PIAA Baseball & Softball Semifinals Tuesday Recaps

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, June 9, 2015 | 11:56 PM

Already delayed 24 hours by rain, the forecast was not all that promising for Tuesday. However Mother nature cooperated and all but three PIAA Semifinals games were played, including three contests involving WPIAL teams. Two district softball teams were winners and are headed to Penn State to play for state gold while a district baseball team saw their season end in heartbreak fashion. Here are the three recaps from Tuesday.

A special thanks to Don Rebel, Bob Orkwis, Bob Gregg and Lou Rood for their help on these recaps.

BASEBALL:

Class AAAA Semifinals:
North Penn Knights 3 – Shaler Titans 1
For six innings, Shaler was in control and were three outs away from advancing to the state finals when things went south quickly. Junior Jake Potock had a one hitter through six innings before a walk, two hit batters and a sacrifice fly tied the game at 1-1. The Titans loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the 7th with 2 hits and an intentional walk, but Noah Hernandez flies out to send the game into extra innings. Mike Christy then delivered a two-run homer in the top of the 8th for North Penn that proved to be the difference. Bloomsburg recruit Colin Healey was the winning pitcher for the Knights, who improve to 22-4 and will battle Wyoming Valley West in the PIAA Quad-A title game Friday at Penn State at 5:30pm. North Penn is trying to win its second state crown in three years. Losing pitcher Potock allowed 3 runs on 3 hits and struck out six and the Titans season ends at 20-6.

SOFTBALL:

Class AAA Semifinals:
Trinity Hillers 3 – Bellwood-Antis Blue Devils 2
Shelby Clemens doubled home two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, lifting Trinity to a 3-2 win over Bellwood-Antis and a berth into the PIAA Finals Friday.  Paige Galentine got the win but struggled with control in the first, walking three and hitting another Blue Devil batter but limited the damage to two runs by not allowing a hit in the inning.  Anna Wolfe walked and moved to second when Taylor Shildt was hit by a pitch.  A wild pitch moved both up 60 feet.  Wolfe scored and Shildt moved to third on Jacqueline Finn’s groundout.  Two more walks loaded the bases and Laycee Clark’s grounder scored Shildt, putting B-A up 2-0.  Olivia Gray’s leadoff line drive to left wasn’t caught, allowing the Pitt recruit to reach third.  She scored on a wild pitch, pulling the Hillers to within a run after one.  Bellwood-Antis (18-7) had two on, one out in the third and two on, none out in the sixth but couldn’t push another run across.  The Trinity (20-5) defense threw out a runner at home in each of those innings, taking the wind out of potential threat.  After the wild pitch in the Hillers’ first, Trinity (20-5) didn’t have another base-runner until getting leadoff batters on in the fourth, fifth and sixth.  The first two opportunities went quietly with soft groundouts and a couple pop-outs.  Madi Hornack opened the sixth with a slap groundball over the circle and into center field.  Delaney Elling sacrificed her to second.  Hali Justice stroked a line drive to left just beyond a diving play of shortstop Clark.  Thinking the ball might be caught, Hornack initially broke back to second, then had to stop at third.  The throw from left went clear to the plate, allowing Justice to go to second.  Galentine fouled out, setting the stage for Clemens who threw out a potential insurance run at the plate in the top of the inning.  The senior third-baseman drilled a 2-2 outside fastball into right-center to give Trinity the lead.  Bellwood-Antis got two on with two out in the seventh before a comebacker ended the game.  Galentine, who walked 10, and hit three other batters in the quarterfinal win over Belle Vernon, allowed just two runs and three hits, walking five (two after the first).  Shildt took the loss, charged with three runs, two earned on four hits, walking one.  The win is Trinity’s fourth in a row and putting the Hillers in reach of a fourth five-game winning streak this year.  Trinity will play Bethlehem Catholic, a 5-0 winner over Nanticoke.  The Golden Hawks (18-7) are in the state finals for the second straight year and third time in seven seasons.  Friday’s winner will claim their first-ever PIAA softball title.

