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Glendale vikings

Glendale Junior/Senior High School

Glendale vikings

Glendale Junior/Senior High School

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4.0 years ago by John Matchock

Mulhollen shrugs off broken finger, pitches Lady Vikings to D-6 title game

By Rich Murawski

FLINTON — When Lexi Mulhollen broke her finger while playing third base against Curwensville on May 1, her availability for the postseason was in serious doubt.

Mulhollen missed the final four games of the regular season before returning to play first base and bat in the ICC Championship against Everett on May 16. She had two hits in that game and two more in Glendale’s quarterfinal win over Blacklick Valley.

But whether she could ever pitch again for the Lady Vikings was still very much in question — until Thursday.

When her team needed her the most, Mulhollen gutted it up and came in to pitch six innings of relief with her still broken index finger on her pitching hand in a splint.

Without the use of her index finger, Mulhollen twirled six innings and allowed four runs on five hits, while walking one batter and striking out two, to earn the win as Glendale came from behind to beat Conemaugh Valley 11-8 in the District 6 class A semifinals.

“We’ve been warming up the last couple of days and I told her if you can pitch, do it, but if you can’t, don’t,” said Lady Viking catcher and senior classmate Brooke Smeal. “She did so good today. She stepped up and did her job and it was amazing. I am so happy for her.”

“It hurt,” Mulhollen said. “I couldn’t throw some of my pitches, but the one thing worked.”

Mulhollen entered the game with her team down 4-0 after freshman starter Kyla Campbell gave up a 2-run home run to Kasey McClain with no outs in the second.

Campbell, who was coming off a no-hitter in the quarterfinals against Blacklick Valley, was 7-0 on the season.

But she was unable to hit the strike zone with consistency and her head coach and mother Beth Campbell decided she needed to make a change.

“I knew when we were in trouble that waiting Kyla out wasn’t going to work,” coach Campbell said. “I’ve obviously been calling her pitches for many, many years and I knew at that point waiting it out wasn’t going to work. The strike zone was tiny. She couldn’t gain any confidence. Her shoulders were a little slumped.

“I said to Lex, who has been warming up, ‘what do you think?’ and she said, ‘I got it.’ And she got it.”

Mulhollen did admit that she was a little nervous when she first took the ball, and her first offering was low and in the dirt.

“I haven’t pitched in two or three weeks,” Mulhollen said. “I was really mad that we were losing. So I thought I have to pitch better.

“Kyla throws really hard, and she’s done really good this year. I was thinking if they can hit her, they might pound the crap out of me.”

Instead, Mulhollen retired the first eight batters she faced before giving up a two-out home run to Kasey McClain.

She also gave up a 3-run homer to Tessa Gunby in the fifth, but no one expected her to come in and be perfect.

“We knew they would (hit),” coach Campbell said. “It wasn’t, ‘don’t let them hit it.’ It was, ‘scatter it, make them think.’ Lexi is a pure athlete.

“Even after they hit that last home run I think she was a little discouraged, but she has the veteran mentality that it’s OK. We’re going to be OK. We can still do this.”

And Mulhollen and the Lady Vikings were OK. With Mulhollen keeping them in the game, the Lady Vikings were able to finally get the bats going and surge ahead for the win with Mulhollen contributing a two-out hit in the eight-run sixth to keep the rally going.

Kyla Campbell was in awe of Mulhollen’s performance and thankful to have gotten to play a season of varsity with her.

“She is just amazing,” Campbell said. “She is a really great mentor. She’s always out there helping me and telling me things, and it just keeps me calm when I’m pitching.”

And coach Campbell is pretty happy her daughter got to play a season with the gritty senior as well.

“I love having Kyla play with Lexi,” she said. “I told Kyla, ‘that’s the attitude we have to get.’ Lexi is just an amazing, amazing girl. I obviously haven’t been with her that long, but I’ve never coached anybody like her.”

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