Bushy Run rolls by Murrysville in District 31 Legion playoff opener

By: Paul Schofield
Tuesday, July 8, 2025 | 9:44 PM

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District 31 Playoffs

Tuesday’s results

Pigtail round

Unity wins by forfeit against Mt. Pleasant

Quarterfinals

Game 1

Bushy Run 9, Murrysville 0

Hempfield East 11, Young Township 1

Lower Burrell 3, Homer City 1

Wednesday’s schedule (5:30 p.m.)

Game 1

Unity at Latrobe (Legion Keener Field)

Game 2

Bushy Run at Murrysville (Haymaker Park)

Hempfield East at Young Township (Bertolino Field)

Lower Burrell at Homer City (First Commonwealth Bank Field)

The Bushy Run American Legion baseball team took advantage of seven Murrysville errors and solid pitching from Jon Lovre to open the District 31 playoffs Tuesday with a convincing victory.

Lovre pitched a two-hit shutout, allowed five walks and struck out three in a 9-0 victory at Penn-Trafford in Game 1 of the best-of-three series. Game 2 is 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Haymaker Park Murrysville.

Bushy Run took advantage of four errors and five singles to score six runs in the second inning.

Lovre began the inning with a single. He moved to third on two errors on Evan Lawson’s grounder. Then things came unraveled for the Eagles.

Noah Rattigan, Jordan White, Amari Thomas and Carmen Metcalfe had RBI hits, and Jake Sincak hit a sacrifice fly.

“We did not make mistakes, and they did,” Bushy Run coach Scott Peyman said. “That is the difference. We talked before the game about throwing strikes, playing defense and take advantage of their mistakes. We stole a lot of games, too.”

Lovre continued to dominate on the hill even though Peyman said he was not pleased that his curveball was not good.

“He just kept battling,” Peyman said. “He was able to throw strikes with his fastball, and he kept them off balance.”

Murrysville stranded seven runners: two in the first inning, three in the third inning and two in the fifth inning.

“Not getting the key hit was the difference,” Murrysville assistant coach Ryan Lemke said. “We must rectify our mistakes and come back stronger on Wednesday. That is good about a three-games series. We have an opportunity to come back and play better ball. We really only had one bad inning.”

Chase Lemke had a bunt single and Ethan Raver a line-drive hit for Murrysville.

Thomas and White had two hits each for Bushy Run.

“We are probably going to see a different Murrysville team on Wednesday,” Peyman said. “That is a good team over there, and they will have something to prove. We have to continue to play the same with the same intensity.”

In other action, Hempfield East scored six runs in the fourth inning and rolled to an 11-1 victory against Young Township.

Brody Chismar had a two-run double, and Dom Rosensteel had an RBI double. Quinn Wilkins, Ty Martin and Rosensteel had two hits each.

Lucas Demchak was the winning pitcher.

Game 2 is Wednesday at Bertolino Field near West Lebanon.

The pigtail game between Unity and Mt. Pleasant turned into a forfeit, with Unity taking the win.

Unity plays top-seeded Latrobe at Legion Keener Field on Wednesday.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.