Rachel Walsh loves to build.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s always been a passion of hers. When she was little, all one had to do was put a few Lego blocks in front of the Dunmore senior, and she would create a masterpiece.<\/p>\n
Put a pen in front of her, and look out because Walsh is in her domain, creating images and designs that pop off the lines of that paper.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like the building and the design,\u201d she said. \u201cEver since I was little, I would always build anything I can get my hands on, especially like Legos. There is a big drawing and designing aspect with architecture, and I love drawing. Any free time that I have, I am always drawing. I love designing things.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why her passion is architecture; something she\u2019s hoping to turn into her full-time career once her playing days at Dunmore High School are completed.<\/p>\n
But now, she\u2019s the architect in the circle for the Lady Bucks, who have aspirations of hoisting their first District 2 softball championship.<\/p>\n
Walsh uses her keen sense of design against the batters, formulating game plans in her mind in terms of pitch usage, location, and really, just plain feel as to what\u2019s working on that day.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s when that ball releases from her hand that her mental designs jump to life before a hitter\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n
The senior recently picked up her 400th career strikeout as the Lady Bucks are out to a 4-2 start with losses to Class 4A school Wallenpaupack and District 2 Class 3A defending champion Mid Valley.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn past years, we\u2019ve been down when it comes to certain teams. But this year, it does feel different,\u201d Walsh said. \u201cIt\u2019s a big goal of this team, and especially myself, is to get to that district championship and have a shot at winning it. The last few years, we\u2019ve just come up a little short, and I know that we can do this. The long hours in the cages, it pays off. The days where I thought the world was ending because of a loss, it all works out. The strikeouts was a personal goal of mine. I got close to 150 my freshman year, and I just told myself that this could be something special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like all the parts she\u2019s loves about architecture, softball has been her No. 1 since her young days.<\/p>\n
Yes, she\u2019s also a member of the Lady Bucks\u2019 basketball program, but the diamond is where her heart resides.<\/p>\n
She would spend hours in the cages with her dad, Kevin, perfecting pitches or focusing on the crack of the bat.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s her game \u2014 an undeniable work ethic of grinding.<\/p>\n
Blood, sweat and tears over her passion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI play basketball, but softball has always been my No. 1 priority,\u201d said Walsh, who has been participating in the sport since her youth years, eventually, moving into the travel-ball circuit when she was 11. \u201cI worked a lot with my dad in the batting cages in the offseason. I did lot more lifting to gain some strength, and mentally, I wanted to make sure that I was in the mindset that this is it, and I wanted to put it all out there. The spring season always seems to go by pretty quick.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mental aspect is a huge part of the game.<\/p>\n
Last season, she battled through an injury.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t slow her down as she still hit .518 and led the Lady Bucks in hits (29) and RBIs (23).<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a big mental block to get over, for sure. I put in a lot of work in the offseason, as much as my doctor was allowing me to, in order to get ready,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I think it did pay off during the year. Obviously, there were games that were a lot tougher than others. I kept telling myself that I was going to get through it, and I did. I ended the season with the best batting average that I had in my career, and a great team record.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen people hear about injuries, I think they associated it with the physical aspect more than the mental part. And it\u2019s 100 percent hard trying to get back physically, but mentally, it\u2019s a lot more pressure on yourself. All winter, all that was playing on my mind was am I going to get back and am I going to be back to normal? I rehabbed all the time because this is something that I really wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year, it\u2019s about more.<\/p>\n
