UNIVERSITY PARK — Nearly a year after hanging silver medals around his players’ necks, Jim Gonder wasn’t going to wait for this year’s golden moment.

So long before his players’ names were announced as PIAA Class AA champions Friday, they had medals hanging around their necks.

“We were waiting for a year,” Gonder said after his team edged Brandywine Heights 1-0 before a huge crowd of supporters at Nittany Lion Softball Park. “What the hell do you think we were going to do? I couldn’t wait. We were getting them on and they’re not coming off for a while either.”

Chelsea Rex tossed a four-hitter and Macy Harpster plated Kate Burge with a suicide squeeze bunt in the second inning as the Lady Mounties (25-1) captured the second PIAA crown in school history.

“I’m still in shock a little bit,” said Harpster, who played in last season’s 3-1, 11-inning loss to Nanticoke in the PIAA title game in Shippensburg. “I’ve wanted this since last year and I’ve finally got it.”

Rex, bothered by arm problems throughout the season, saved her best performance for last. The senior right-hander struck out 11 and walked two against the Lady Bullets (26-3), who had eight players hitting above .340 in their lineup.

Philipsburg-Osceola ace Chelsea Rex, left, gave up four hits and struck out 11 batters on Friday to finish her senior season at 17-0 and cap it with a PIAA gold medal. At right: Kate Burge (24) celebrates with Katie Carpin after scoring the game’s only run in the second inning on Macy Harpster’s suicide squeeze bunt.

“I think I went out with a bang,” said Rex, who finished the season 17-0. “I tried to do my best during this game and it felt pretty awesome.”

The game turned into a pitchers’ duel between Rex and Brandywine Heights’ Sara Fronheiser, who limited the Lady Mounties’ high-scoring offense to five hits. Fronheiser also struck out 11.

The difference in the contest came in the top of the second inning. Burge drew a leadoff walk and moved to second base on Kelci Knepp’s sacrifice.

Then came a big call from the umpires. On the first pitch to Harpster, Fronheiser was called for an illegal pitch, moving Burge to third. Umpires said Fronheiser re-planted on her toss to the plate.

“She has never been called on that ever,” Brandywine coach Don Roach said. “All of a sudden, it surfaced.”

That changed the strategy for Harpster’s at-bat.

“He was going to hit me and then he’s like, ‘Do you want to squeeze?’” Harpster said of her coach. “I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m really confident in my bunting and I knew that I could do it.’ It got us a run.” The only run.

On a 2-1 pitch, Harpster dropped it down as Burge sped home, scoring on one of only a couple of times the Lady Mounties have tried a suicide squeeze this season.

“We wanted to get an early lead to see what would happen, but I never thought one run would win that ballgame,” Gonder said. “… That was a really good team we played.”

The Lady Bullets kept the pressure on Rex throughout the contest, getting the leadoff hitter on in five of the seven innings. Rex was able to walk the tightrope, thanks to her strong right arm and her defense, which did not commit an error.

“We were pressured,” shortstop Mackenzie Wilson said. “We felt the nerves, but obviously we have a great pitcher on the mound and she can work out of anything. Our defense behind her is so strong. We knew we just had to get the outs that we needed to make.”

They got them in impressive fashion in the final three innings.

After Shelby Snyder walked and Fronheiser popped out on a bunt attempt, Taylor Bortz lined a shot into the right-center field gap that appeared destined for extra bases. Harpster raced over from center field and made the catch look relatively easy.

“I’m usually good at judging it when it comes off the bat,” Harpster said. “It gave me a little head start. I really had to sprint forward and then it kind of was going over my head and so I had to go back at the last minute. I wasn’t letting anything drop.”

“She’s unbelievable,” Gonder said of Harpster. “She’s as good as I’ve seen at any level. She reads the ball off the bat so well that I’m surprised she’s not standing there stopped catching the ball.”

In the sixth, it was Rex’s turn to get out of the trouble. Amanda Hess led off the inning with a double, but Rex struck out Jenn Seabourne after Seabourne was unable to get a bunt down.

Gonder then elected to intentionally walk Jenn Dalickas, the Lady Bullets’ best hitter.

“With the bases loaded, I might have walked her,” Gonder said. “We know that she’s their kingpin. Our scouting report basically said, ‘Don’t let her beat us.’ I’m glad the girl led off with a double so we had an empty base there.”

Rex then fanned Taylor Britzenhoff and Megan Olsen to get out of the jam.

“I went after the batter,” Rex said. “I tried to work the ball low and hit my corners and hit my spots. After all of these games I have so much faith in (my defense). They just come up with the plays.”

With three outs needed to bring home the gold, the final inning got off to a rough start for P-O as Snyder singled to left.

“When that first batter hit the ball I was like, ‘Shoot, this could end badly,’” catcher Carly Gonder admitted thinking.

Rex struck out Fronheiser and got Bortz on a pop-up to bring the raucous P-O throng to its feet. Rex fell behind No. 9 hitter Katrina Hughes 3-1 and got it to 3-2 before Hughes lifted a pop-up into no-man’s land in foul territory in short left field. Wilson raced over from shortstop and made an outstanding over-the-shoulder grab to touch off the gold-medal celebration.

“I made my mind up that I was going to make that play,” Wilson said. “I knew I had to. … It was one of the greatest feelings ever. I was just so pumped. My teammates came and tackled me. It was just so awesome.”

“When the ball went up in the infield and Mackenzie Wilson was chasing it, I had no doubt in my mind that she was going to catch that ball,” Jim Gonder said.

The Lady Bullets left three runners in scoring position.

“We had our opportunities,” Roach said. “We needed to execute in certain things and we just didn’t get the job done. Give their pitcher credit. She pitched balls that were tough to execute things and their defense came through.”

Brandywine entered the game having struck out just 87 times all season, but Rex had the Lady Bullets number after fanning two in the first inning.

“I read that this morning in the paper and I’m thinking, “All right, let’s get some ground balls and pop-ups then,’” Rex said. “After the first inning I’m like, ‘Geez, maybe I can get some strikeouts out of these girls.’”

“We’ve seen pitchers of the same caliber at least three or four times,” Roach said. “I’m going to have to give her credit as being the best because she struck out 11 of us and we don’t strike out that much.”

The Lady Mounties don’t strike out much either, but Fronheiser (24-3) fanned 11.

“We whiffed a few times today, too,” Jim Gonder said. “That pitcher did a great job.”

“I thought she was really gutsy,” Roach said of his pitcher. “She did what she had to do. She pitched well enough to win this ballgame. We just couldn’t execute well enough on the other side of the ball to help her out.”

Wilson had two singles to lead P-O, upping her record season hit total to 48. Aisha Goss added a double.

Amanda Arnold, Wilson, Rex, Knepp and Harpster played their final games in P-O uniforms.

“This is exactly how I wanted to go out, with my team behind me,” said Wilson with her gold medal gleaming. “We played a great game together. My teammates are awesome. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of teammates.”