Pine-Richland notebook: Weather postponements force teams to compact schedules

By: Jerin Steele
Sunday, April 14, 2024 | 11:01 AM

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April showers bring May flowers, but they also bring headaches for local spring sports coaches.

Inclement weather is expected every year during the WPIAL spring sports season, but what transpired the first week of April was record setting and forced plenty of postponements for Pine-Richland spring sports teams.

On April 2, the National Weather Service recorded 2.68 inches of rain at Pittsburgh International Airport, which is the highest single-day total for any day in April in Pittsburgh history.

It also rained April 1 and 3 and changed over to intermittent snow showers for April 4-5.

All that poor weather forced the Pine-Richland softball team to scrap its week of games, which included matchups with section rivals Baldwin and Norwin.

After an 11-day layoff, the Rams finally got back to play against North Allegheny on April 9. The Tigers won 16-1.

Pine-Richland baseball’s first attempt at a Section 1-6A three-game series turned into a week’s worth of postponements, prior to a rare Sunday doubleheader with Butler, which was played at No Offseason in Russellton.

The Rams split the twin bill with the Golden Tornado, winning 9-1 in the opening game, but falling in the second game, 8-4.

The plan was for Pine-Richland and Butler to finish their three-game set April 10 at Pullman Park, a game in the midst of the Rams’ second three-game set with Allderdice.

Pine-Richland beat the Dragons, 8-1, on April 9. The other two games of that series were slated for April 11-12 giving Pine-Richland six section games in six days.

The Rams’ boys tennis team had to reschedule its match with North Hills.

Even the girls lacrosse team postponed a match April 2, but was able to get in three games in the week and won all three.

Wood begins 2024 season

Former Pine-Richland baseball standout Matt Wood began his second full season in the Milwaukee Brewers organization on April 5 at High-A Wisconsin and got off to a hot start.

Wood, a catcher, had four hits in his first eight at-bats with the Timber Rattlers, including a double. He was a 2022 fourth-round pick of the Brewers.

Last season, Wood split time between Low-A Carolina and High-A Wisconsin, finishing with a .253/.377/.704 slash line in 108 games. He had 15 doubles, a triple, four homers and had 63 RBIs. He had more walks (73) than strikeouts (68).

Rams in the Roundball

Pine-Richland will have at least two representatives at the annual Roundball Classic weekend.

Carson Baer will play for the Class 6A boys team and Madison Zavasky is on the Class 6A girls team.

This year’s edition of the Roundball Classic will take place May 22-26, at North Allegheny.

The event has traditionally featured the top seniors in Western Pennsylvania, but this year there’s a new twist with several games featuring underclassmen.

The underclassmen rosters are still being finalized, so more Rams could be named to those teams.

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer

Tags: Pine-Richland