Her senior year. Her final chance to don that uniform. That last opportunity to make history.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew last year, that despite some of the ups and downs throughout the year, that we did play pretty well as a team,\u201d she said. \u201cWe had some momentum going into this year, and I was really excited, not because it\u2019s my senior season, but really, to see what this team can do. I knew we had some talented girls coming up, and I believe that we have a good shot of showing people how good we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
And a chance to put designs on a championship run before entering the collegiate scene to pursue those architecture dreams.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was younger, I don\u2019t know what it was, but engineering always sparked my mind when I was younger,\u201d she said. \u201cAs I got older, I just stuck with the engineering part. When I started to visit colleges in my junior year, I wanted to kind of decipher what I wanted because there are so many different kind of engineering options. When I described it at one of the college fairs, I was told that sounds more like architecture.\u201d<\/p>\n
Howell in charge for Tigers<\/p>\n
Michaela Howell may be a freshman on the roster, but the Tunkhannock pitcher sure isn\u2019t looking like one.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s had some remarkable outings in her first season in the circle as Tunkhannock takes a 4-1 record into the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 schedule next week.<\/p>\n
Break it down more, and you can see how much more impressive that is.<\/p>\n
She tossed a no-hitter against Crestwood, which has some good sticks in the lineup.<\/p>\n
She struck out 11 against the Jackson IronLadies, one of the better teams in the state of Ohio.<\/p>\n
She followed that with a 12-punchout performance against Lawrence County, Kentucky, which made its state\u2019s semifinals. Remember, Kentucky only has one classification for softball in its state.<\/p>\n
No doubt, the future is bright for the young freshman.<\/p>\n
A glimpse into the postseason<\/p>\n
West Scranton is off to a 4-1 start under first-year coach John Connor, but a look into the early part of the Lady Invaders\u2019 schedule could point to the future.<\/p>\n
West will participate in the Class 6A subregional in the postseason, which includes District 4 team and reigning champ Williamsport. So far, the Lady Invaders already own wins over Wilkes-Barre Area, Hazleton Area and Wyoming Valley West \u2013 all future postseason opponents \u2013 and will play city rival Scranton twice in Lackawanna League Division 1 play.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s fair to say West could be 5-0 against future playoff opponents before the postseason arrives in late May.<\/p>\n
They are a team to remember come playoff time in May.<\/p>\n
Remember her?<\/p>\n
Two years ago, Gianna Adams was at Pittston Area in the midst of a historic career with the Patriots.<\/p>\n
Two years later, she\u2019s back making history at the collegiate level.<\/p>\n
Now a sophomore at Carnegie Mellon, Adams threw the first perfect game in school history with a 3-0 win over Penn State-Behrend. The pitcher struck out the side in the opening inning, and finished with 12 for the game.<\/p>\n
This season, Adams is 7-4 with 68 strikeouts as the Tartans are 13-8 on the year.<\/p>\n
The top four<\/p>\n
1. Abington Heights (3-0): Comets had a solid week with wins over Valley View and Holy Cross, two defending district champs.<\/p>\n
2. Tunkhannock (5-1): Tigers have two quality out-of-state wins, plus a victory over Mid Valley.<\/p>\n
3. North Pocono (4-1): Trojans were stunned on the road at District 4 Northwest, but will be a factor in Lackawanna League Division 1 with Abington, Valley View and Wallenpaupack.<\/p>\n
4. Lake-Lehman (3-1): Black Knights\u2019 lone loss came to District 4 stronghold Loyalsock. Lehman followed it up with a win over last year\u2019s state quarterfinalist St. Mary\u2019s where Hannah Chipego tossed a no-hitter, and a five-inning win over Redeemer in WVC Division 2 play.<\/p>\n
Two to watch<\/p>\n
Old Forge at Holy Cross, Tuesday: This could be a preview of the Class 1A district championship. Holy Cross is the defending champ, and has all the ingredients to make another deep run.<\/p>\n
Tunkhannock at Pittston Area, Thursday: This is the marque matchup in the WVC Division 1. Tunkhannock has a tricky one with Hazleton Area on Tuesday, while Pittston Area travels to Dallas on the same day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rachel Walsh loves to build. It\u2019s always been a passion of hers. When she was little, all one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[305,178,180,179,726],"class_list":["post-157024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-high-school-sports","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}