Juniata Softball: A Season of Triumph, Not Tragedy

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: June 18, 2023

By Brian Carson
The girls of the Juniata Softball team trudged off the diamond at Beard Field in State College, their cleats leaving divots in the dirt with each measured step.

Their marvelous season had come to an unceremonious end in the PIAA Class 3A championship. Done in 1-0 by a pesky Mid Valley club and a misplayed ball in the first inning.

All the long hours of practice since the first thaw of spring, the endless bus rides up and down the old highways of Central Pennsylvania, it had all been barreling toward this final afternoon. Now finished. Now just a dazzling, painful memory of what could have been but wasn’t meant to be.

Yet anyone with eyes in their heads and a dollop of sense could see clear as day that this scrappy band of girls from JuniataCounty deserved better. They had scratched and clawed their way to this championship game, losing only three times all season and setting a school record with 25 wins.

In defeat, the Indians showcased their undeniable courage and spirit, a season-long saga of perseverance, of camaraderie, of sheer determination. Their run to the finals wasn’t a miracle—it was the result of every drop of sweat, every cheer, every play made, and every lesson learned.

Led by their record-smashing pitcher Liz Gaisior, just a junior, this team had come to play ball every single day and made it further than any Juniata team before them.

Gaisior struck out over 400 poor souls this season, inching ever closer to an amazing 1,000 strikeouts in a career. Batters quaked at the sight of her spin, and she’ll be back next spring, have no fear, to vex hitters for another year.

Her pitches, like a well-composed symphony, weaved tales of victory all season. The precision, the control, the subtle dance of her wrist, the fire in her eyes—they tell a story of an athlete born for this game, a warrior on the mound. Juniata and the state should wait with bated breath to see the heights she’ll scale next season.

Even a superstar can’t win without their teammates. Juniata had clutch performances from many different players all season long.

Every player on this team deserves recognition. Here they are, in no particular order: Ashley Piper, Riley Lyter, Kalynn Brown, Shaleyn Armstrong, Cheyenne Kirk, Ashlyn Fisher, Addison Rutherford, Ava Lauver, Alexea Frontz, Sophia Smith, Mackenzie Lyter, Regan Lowrey, Savannah Marshall, Alexa Kuhn, and Gaisior.

At the dish, the Indians could hit with the best of them. And in the field they were surer than a cat’s reflex, handling chances left and right with the leather. Time will fail me if I list all their exploits and accomplishments on this memorable campaign. Suffice it to say, from Mifflintown to Thompsontown and all parts in-between, the girls made their county proud.

The scary part for all the other 3A teams in the state is Juniata only has two seniors on the team – Kirk and Mackenzie Lyter.

Head coach Erin Cressman, along with assistants Jack McCurdy, Craig Bubb, and Jordan Shirey, are the architects and alchemists of the team.

In a short period of time, Cressman brought Juniata softball to new heights. She knows a thing or two about rising to the occasion. A thousand-point scorer on the hardwood during her high school days in Massachusetts, Cressman has a gift for coaxing the best from athletes when the stakes are highest.

Then there’s McCurdy, the pitching whisperer and onetime skipper who’s forgotten more about the art of throwing than most will ever know. McCurdy squeezed wins and stirring performances from pitchers at State College and Mifflin Countybefore joining Cressman’s dugout.

Bubb, the sage softball coach and keeper of the game’s ancient wisdom, has seen it all before in a career spanning decades at every level. He followed Jack from the Husky program.

With Cressman as conductor, Bubb and Shirey providing the rhythm section, and McCurdy riffing on all things pitching, it’s little wonder this Juniata club found its harmony.

The ache of missing out on the ultimate prize will fade in time. But what won’t disappear into memory’s mist are the moments they gave us. We’ll not soon forget their marvelous run through the district and then state playoffs. Or watching Gaisior and her dance of deception set down batter after batter like tenpins. The euphoria of each hard-won victory along the journey will endure.

So, let’s not look at the scoreboard and see a loss, but rather, see a promise. A promise of a team that has tasted the bitter pill of defeat yet remains undeterred. A team eager to write the next chapter of their story, propelled by the echoes of “wait till next year.”

In sports, as in life, it’s not about the destination, but the journey, and oh, what a marvelous journey the Big Red have had. They’ve made their mark, their story heard, their spirit felt. This season is just a stepping stone towards the many victories to come. The Indians might have come up short this time, but remember, it’s the battles we lose that often fuel the wars we win.

The game is over, the field sits empty, the long off-season awaits. But this season, they were golden and now all of Pennsylvania knows, the sun is rising over Juniata.

And next year they’ll return, older, wiser, and hungry, with unfinished business left to settle. Let the rest of the Keystone State take heed, the Juniata Indians are fighters, and their story is far from over.