Westmoreland teams claim long-coveted section titles

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Monday, May 6, 2019 | 9:58 PM

The wait is over for a number of Westmoreland County baseball teams.

For a few, it’s been over a decade since they last celebrated a WPIAL section championship. Three county schools have secured section titles, while two others will take their hopes of doing so into the final days of the regular season.

Franklin Regional and Penn-Trafford can enjoy outright section titles. The Panthers hadn’t won a section since 2006 and the Warriors, ‘07.

Congratulations to the FR Baseball Team for clinching the Section Title! Proud of the boys for believing in each other and putting in the work every day! You guys earned it!

— FR Baseball (@_FRBaseball) May 7, 2019

Varsity baseball defeats Norwin 5-4. Congratulations Warriors and Coaches Section Champions!

— PT Warriors (@PTWarriors) May 6, 2019

Both have gained distance in their section races to claim titles. Red-hot Franklin Regional (14-1, 11-0) won’t face a must-win against Gateway in Section 1-5A now Wednesday after the Panthers rolled to their 11th straight victory, 10-0 over Penn Hills, while Gateway was clipped by Fox Chapel, 4-3.

The Panthers moved 2.5 games ahead of the Gators.

Penn-Trafford (15-2, 8-2) is the same distance in front of Norwin in Section 2-6A after edging past the Knights, 5-4. The Warriors have won six of seven and are scheduled to play Franklin Regional in nonsection play Thursday.

In Section 1-4A, Yough (12-5, 10-2) has clinched at least a share of its first section since 2016. Greensburg Salem (13-2, 9-2), though, can tie the Cougars for the title with a win Wednesday against Mt. Pleasant.

Greensburg’s last section title was in 2012.

In District 6, Ligonier Valley (12-1, 9-1) needs to defeat Homer-Center Thursday in a North Division matchup to earn a spot in Monday’s conference title game at Homer-Center against South champion West Shamokin.

Ligonier Valley also has not won a conference since 2012.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Franklin Regional, Greensburg Salem, Ligonier Valley, Penn-Trafford