THROOP, Pa. — Every high-school coach plan is to someday compete for and eventually win a state championship. At Mid Valley under the direction of Head Softball Coach Michael Piercy those plans became a reality on Saturday June 17th when his Spartanettes beat Juniata to win the "3A" title 1-0.
“We'll that final pitch was incredible but I think in the 6th inning there in the state title when they had two on and nobody out and we turned that double play then it kind of clicked like hey we are four outs away and this could really happen and that was most special for us I think,” said Michael.
The state playoff run was excited for the fans, his players and his staff. Everything clicking at the right moments.
“I think when we took over we might have had 1 win in the previous year and there wasn't success initially. I think that we went (4-11) the first year and (5-10) the second year. It was a slow grind and like I mentioned in 2015 and 2016 seeing Holy Redeemer win a state title and seeing that we we're right there with them kind of gave us the belief that hey we are getting closer. And a culmination of a lot of years. This wasn't a one-year thing. This was a culmination of a lot of players and a lot of players for us,” again said Michael.
Going into the district playoffs Mid Valley had 2 losses. One to Tunkhannock and the other to Riverside late in the season. That loss to the Vikings was a little concerning for Piercy.
“We lost a game right before playoffs started which ended up being a good thing and getting a reality check. But once the state playoffs start you must get some breaks and get some luck and play at a high level too. And all those things came true for us. Girls played great and got a few balls to roll our way and ended up getting it done,” added Michael.
New turf fields are playable for future Mid Valley stars and big shoes to fill from this senior class loaded with talent, character and class.
“They are a selfless group. And like you said we had superstar players, role players and no matter what their role was they truly rooted for one another and pulled for each other. It was just a real team effort the whole way through,” said Michael.