![]() She has all the pitches you need to be successful in college. “I know she will work hard to be well prepared. “Gannon got a special player in Katie,” Nealer said. She struck out just six times in 72 plate appearances.Īrmstrong said she will miss working with her catchers - Gabby Britton (2021) and Bella Stewart the past two years - and will also miss the bus rides, the bonding off the field and the wins and big moments between the white lines.Īs she gets ready to begin her collegiate career, she said she’s also excited for what the future holds for the Burrell team, which returns six starters and has other young players set to contend for open opportunities. 377 average (23 for 61) and added six doubles and 16 runs batted in. What might get overshadowed by her pitching prowess is the way Armstrong also swung the bat this season. Nealer said the team also will miss her leadership. After the Juniata game, their players and coaches commented that they hadn’t seen a pitcher like that, and they had a very good pitcher as well.” ![]() “She was definitely one of the best in the WPIAL the past three seasons. “Katie was a rock for us, probably one of the best pitchers to ever play at Burrell,” Burrell coach Rock Nealer said. ![]() Her freshman year showed much potential when she struck out 17 batters in a scrimmage game against Shaler before the sports world shut down. Who knows where that career-strikeout total would be if her freshman season in 2020 wasn’t taken away because of the covid pandemic? She racked up 63 strikeouts in 33 postseason innings. She delivered a season-best 18 punchouts in a one-hit shutout of Moore Catholic (N.Y.) in Myrtle Beach in early April.Īrmstrong then struck out 16 while scattering three hits in a 5-1 WPIAL quarterfinal victory over Mohawk which clinched the PIAA playoff berth. ![]() She fanned 10 or more 17 times, and had three nine-strikeout games. “I also pitched with confidence because I knew I had such a great defense behind me making plays.”Īrmstrong walked just 24 batters and struck out 269, giving her 689 strikeouts for her three-year career. “I just kept working on all my pitches, and every game I felt I got a little better and stronger each time,” said Armstrong, who threw every pitch for Burrell this season and ended up with a 1.21 earned-run average (21 earned runs in 131 innings). Her numbers in the circle and at the plate tell a well-rounded story, and the ending to that story is her repeat selection as the Valley News Dispatch Softball Player of the Year. It was another standout season for the Gannon commit who helped lead the Bucs to a third-place finish in WPIAL Class 3A and a trip to states for the second year in a row after an eight-year hiatus. In the next round, Juniata shut out Burrell’s section foe and WPIAL champion Avonworth, 6-0. The one run Juniata scored that day was unearned. She and her Burrell softball teammates battled District 6 champion Juniata in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs.Īrmstrong surrendered just three hits and two walks while striking out 11 in a 1-0 loss to the eventual PIAA-runner-up Indians. Katie Armstrong capped her high school career June 5 in the rolling hills of Central Pennsylvania. 2023 Valley News Dispatch Softball All-Stars
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