The Valley View girl's softball team defeated Dunmore 12-2 in six innings on Tuesday afternoon. Last year the Lady Cougars won the District II AAA softball title and finished with an overall record of (19-1).
The Cougars have an ace on the mound in junior pitcher Gina Chieffallo. Tuesday afternoon against Dunmore the Gina grind was on. Leading 5-0 in the 4th inning Valley View gave the ball back to their stopper, but Dunmore mounted a rally by loading up the bases.
With no outs Chieffallo dug in and threw her best striking out the next three batters and ending any threat.
"We'll Gina Chieffallo she's used to playing under conditions like these. She's been struggling a little bit. She hasn't been her best, but she understands that we have a solid defense behind her and today we just really swung the bats well," said EJ Weston.
"How do you feel early on with the season certainly halfway thru the month of April? We'll it's pretty cold out here so I am doing my best keeping warm, and I have a slow start. I had a slow start last year too so I hope to pick things up," said Gina Chieffallo.
Since the PIAA moved the mound back a few years ago hitting has been at a premium and the Cougars are loaded one thru nine. It starts with Liz Aniska, then Casey Pearce and Molly Ann Mecca. If those three can get on they have a solid lineup that can drive in a lot of runs.
"We all work as a team. We're real big on family. As long as we help out our pitcher and we help out each other during batting we'll be set. I think we're going to have a great year," said Anna McElroy.
"Anna McElroy especially she's been really swinging the bat well this season, but they haven't been falling in for her. I was just really happy to see that she got things going her way this game," added EJ.
The defending District II AAA champions finished (19-1) in 2011 and came up one run shy of playing in a state final.
"We're really excited for this year. We want to get back to where we were at last year. It's going to take a lot of hard work. We have a lot of big shoes to fill, but i think we could do it," added Anna.