Mercury All-Area: Maci Strechay emerges as pitching ace to lift Perkiomen Valley softball to transformative PAC championship season

Maci Strechay has always seen herself as a pitcher. It’s for good reason: she’s a lifelong pitcher, plays the position for her Invasion 18U club team and trains in the discipline upwards of four times a week at Collegeville Sports Academy with coach Tom Simmers.

That vision wasn’t in focus Strechay’s first two years of varsity softball at Perkiomen Valley, though.

“Since I was younger, I’ve always been just a pitcher for my travel team,” Strechay said. “I made the (PV varsity) team my freshman year to be a pitcher and I didn’t really get any opportunities. So then when I played sophomore year, I played only left field and I did really well.”

Strechay saw limited time in the circle her sophomore year, slotted behind then-juniors Bella Reedy and Audrey Powers in the pitching rotation.

Entering her junior season and unsure of what the rotation would look like, Strechay volunteered to new head coach Mickey Marsilio to stick in left field, even if it wasn’t where she truly wished to be.

Marsilio’s vision was slightly different: his only wish was for his new team to play to everyone’s strengths.

“I coached her (Strechay) when she was in middle school and I saw how good she was,” Marsilio said. “I knew all three would be in the starting lineup. I just didn’t know how the pitching would play out in the end. I wanted to give them fair and equal opportunity.

“And then when Maci got her chance, she was dominant, and our defense was really good.”

Strechay’s emergence as a No. 1 pitcher allowed all the pieces to fall into place for the Vikings and enact a program transformation compared to recent years.

After going 9-12 a year ago, Perkiomen Valley skyrocketed to the top of the Pioneer Athletic Conference with eye-opening regular season wins over recent league champions Spring-Ford, Boyertown and Owen J. Roberts. The Vikings then validated the surprise rise with their first league championship since 2017 before a District 1 playoff run that left them a run short of qualifying for the PIAA Championships.

Strechay was the central figure as the team’s leadoff hitter and pitcher, going 12-3 with a 0.90 ERA in the circle, allowing just 13 earned runs in 101 innings, while hitting .370 with six doubles and 18 RBI.

Strechay came out of left field – literally – and so did Perkiomen Valley in a 20-5 season that saw Strechay recognized as Mercury All-Area Player of the Year.

“I knew that I was capable but I never really had the opportunity to pitch against these high school girls. And I always thought my freshman and sophomore year, ‘They’re older than me. They’re better than me.’ I always kind of thought that before,” Strechay said. “But then once I got the opportunity, I realized that I’m capable of pitching like I can instead of just playing left field and playing it kind of safe.”

There are few positions in sports that are as pressurized as a pitcher. In softball, that ace can take the ball a handful of times a week. Strechay recorded 97 strikeouts on the year, but is not the sort of pitcher who is racking up double-digit Ks every game. Instead, she employed six different pitches and developed an ability to trust her defense this spring.

“I had to brace myself for the mental part. I think that’s what changed this year,” Strechay said. “Instead of trying to pitch around people, giving them something to hit and relying on our defense, because we do play a high level of defense. I had to mature enough to give people something to hit and let them make plays for me instead of just trying to do everything myself, which is something I might have done in the past. I think that’s what I did best this year.”

Strechay proved ready for her moment early in the season in a one-hit shutout of Methacton on April 11 and built from there against PV’s top opposition. The Vikings’ 3-2, 11-inning win at Spring-Ford on April 26 was a marquee moment of PV’s season. Strechay went pitch-for-pitch with fellow first team pitcher Jess Fliszar through nine scoreless innings and only allowed two hits and zero earned runs in the Vikings’ validating win.

“I think that was the best game I’ve ever been a part of. It was so much fun and everyone really did their part,” Strechay said. “I think it just changed everyone’s mindset. I think it was a pivot point in our season. Everyone realized that we are capable of beating the best teams in the PAC.”

She was at her best in the PAC Final Four, allowing zero earned runs in 16 innings in two outings. In PV’s 3-1, nine-inning semifinal win over Upper Merion, she allowed five hits, one run and struck out nine; against Boyertown in the final, a 7-1 win, she surrendered only three hits and struck out six.

Strechay hitting from the leadoff position was a big piece of PV’s success as well. She was third on the team in batting average (.370) behind fellow top-of-the-lineup hitters and All-Area first teamers, second baseman Reedy (.403) and catcher Erin Carosi (.381).

Giving Strechay the first look at an opposing pitcher wasn’t by mistake. Her ability to break down or scout an opposing pitcher was key to the Vikings’ game-planning according to Marsilio.

“There is not a more intelligent player than Macy. Her input was at a coach’s level more than a player,” Marsilio said. “Even during the game, she was able to really communicate down the line what she was seeing, what the spin looked like, what they felt like. Maci gave really detailed information to all the batters on our team.”

The Strechay name has been intertwined with Perkiomen Valley baseball and softball for the past decade. All five children of Mike and Jaymi Strechay, who both played at Rider University, have come through the Viking programs. Oldest brother Tyler went on to pitch at West Virginia University and Delaware and twin sisters Ella and Josie (Class of 2022) were multi-year softball players. Maci’s twin brother Michael is an All-Area second team selection this spring.

It’s a naturally competitive environment, whether it’s chasing her sister’s accolades – Ella was twice team MVP – or going head-to-head in a way with Michael.

“It’s definitely a lot of competition and it’s really fun, but also it’s a lot of pressure. But it’s more fun than it is pressure, I think,” Maci said. “We kind of feed off each other’s energy and it makes us more competitive, especially in actual games. I think it makes playing a lot more fun.”

Perk Valley followed up on its PAC championship by ousting Spring-Ford from the District 1 tournament before back-to-back losses in the quarterfinals to Downingtown West, then a barely-believable 17-16 loss to Boyertown in a District 1 playback game that denied the Vikings a trip to the PIAA tournament for the first time since 2017.

The PAC championship gave Strechay and the Vikings something to hang their hat on, and she revels in the winning moment with regularity. But the manner of their exit gives Strechay fuel to carry into next spring.

“I think we didn’t really end up where we wanted to be. We definitely could have won our last game,” she said. “But I still go back on my phone and watch the video of us making the last out of the PAC. I relive it so often, just seeing how my teammates and how everyone reacted. It made me so happy that we were able to do that. It was crazy to think that after so many years of me playing on the same team and us not even having a winning record to end the season, it was crazy that we were capable of doing that.

“But I think it’s also knowing that we didn’t beat Boyertown in our last game this year. We can do it (make states) next year. And now we have something like to look back on to drive us next year and give us motivation.”