Class AA Semifinals:
Deer Lakes Lancers 4 – Cambridge Springs Blue Devils 3 in 8 Innings
Slippery Rock University hosted the PIAA AA Softball Semifinal between District 7 Champion Deer Lakes and District 10 Champion Cambridge Springs.  Deer Lakes had defeated Marion Center and Everett to advance to the semis while Cambridge Springs had vanquished Mohawk and Martinsburg Central in its two state playoff games.  The Deer Lakes Lancers entered the game with a 23-1 mark on a 21 game winning streak, while the Cambridge Springs Blue Devils were 18-4 on the season.  The Blue Devils won the coin toss and chose to be the home team so Deer Lakes was up to bat first.  The Lancers got a 1-out single from Shae Robson who then stole second but was stranded as Blue Devils pitcher Kaylie Parkins got the next two hitters to fly out ant end the inning.  Cambridge Springs also threatened in the first when Parkins led off with a single and courtesy runner Peyton Cole was advanced to 2nd base on a perfect sacrifice bunt by Amanda White.  Cole moved to 3rd on an infield out and then was stranded as Amy King grounded out back to pitcher Tiffany Edwards for the final out.  It was the only time Edwards got King out for the remainder of the game.  The top of the 2nd started off with a bang for Deer Lakes as Maria Taliani—she of the 3 HR’s in the WPIAL Championship game, hit a monster HR off the top of the scoreboard in straight away center field just about hitting the O in Rock dead center.  The solo shot gave the Lancers a 1-0 lead and would prove to be the only time she was allowed to bat the rest of the way through, as Cambridge Springs intentionally walked her the next three times she came to the plate.  The Blue Devils went 3 up and 3 down in the bottom half of the second bringing the Lancers back to the plate.  After Parkins retired the first two batters on just 7 pitches she walked Kate Gozzard who promptly scored from 1st on Tiffany Edward’s double to the fence in right center.  Parkins was able to get a fielder s choice to get out of the inning after intentionally walking Taliani for the first time and Deer Lakes was up 2-0 heading into the bottom of the 3rd.   Kierston Skelton led off the inning with a single but was forced at 2nd by Camryn Schmidt’s bunt to the pitcher.  Parkins then picked up her second hit of the game singling Schmidt to 2nd.  White hit into a fielder’s choice that erased the lead runner Schnidt and Kristen Kargol came up with 2 outs.  Kargol singled in Parkins with the Blue Devils first run and White moved to 3rd.  King then hit a low pop-up just up the 1B line that Sarah Blinn made an all-out diving attempt for but was not able to hold onto which left King safe at first and White crossing the plate with the tying run.  As the play continued Kargol attempted to get to third but was gunned out by Edwards to end the inning, but it was a new game tied at 2.  Neither team was able to score in the 4th or 5th innings. After Parkins gave up a 1-out intentional walk to Taliani, she set down the next two Lancer batters to end the inning.  King led off the bottom of the 6th with a double and it looked like she might be stranded after Edwards struck out the next two batters, but Erica White hit a looping ball into shallow center field that Maureen Hutchinson appeared to make a miracle diving catch on and King scooted home with the go ahead run.  The Blue Devils held a 3-2 lead entering the top of the 7th and were 3 outs away from a trip to State College, but the Lancers were not through yet.  Katelynn Blair led off the 7th with a single and Danielle Huffman came in to pinch run.  Blinn laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Huffman to 3rd and then lead-off hitter Rachel Tanilli hit a double to left center to score Huffman easily with the tying run.  Parkins pitched out of the jam getting the next two outs to strand Tanilli at 2nd.  The Blue Devils came up in the bottom of the 7th with a chance to end the game but Edwards set them down in order on just 8 pitches to send the game to extra innings.  With 1-out in the top of the 8th, Parkins issued Taliani her third intentional walk to put the go ahead run on base. Stephanie Drapela then singled Taliani to third and the Lancers had runners at 1st and 3rd with 1-out.  The Blue Devils pulled the infield up to try and cut down Taliani at the plate on a ground ball, but on a 2-0 pitch Parkins threw a wild pitch into the dirt that went back the backstop. As catcher Kierston Skelton hustled after the ball, Parkins covered home and Taliani scampered to the plate sliding into home at the same time Skelton’s throw reached Parkins.  It was a bang-bang play and the umpire ruled Taliani out, which brought different reactions from both sides.  The Cambridge Springs side erupted in elation and relief while the Deer Lakes side went from disbelief to anger as they thought the call had been missed.  Deer Lakes Head Coach Craig Taliani charged the home plate umpire and took extreme umbrage at the call and put on quite a display getting his point across.  Kudos to the Umpire who exercised good judgement in realizing just how important the play was and allowed Taliani to blow off the steam without ejecting him from the game which would have forced him to miss the championship game.  When everything had settled down, Drapela had moved to 3rd on the play and the Lancers were still only 60 feet aeway from taking the lead.  CF Maureen Hutchinson took a full count pitch into left field for a single driving home Drapela with the lead run and the Lancers had the lead back.  Parkins struck out Blair to end the inning and it was time to see if Cambridge Springs had any extra-inning magic.  King picked up her 3rd hit of the game with 1-out in the bottom of the 8th and the Blue Devils had hope.  McKayla Zilhaver came up to bat and on an 0-1 pitch slammed a line drive right at Lancer 3rd baseman Brittany Dengler who snagged the ball and threw to Blair at first to double off King and just like that the game was over and the Lancers started their celebration.  Cambridge Springs finished the season with an 18-5 mark on the year.  Deer Lakes moves to 24-1 and increases their win streak to 22 games in a row.  The Lancers will play at 10:00 AM Friday at Nittany Lions Softball Park in State College, taking on Holy Redeemer.

Tags: Deer Lakes