PIAA Class 5A softball state championship preview: Penn-Trafford vs. Greencastle-Antrim

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Thursday, June 12, 2025 | 2:01 PM

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Class 5A

Penn-Trafford (23-3) vs. Greencastle-Antrim (22-3)

4 p.m. Friday at Beard Field at Nittany Lion Softball Park, Penn State

District-place: Penn-Trafford 7-2; Greencastle-Antrim 3-3

PIAA titles: Penn-Trafford 1 (2019); Greencastle-Antrim 1 (2009)

Road to State College: Penn-Trafford — Defeated 6-1 Central Mountain, (3-2), 3-1 Red Land (6-5) and 7-3 West Allegheny (8-2); Greencastle-Antrim — Defeated 1-1 Marple Newton (9-1), 2-1 North Pocono (3-0) and 1-2 West Chester East (13-0)

Coaches: Denny Little, Penn-Trafford; Mark DeCarli, Greencastle-Antrim

Players to watch: Rilie Moors, Penn-Trafford; Meadow Gambacurta, Greencastle-Antrim

Extra bases: Penn-Trafford returns to the state finals after winning its only PIAA softball title in 2019. The Warriors won a pair of tight games in the first two rounds before thumping West Allegheny in the semifinals. The WPIAL runner-up Warriors pounded out 13 hits and took advantage of four errors. Kylie Anthony went 3 for 4 while Moors, Bella Rubbe and Giuliana Youngo had two hits each in the win. Lorryn Sepe and Cam Ponko knocked in two runs each. Pitcher Allyson Paulone improved to 19-3. She scattered seven hits and relied on the defense. Anthony went 4 for 4 in the quarterfinals. Ponko and Rubbe are IUP commits, and Moors is headed to Seton Hill. The Warriors are in the state playoffs for just the fifth time (four since 2019). When the Warriors won in ‘19, they were WPIAL semifinalists. … Greencastle-Antrim is back in the state finals for the first time in 16 years after winning its only title in 2009. In a 13-0 win over West Chester East in the semfinals, Kaidyn Zimmerman, Kinda Rice and Kylie Kerns homered for the Blue Devils. Gamacurta, a Bucknell commit who plays shortstop, bats .464 with four homers and 35 RBIs. Table-setter Caroline Logsdon has a team-high 34 hits to go with 23 RBIs and 36 runs scored. Kiersten Swain is the staff ace — the team has used five pitchers — and is 10-1 with a sub-1.60 ERA and 100 strikeouts in 61 1/3 innings. The Blue Devils did not make the state tournament last season. This is their ninth appearance overall in the PIAA tournament. The teams have never played each other. Penn-Trafford and Greencastle-Antrim are about 160 miles apart via the Pa. Turnpike. District 3 includes Lebanon, Dauphin, Lancaster, Cumberland, Franklin and other counties. Greencastle-Antrim is about 11 miles from the Maryland border. … Four other Westmoreland County programs have won state softball titles. They are Hempfield (1999, 2016, ‘17, ‘18), Mt. Pleasant (2017, ‘21), Yough (2016) and Valley (2011).

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Penn-Trafford