Softball
2016 WPIAL Softball Championship Preview
June 2, 2016
The WPIAL softball championships have a trio of new faces this year. The championships will be played Friday at California University of Pa.’s Lilly Field and three of the eight participants have never been so close to WPIAL gold medals. Mount Pleasant, West Allegheny and West Greene are all making their first appearances in a championship game. Meanwhile, Hempfield, Baldwin, Ellwood City, South Park and Chartiers-Houston have all won at least one championship before. The games were rained out Thursday and rescheduled for Friday. Here is a look at each championship: CLASS AAAA: The game: Baldwin (13-3) vs. Hempfield (20-2), 2:30 p.m.WPIAL Softball Consolation Tuesday Recaps
May 31, 2016
WPIAL softball gold will be decided on Thursday with all four district championship games at Lilley Field at California University of Pennsylvania. On Tuesday, it was time to decide which teams would join the finalists in the upcoming PIAA softball postseason. Here are recaps from all four WPIAL Consolation contests played at Cal U and West Allegheny Tuesday afternoon. A special thanks to Ed Troup, Steve Nagler, Kyle Dawson and Lee Mohn for their help on these recaps. WPIAL CLASS AAAA Consolation:This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 05/29/2016
May 29, 2016
A holiday weekend leads us right into Championship Week on the diamonds and the final WPIAL Finals of the 2015-2016 school year this week here on the MSA Sports Network. We have Championship and Consolation action in both WPIAL Baseball and WPIAL Softball along with another full week of Washington Wild Things pro baseball, plus Rappin' on Racin' and the final edition of WPIAL Diamond Notes this spring on a special night ALL here at MSAsports.net Monday, May 30th: TALK SHOW - Rappin' on Racin' at 6:00pm on MSAsports.net Tuesday, May 31st:WPIAL Softball Recaps From Wednesday, May 25th
May 25, 2016
The last missing pieces to the WPIAL Baseball and Softball Championship Week puzzle were filled in on Wednesday as eight Final Four winners had their ticket punched and they are headed out to Cally...California University of Pennsylvania that is where next Thursday, those eight teams play for district gold. The Final Four losers do not pack in it yet though as they will settle for a spot in their classes consolation game to play for a berth in the PIAA Playoffs and continue their season into June. Here are the Softball Semifinals summaries. A special thanks to Mike Azadian, Mark Schaas, Lou Rood, Jason Tennant, Sean Meyers, Bob Gregg and Lee Mohn for their help on these recaps. WPIAL CLASS AAAA Semifinals:WPIAL Softball Recaps From Tuesday, May 24th
May 24, 2016
13 was the lucky number for games played on Monday in Round Two of the district softball postseason, while three games were not so fortunate and had to be bumped back 24 hours to Tuesday. For the three teams that won and advanced in those games, the wait was worth it, but the turnaround is quick as they have 24 hours to prep for the Final Four. Here are the three summaries from the WPIAL Quarterfinals Softball games played at Hampton Township Park on Tuesday. A special thanks to Jake Holmes, Josh Rowntree and Kyle Dawson for their help on these recaps. WPIAL CLASS AAAA Quarterfinals:WPIAL Softball Recaps From Monday, May 23rd
While a full slate of Second Round games were scheduled for Monday in the district softball postseason, heavy rains on Sunday forced six site changed. Then an unforecast pop up storm wiped away three games until Tuesday. But the action from the games that were played was tight as we get deeper into the 2016 WPIAL Softball Playoffs. Here are summaries from the diamond on Quarterfinals Monday. A special thanks to Don Rebel, Bob Orkwis, Mark Uriah, James Dotson, Bob Gregg, Sean Meyers, Greg Kuntz, Kyle Dawson and Jason Tennant for their help on these recaps. WPIAL CLASS AAAA Quarterfinals:Scholastic Notebook – 05/22/2016
May 22, 2016
