District baseball champions hope to begin section play in Tuesday’s 3 things to watch in high school sports

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, April 2, 2018 | 11:42 PM

While the Monday snow has all but melted away, rain is on the forecast for Tuesday, jeopardizing a good chunk of section openers in WPIAL baseball.

Five defending district champions are scheduled to open their section schedule, including Latrobe hosting Woodland Hills in Section 3-5A, Blackhawk at Ambridge in Section 2-4A, Riverside is home to South Side Beaver in Section 2-3A, California welcomes Fort Cherry in Section 1-2A and Jeannette visits West Greene in Section 2-A.

Defending Class 6A champion Pine-Richland is in action Tuesday as it hosts Moon in a nonsection contest.

The Wolverines at Wildcats game along with a nonsection matchup between Plum and Fox Chapel may survive the wet forecast since both games will be played on turf.

Lacrosse pair for Peters

The Peters Township boys and girls lacrosse teams will each hit the field for early season key matches on Tuesday.

The Indians boys' team will host Upper St. Clair. Peters Township lost its season opener to Pine-Richland but has since won three straight. The Panthers split their first two matches in 2018, beating Bethel Park and falling to North Allegheny.

Both teams reached the semifinals in 2017, USC as the No. 4 seed and PT as the No. 7. The Panthers lost to rival Mt. Lebanon in a Final Four match while the Indians beat Shady Side Academy and Mt. Lebanon to win the school's first WPIAL boys lacrosse championship.

Peters Township's girls' team heads up Route 19 to battle neighboring Bethel Park. Both teams won their season openers, with the Indians cruising past Baldwin while the Black Hawks bested South Fayette.

Last year, both Peters Township and Bethel Park reached the WPIAL Class AAA quarterfinals, where the Indians lost to Pine-Richland and the Black Hawks lost to Mt. Lebanon. Pine-Richland eventually won district gold.

Volleyball powers set for section showdown

Girls lacrosse isn't the only sport that Peters Township will battle Bethel Park in on Tuesday. The Indians and Black Hawks will also meet in a big boys volleyball match.

The top two teams in Section 1-AAA a year ago meet for the first time this year. Bethel Park finished three games ahead of Peters Township last year and won both head-to-head matches. The Black Hawks reached the Final Four a year ago before losing to Penn-Trafford. The Indians' title hopes ended with a quarterfinal loss to eventual champion North Allegheny.

Don Rebel is a TribLIVE High School Sports Network broadcaster and staff writer. Reach him at drebel@tribweb.com.