High school roundup for June 10, 2024: Thomas Jefferson softball, Indiana baseball make 1st PIAA finals

By: Triblive
Monday, June 10, 2024 | 9:29 PM

Morgan Aliesky hit the go-ahead two-run single in the bottom of the sixth and Zoe Krizan drove in five runs to lead Thomas Jefferson to a 9-8 victory over Central Mountain in the PIAA Class 5A softball semifinals Monday.

The Jaguars advanced to the state championship game for the first time. They will meet District 2 champion Pittston Area (21-1) at 4 p.m. Thursday at Penn State.

Central Mountain (16-6) jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the second inning, led by a three-run homer by Madisyn Wian and a solo shot by Harley Kunes.

Thomas Jefferson (15-8) got back in the game with a four-run third, highlighted by a three-run double by Krizan.

Krizan and Alayna Grese hit solo home runs in the fifth to make it 8-6. Krizan had an RBI single in the sixth before Aliesky’s game-winning hit.

Aubrey Shaffer gave up eight runs, seven of which were unearned, in a complete-game win.

“It was tough being down 6-0, but it was early and we knew we could come back from anything,” Thomas Jefferson coach Heidi Karcher said in a release. “We just kept fighting and were able to pick away at it. We’ve worked so hard for this. We knew we had a really good team early in the season, we just had to come together.”

Baseball

Indiana 10, Fleetwood 3 – Winning pitcher Ben Ryan pitched a complete game and helped his own cause with three RBIs as Indiana clinched its first berth in the state championship game with a win over Fleetwood in the Class 5A semifinals.

Ryan gave up three runs, one earned, on four hits and struck out nine for Indiana (16-10), which took control with a four-run second inning.

Kadin Homer doubled twice and Andrew McGee, Ethan Shank and Tim Birch each singled and doubled for the Little Indians. Birch and Trevor Smith drove in two runs apiece.

Liam Hilbert had two hits and Dalton Young drove in two runs for Fleetwood (15-9).