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Nick Haslam: Anxiety over nation’s ‘bathroom bills’ rooted in restroom psychology

Pittston Area&#8217;s success on the softball field may have started with a season-ending loss last year.The Patriots, seeded 12th in the District 2 Class 3A playoffs, led fourth-seeded Nanticoke 1-0 in the sixth. They eventually lost the lead and the game 2-1, but gained a jolt of confidence against a team which would fall a game short of playing for the state championship.&#8220;That was tough for us because we knew we could hang with them,&#8221; Pittston Area coach Vito Quaglia said. &#8220;That game last year gave them a little bit of confidence coming into this season, so when we faced Nanticoke again they knew they could hang with them.&#8221;Pittston Area not only hung with Nanticoke, it defeated the Trojanettes 5-0 to ignite a four-game winning streak. Those victories improved the Patriots to 8-4 and locked up a winning season for the first time since 2005.What&#8217;s even more impressive is the current streak came after a hot start was doused by a three-game losing skid that included consecutive 2-1 losses to Hazleton Area and Crestwood.Quaglia took over the program last season and believed back then the Patriots had the ability to play with any team in the Wyoming Valley Conference. His task, though, was to get the girls to believe the same.&#8220;I definitely think there is a change in confidence, just mentally putting it together to where they knew they could compete when they got on the field,&#8221; said Quaglia, who is the high school principal at Pittston Area&#8217;s biggest rival, Wyoming Area. &#8220;Last year, we were kind of tentative. Like we hoped to win. But this year, they go on the field and know they are equal to or maybe a little better than the team across from them.&#8221;No player exemplifies the rise of the program better than senior pitcher Taylor Baloga. She started as a freshman on a 2-13 team and finished with an ERA of 5.71 and struck out 46 in 86.2 innings. This year, her ERA is 1.45 and she&#8217;s fanned 69. Plus, Baloga threw a perfect game against Coughlin on Thursday and has a .462 batting average.Mindina Lieback, who is also a four-year varsity player, is hitting .364. And there&#8217;s a strong group of underclassmen such as freshmen Lexi Felinski (.521) and Alexa McHugh (.486) and sophomore Nina Cencetti (361) to keep things progressing in 2017.Pittston Area still has a mathematically albeit unrealistic shot at tying Hazleton Area (11-0) for first place in Division 1. But come District 2 playoff time, the Patriots will be a team to take seriously.COMMON SENSE PREVAILSWednesday was the deadline for teams to decide whether to participate in the District 2 tournament. Only Western Wayne opted out of the playoffs and it was a smart move.Western Wayne is 0-11 and has been outscored 146-11. The Wildcats have been shut out six times and haven&#8217;t scored more than four runs in a game. They&#8217;ve allowed 15 or more runs in a game five times, including a 20-1 loss to Scranton.If Western Wayne did play in the D2-3A playoffs, it could have faced Abington Heights in the first round. Abington defeated Western Wayne 16-0 this season.Four other winless teams will be in the postseason &#8212; Carbondale (0-10), Coughlin (0-11), Forest City (0-10) and GAR (0-11).TIME TO PAINTThe dugouts at Hanover Area&#8217;s field have small storage rooms. The door on the storage room on the first-base dugout has a message written on it &#8212; &#8220;Hanover Class of 2005 was hear&#8221;.Umm &#8230; yeah. Hopefully, no honor students were responsible for the graffiti.The message is fading and can&#8217;t be seen by fans because of the way the field is set up. But visiting teams use the dugout and it&#8217;s not a good reflection on the school. A little paint could take care of it.GAME ON TVWednesday&#8217;s Wyoming Area at Nanticoke game will be televised live on WQMY starting at 4:30 p.m. Wyoming Area is the defending Division 2 champion, but was eliminated from contention earlier this week.The division will come down to either Nanticoke (9-2) or Tunkhannock (9-2). Those teams play Monday at Nanticoke.Nanticoke has a brutal schedule next week, with a home game with Division 1 leader Hazleton Area (11-0) on Tuesday.SOME KIND OF RECORD?There&#8217;s no real depository for WVC records, but Hazleton Area is likely to set one if it wins the WVC Division 1 championship.If the Cougars do so, it will be their fourth consecutive divisional title and third in a row with a different coach. Vince Trivelpiece won the first two, Adrienne Rebarchak was the coach last year and Heather Dale is the coach this year.Heck, Hazleton Area might go 4 for 4 in the category. The school board opened all fall and winter coaching positions recently and sources have said it plans to do the same with spring sports.<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Pittston Area&#8217;s Taylor Baloga delivers a pitch against Wyoming Valley West earlier this season. Balgoa&#8217;s ERA is 1.45 and she&#8217;s fanned 69 batters this season. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_PSD041716WVWPAHSSOFT1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Pittston Area&#8217;s Taylor Baloga delivers a pitch against Wyoming Valley West earlier this season. Balgoa&#8217;s ERA is 1.45 and she&#8217;s fanned 69 batters this season. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | Times Leader file photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By John Erzarjerzar@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>WVC SOFTBALLDivision 1`W`L`Pct.`GBy-Hazleton Area`11`0`1.000`&#8211;Pittston Area`8`4`.667`3&#189;Wyo. Val. West`7`6`.538`5Berwick`4`8`.333`7&#189;Crestwood`4`8`.333`7&#189;Coughlin`0`11`.000`11Division 2`W`L`Pct.`GBNanticoke`9`2`.867`&#8211;Tunkhannock`9`2`.867`&#8211;Wyoming Area`7`5`.583 `2&#189;Lake-Lehman`3`10`.231`7Dallas`2`9`.182`7Division 3`W`L`Pct.`GBx-Holy Redeemer`11`0`1.000`&#8211;Hanover Area`9`2`.818`2Northwest`7`4`.636`4Wyo. Seminary`7`5`.583`4&#189;Meyers`2`8`.200`8&#189;MMI Prep`2`8`.200`8&#189;GAR`0`11`.000`11x &#8211; Clinched division titley &#8211; Clinched tie for division title</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</shirttailMeta></div>

WVC Softball Notebook: A tough loss can really be a victory