Plum’s Alex Kirilloff has a good chance to be selected in the first round of the June 9 Major League Baseball draft. Teams love his bat and also like the way he plays the outfield. At Plum, they also love the way he pitches. Kirilloff has a bright future as an outfielder, but at the present, he is one dominating pitcher. He is certainly one of the best hurlers in the WPIAL. When Plum defeated Peters Township, 2-0, in the WPIAL Class AAAA quarterfinals Thursday, Kirilloff led the way with his hitting – and pitching. He had a double and triple at the plate. But he also pitched six innings , struck out 11 and gave up only one hit.WPIAL Softball Recaps From Wednesday, May 18th
May 19, 2016
On Monday, the district softball postseason opened with opening round action in Quad-A and Single-A. On a chilly, gray day in Western Pa, it was time for all of the Class AAA and Class AA playoff participants to hit the diamond. Well, almost all of them. Four games were pushed back to Thursday, leaving six Triple-A and five Double-A games to thin the field and set up Round Two next week. A special thanks to Sean Meyers, Mike Azadian, Jason Tennant, Paul Paterra, Mark Schaas, Lou Rood, Jake Holmes, Bob Gregg and Don Rebel for their help on these recaps. WPIAL CLASS AAA First Round:WPIAL Softball Recaps From Monday, May 16th
May 16, 2016
Opening day of the 2016 WPIAL Softball Playoffs featured opening round games in both Class AAAA and Class A with a Class AA Preliminary Round contest thrown in for good measure. Here are recaps of the five Quad-A, one Double-A and seven Single-A games that lifted the lid on this seasons postseason softball play. A special thanks to Dennis Fischer, Jason Tennant, Sean Meyers, Bob Gregg, Sam McCollum, Greg Kuntz, Lou Rood, Randy Gore and Don Rebel for their help on these recaps. WPIAL CLASS AAAA First Round:This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 05/16/2016
Let the postseason begin! While other are wrapping up their gear for the summer, The Network prepares for exclusive coverage of the district baseball, softball, lacrosse and volleyball playoffs this week here on the MSA Sports Network. We have First Round and Quarterfinals action in WPIAL Baseball, First Round play in WPIAL Softball and Quarterfinals matches in WPIAL boys and girls lacrosse along with the first full week of the Washington Wild Things 2016 campaign, plus Rappin' on Racin' and another edition of WPIAL Diamond Notes on a special night ALL here at MSAsports.net Monday, May 16th:FINAL 2016 WPIAL Softball Standings
May 14, 2016
Here are the FINAL WPIAL softball standings for the 2016 season...including all the FINAL WPIAL softball playoff clinchings. The standings will be updated daily through the regular season. You can follow the high school softball season with schedules, scores, weekly rankings every Tuesday and game broadcasts, including another year of the MSA Sports Hometown Softball Program here on the MSA Sports Network. The 2016 WPIAL Softball Playoffs ONLY on the MSA Sports Network will be sponsored by Carlow University. Teams in capital letters are part of the MSA Sports Hometown Softball Program.MSA Sports Top Ten – WPIAL Softball Playoff Teams – 05/11/2016
May 11, 2016
Each week during the 2016 regular season, MSA Sports ranked the top ten softball teams in the WPIAL in all four classifications. Now that the district postseason field is (nearly) set, we rank ALL of the 60 playoff bound teams. HOWEVER, it is not a true ranking from #1 to whatever. Like the steering committee does, we seed the teams to avoid the teams from the same section playing each other in the First Round. You fill in the top four, then the next four, then you start plugging teams in. Not an exact science, but it makes the guess work fun.Belle Vernon Softball Forfeits Three Games, Out of Playoffs
Despite finishing in second place in the WPIAL Class AAA Section 3, 2015 district softball champion Belle Vernon will not get a chance to defend their crown. The Leopards must forfeit three section victories because of the use of two ineligible players. Those loses drop Belle Vernon to 6-6 in the section and in fourth place. Top three teams from each section make the WPIAL playoffs. The players in question are two freshmen who played for the Belle Vernon 'Junior High' team which consists of players in 7th, 8th and 9th grade. If the players were on an all Freshman or a JV team, they could be promoted to the varsity team at any time. However PIAA rules do not allow players from 'Junior High' to play varsity.
