The good news for Trinity when the WPIAL Class AAAA softball tournament pairings were announced was that the Hillers found themselves on the opposite side of the bracket from Latrobe.

That's not just because the Wildcats are the No. 1 seed and defending WPIAL champion. More relevant to Trinity is the fact that Latrobe ended the Hillers' season in each of the past two years in the quarterfinals.

The bad news? The team the Hillers will meet in the quarterfinals tomorrow at 5 p.m. at Fairhaven Park in Kennedy Township is the one that knocked them out of the playoffs the last time Latrobe didn't (2005). Shaler Area just happens to be a team that has won two PIAA titles and one WPIAL championship in the past four seasons.

"Shaler always has had a strong program," Trinity coach Linda Rebish said. "Although I kind of like our matchup."

Rebish said she didn't know too much about the Titans (14-4), other than the fact they are part of Section 3, a section generally regarded as one of the best in the WPIAL.

Trinity (12-6) actually had a better record in its section, Section 3, than Shaler did in its (9-3 as opposed to 8-4). Both teams tied for their respective section titles.

"I think our section is as strong as their section," Rebish said. "That's probably a different opinion from people in [Pittsburgh's north suburbs]. It's a good section, but we feel we have a good section, too. We shall see.

"Shaler has always had a strong program. But maybe it's time for the [schools south of Pittsburgh] to take over for a while."

The two teams have a history of playing against each other, having met four times during the previous three seasons -- Trinity won regular-season meetings in 2006 and 2007, but Shaler won both 2005 contests, including the Titans' 5-0 win in the WPIAL quarterfinals that year.

"It's just a real good program," Shaler coach Skip Palmer said. "The coach is very disciplined, the kids are disciplined and their pitcher has been around a while. They're a good team to play. But I think we match up pretty well against them. I think we hit the ball pretty well."

Trinity is built around a senior battery of catcher Sara Guffey and Kristen Zelenka, who has been pitching for the Hillers for four seasons.

Also having good years for Trinity are leading hitter Ashley Morran, a sophomore first baseman, sophomore second baseman Shannon Falleroni and junior shortstop Kilee Bonazza.

Trinity is coming off a dominating 9-0 win against McKeesport in the first round of the WPIAL tournament Tuesday, one in which Zelenka posted another strong performance, tossing a two-hitter with 17 strikeouts.

"I think we're coming together," Rebish said. "That's key. Kristen has been a solid pitcher for us for several years. But what we needed to do was get everybody on the same page and everybody working toward the same goal. And that last playoff game, I think we were there. That's a good sign. I'm getting the feeling from the girls that our best is yet to come."

That's a positive for a team that hadn't been playing its best down the stretch, losing three of its final seven regular-season games.

Shaler, conversely, has won 12 of its past 13. That play helped earn the Titans the No. 3 seed and the first-round bye that comes with it. But Palmer doesn't see that as an advantage, pointing out that during last season's WPIAL playoffs, two of the four No. 1 seeds in their respective classifications lost in their first playoff game after lengthy layoffs.

It will have been 13 days since Shaler last played when it takes the field tomorrow. To stay sharp in the interim, the Titans participated in a couple scrimmages.

After all, in a single-elimination format, one flat game and a season can end.

"Anything can happen," Palmer said. "There's all good teams in there right now. You make a break or boot the ball, you're in trouble. It's the teams that don't make the mistakes that do better than the ones that do make mistakes.

"Right now, you've got to be playing focused, and you've got to be lucky, and you go from there."