.
“We have four brand new girls,” Jimmy Myers said. “They’re just learning the game and they’ve come a long way in their development from the beginning of the season. Tonight, we fought and they didn’t give up. They tried to keep that energy and keep going until the end.”