WPIAL Alum Q&A – Giorgiana Zeremenko
May 10, 2016
Giorgiana Zeremenko made headlines in helping guide Canon-McMillan to softball gold multiple times during her high-school career. Now playing at the University of Pittsburgh, Zeremenko has put herself in the record books with an incredible season for the Panthers. She is the focus of the latest installment of the WPIAL Alum Q&A. Zeremenko wasted no time in contributing for the Big Macs, as she earned All-District honors as a freshman, and was also named Canon-McMillan's defensive MVP in 2011. The following season, she was instrumental in guiding her team to the Class Quad-A WPIAL Championship, a 4-1 victory over Hempfield Area. It marked the first softball title in school history.2016 Hometown Softball Recap – Belle Vernon Leopards
Bailey Parshall tossed a two-hit shutout striking out 12 and walking only two as the Lady Leopards raised their Section 3 AAA record to 8-3 and overall record to 14-5. Parshall also went 4-4 at the plate with a double and three singles to key the Leopards 11 hit attack. Kourtney Gavatorta got Belle Vernon on the board with a bases loaded 2 run double in the bottom of the first inning to put BVA up 2-0 after 1 inning. It could have been worse, but West Mifflin pitcher Amber Cook was able to pitch her way out of a one-out bases loaded jam by getting back to back pop-ups to end the inning with the Leopards stranding 3 runners.This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 05/09/2016
May 9, 2016
The final contests of the high school baseball, softball and lacrosse regular season will give way to postseason talk this week here on the MSA Sports Network. We have WPIAL and District 6 high school baseball and softball regular season finales as well as WPIAL girls lacrosse and college baseball postseason play featuring the LaRoche Red Hawks, plus Rappin' on Racin', another edition of WPIAL Diamond Notes and the WPIAL Softball Pairings Show and the WPIAL Baseball Pairings Show ALL here at MSAsports.net Monday, May 9th: TALK SHOW - Rappin' on Racin' at 6:00pm on MSAsports.netScholastic Notebook – 05/06/2016
May 6, 2016
It was against lowly competition, and each game lasted only five innings. But still, the recent pitching performances of Zach Bowen were ones for the national record book. Bowen is a sophomore at Serra Catholic who pitched back-to-back perfect games. Both games were blowouts and lasted only five innings because of the 10-run rule. Bowen’s first perfect game came April 27 against Clairton in a 17-0 win. Then this past Monday, Bowen pitched another perfect game in another 17-0 win, this time against Geibel Catholic. According to the National Federation of High School Associations record book, only two other pitchers are known to have thrown consecutive perfect games. Mike Bradley of Fort Bragg, Cal., did it in 1991 and Anthony Velasquez of Bayside, N.Y., in 2006.
Hometown Softball Recap – Elizabeth Forward Warriors – 05/05/2016
May 5, 2016
On senior day for Elizabeth Forward at William Penn Field, it was a junior who helped the Warriors overcome a deficit, ultimately prevailing 8-4 against the McKeesport Tigers. Junior Lauren Mathews pitched three scoreless innings in relief of Sarah Turek, and Mathews was also instrumental offensively, as she crushed a two-run homer. Despite her struggles pitching, Turek turned in a stellar performance at the plate, going 4-4. When the contest began after a lengthy rain and lightening delay, McKeesport immediately applied pressure to Turek, as the Tigers loaded the bases with just one out. Turek induced a pop up and a ground out to escape the jam, though.
Hometown Softball Recap – Baldwin Highlanders – 05/04/2016
May 4, 2016
As the old rock group Bachman Turner Overdrive once sang, Baldwin on senior day was 'Taking Care of Business' as they stayed on the heels of the AAAA-4 first place Canon-McMillan Big Macs with a 14-0 whitewash of the Upper St. Clair Panthers Tuesday evening. Baldwin scored six runs in the top of the first inning and never looked back. Senior Jaime Schleicher continued her amazing season (now hitting .750) with an RBI single to score Taylor Dadig to get the party started. Senior Ana Hale delivered an RBI single, two runs scored on wild pitches and Addy Tagg drove in a pair with a single as the Highlanders sent ten to the plate against starter Lillian Caudill of USC.
Hometown Softball Recap – Blackhawk Cougars – 05/04/2016
On Tuesday, Blackhawk honored its seniors of the softball team, who on the field, were looking to stay in the thick of things for a WPIAL Class AAA playoff spot against Hopewell, who also needed a win Tuesday. Blackhawk's Krystine Young, who will play at Mt. Union next season, registered two doubles, a RBI and three total hits in her four plate appearances in a 8-3 loss for the Cougars. Blackhawk held a 3-0 lead after four innings of play at home, scoring on a Breann Dickton RBI single in the first inning, a Young RBI double in the third and Kailey Rayz sacrifice fly in the fourth.
