‘Anything can happen’: 2nd-seeded Plum, 8 other A-K Valley teams learn WPIAL baseball playoff assignments

By: Michael Love
Friday, May 9, 2025 | 5:37 PM

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Nine Alle-Kiski Valley baseball teams qualified for the WPIAL playoffs, and at the top of that list, Plum is the No. 2 seed in Class 5A.

The Mustangs (18-2), the outright Section 1 champions, found out they will take on No. 15 Mars at 3 p.m. Wednesday at Fox Chapel when the WPIAL released its playoff brackets Friday afternoon.

“Anything can happen at this point,” veteran Plum coach Carl Vollmer said. “A lot of it comes down to your pitching and who you’re facing. You always look for favorable matchups, but you go in with the trust of what got you there will be there throughout. In one-game elimination scenarios, it often comes down to who plays the best that day.”

Plum, in the playoffs for the fifth season in a row, was the No. 5 seed last year but was upset by No. 12 Trinity in 11 innings in the first round.

“The emotions from last year — we still have 10 guys on the team who experienced that heartbreak — we want to make sure that is not something that happens again,” Vollmer said.

Plum, along with Fox Chapel, Leechburg, Deer Lakes, Freeport, Burrell, Knoch, Riverview and Apollo-Ridge, qualified for the playoffs. The championship games for each of the six classifications will be May 27-28 at EQT Park in Washington.

On the opposite side of the bracket from Plum stands Fox Chapel, the No. 3 team from Section 3.

The Foxes (14-5), in the playoffs for the sixth straight season, won eight in a row at one point. That stretch started with a 3-2 win over section co-champion and Class 5A No. 1 seed Pine-Richland.

Fox Chapel will take on No. 9 Latrobe in the first round at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Gateway.

Several prognosticators felt the top three teams from Section 3-A — tri-champions Serra Catholic, Eden Christian and Bishop Canevin — might receive the top three seeds in the Class A bracket.

Serra and Eden got the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, but the committee placed Section 2 champion Leechburg (15-3, 14-0) as the No. 3 seed.

Bishop Canevin is seeded fourth.

Serra, Eden and Leechburg have byes to the quarterfinals, and the Blue Devils, in the WPIAL playoffs for an A-K Valley-best seventh season in a row, will take on the winner of No. 6 Carmichaels and No. 11 Union on May 19 at a site and time to be determined.

“Our optimism is high,” said Leechburg coach Heath Shimer, whose team averaged 11.1 runs over its 18 games. “We started our journey in January with indoor practices and had the goal of winning a WPIAL championship. We’ve had some ups and downs, but the guys are super stoked to get into the playoffs and show what they can do.

“I’ve had some damn good captains during my tenure, but I have three really good ones right now in Chase Henry, Jayden Floyd and Jake Cummings. They are helping run the show, and I couldn’t be any prouder to be a part of their ride with the rest of the team.”

Unpredictability always seeps into the daily grind of a baseball season, and no one could have predicted the final section standings in Section 3 of Class 3A where five teams — Freeport, Burrell, Mt. Pleasant, Ligonier Valley and Deer Lakes — finished tied for the section title with 8-4 records.

The competitiveness of the section gave the WPIAL pairings committee something to think about, and Deer Lakes (9-6) came out of the five-pack with the best seed.

The No. 6 Lancers will face No. 11 Mohawk at 4 p.m. Tuesday at North Allegheny. Deer Lakes won four of its final five games of the regular season and earned its tie in the standings with a series sweep of Yough.

The Lancers are back in the playoffs after a two-year hiatus.

Burrell made a magical run last year as the No. 14 seed in the Class 3A bracket to a fourth-place finish and a trip to the state playoffs. This year, the Bucs (12-8) begin their journey as the No. 8 seed and will face No. 9 Charleroi at 3 p.m. Tuesday at Gateway.

Freeport (13-6), back in the playoffs after one year away, won eight of nine to finish the regular season. The one loss was a 5-4 setback to Burrell on April 23, the day after the Yellowjackets rolled past the Bucs, 13-5.

Freeport will take on No. 4 Waynesburg in the first round at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Gateway.

“I don’t know if (a five-way tie) has happened before,” Freeport coach Ed Carr said. “If it has, I’ve never seen it. My buddy at Franklin Regional (Robert Saddler) was involved in the four-way tie (in Class 5A) last year, and we know how crazy that was.

“I am proud of the guys. We were 1-3 to start the season and battled back to get on a run. The matchups in the section were pretty interesting. There are so many styles of play in this tournament. You have Avonworth and Riverside and teams like that who have been pretty consistent. At this point, any team can put itself in a position to make a run. I would like to think we have that capability.”

Knoch (10-10) tied Greensburg Salem for second place in Section 3-4A behind Indiana. The Knights are the No. 8 seed in the Class 4A bracket and will face No. 9 Ambridge in the first round at 4 p.m. Wednesday at North Allegheny.

Riverview, with the Section 3-2A title on the line earlier this week, was swept by Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. It dropped the Raiders (12-5) to the runner-up spot in the section, and they were placed as the No. 6 seed for the first round. They will travel to Norwin at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and face No. 11 California.

The winner between the Raiders and Trojans meets No. 3 Burgettstown in the quarterfinals May 19.

OLSH (13-7, 11-1) is the No. 2 seed and has a bye into the quarterfinals.

Riverview is in the playoffs for the fifth season in a row. The Raiders made the Class 2A quarterfinals last year.

Apollo-Ridge (8-6) enters the playoffs for the first time since 2022. As the No. 9 seed in the Class 2A bracket, the Vikings will meet No. 8 Freedom at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Plum.

The winner will face top seed Neshannock in the quarterfinals May 19.

The Vikings, the fourth-place team from Section 3 of Class 2A, were 2-14 last year.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.