Hempfield hosting softball doubleheader in Thursday’s 3 things to watch in high school sports

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, April 11, 2018 | 10:40 PM

Thursday is expected to be such a perfect day weather-wise with partly sunny skies and temps rising to the 70's, so let's play two.

That is the intentions of the three-time defending WPIAL Class 6A softball champion Hempfield Spartans. They will make-up not one, but two previous Section 2 postponements.

At 3 p.m., Hempfield will host Allderdice and then at 5 p.m., the Spartans welcome Penn Hills. Hear the Penn Hills vs. Hempfield game on the TribLive High School Sports Network .

Another big district softball game on the slate for Thursday pits the two finalists in Class 5A from a year ago battling for the top spot in Section 3, when West Allegheny visits Moon. The defending champion Indians swept the Tigers last year in the regular season in two close games 5-4 and 10-7.

However, it was a different story when these two West Hills rivals met at Cal (Pa.) with WPIAL gold on the line as West Allegheny pounded Moon, 12-2, to win the school's first softball championship.

Nearly even Steven

Eleven years ago, Peters Township shut out neighboring Bethel Park, 12-0, in the 2007 WPIAL Class AAAA baseball championship game. Since then, this rivalry has been close to being dead even.

Going into last year, the Indians and Black Hawks were 9-9 against each other since that title game blowout. But Bethel Park took the edge by sweeping Peters Township a year ago, winning 4-1 at home and 6-5 at Peterswood Park.

The first of two meetings between these playoff teams from a year ago takes place Thursday at Purkey Field in Bethel Park.

There are three other district section baseball games matching up playoff teams from a year ago, including two in Class 5A, where North Hills visits Armstrong in Section 1 and Gateway hosts defending champion Latrobe in Section 3.

It's been a rough start for both this year, but last year Quigley Catholic and Western Beaver qualified for the Class A playoffs. The Spartans and Golden Beavers meet in Industry in a Section 3 contest Thursday.

Battle of champions

Beaver County Christian has won back-to-back WPIAL Class AA boys volleyball championships. Before that, Ambridge captured four Class AA titles in a row and won seven crowns in eight years dating back to 2008.

Thursday, the two Section 1 foes meet for the first of two meetings this year at Ambridge. The Bridgers are the top ranked team in Class AA and are a 4-0 in Section 1. The Eagles are 3-1 in the section and ranked No. 6.

Another big match Thursday will pit defending Class AAA champion North Allegheny against Seneca Valley in a battle for first place in Section 2.

The Tigers beat the Raiders in the district semifinals a year ago 3-1 before beating then-defending champion Penn-Trafford in the WPIAL finals.

North Allegheny is 4-0 and ranked No. 1, while Seneca Valley checks in with a 3-1 record and ranked No. 5. Listen to the match on the TribLive High School Sports Network .

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

Tags: Allderdice, Ambridge, Beaver County Christian, Bethel Park, Gateway, Hempfield Area, Latrobe, Moon, North Allegheny, Penn Hills, Peters Township, Quigley Catholic, Seneca Valley, West Allegheny