Section 1-6A baseball finales among Wednesday’s 3 things to watch in high school sports

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, May 2, 2018 | 1:48 AM

The WPIAL playoff race remains crowded in Section 1-6A baseball, but almost everybody in contention could end up celebrating.

There are two section finales Wednesday and both will impact the playoff picture: Central Catholic visits North Allegheny at 7 p.m., and Pine-Richland visits Shaler at 4 p.m.

Section-leader Central Catholic (7-2 in section) and Butler (5-4) have clinched playoff spots. North Allegheny (4-5), Pine-Richland (4-5) and Shaler (4-5) are tied for third.

The WPIAL takes the top four teams from each section plus ties that can't be broken.

Win or lose Wednesday, North Allegheny (4-5) has a spot already secured based on tiebreakers. With a win Wednesday, either Pine-Richland (4-5) or Shaler (4-5) will also clinch a playoff berth.

The Pine-Richland/Shaler loser is eliminated unless North Allegheny also loses and creates a two-way tie for fourth at 4-6. In that scenario, all five teams advance because NA split its head-to-head matchups with both PR and Shaler, and therefore the tie can't be broken.

However, if there's a three-way tie for fourth at 4-6 between North Allegheny, the Pine-Richland/Shaler loser and Seneca Valley, only NA advances from that group based on tiebreakers. The WPIAL uses head-to-head records against the other tied teams to break three-way ties. In that scenario, NA would be 3-1, Pine-Richland or Shaler would be 2-2 and Seneca Valley would be 1-3.

Seneca Valley (3-6) faces Butler on Thursday.

Moving on from a loss

The Laurel Highlands baseball team started the season with 11 consecutive wins, but now the Mustangs will try to avoid their first losing streak.

A day after taking its first loss, 2-0 to Franklin Regional, Laurel Highland (11-1, 11-1) makes a quick turnaround to face Gateway (11-2, 10-2) on Wednesday in a battle for first place in Section 3-5A.

Laurel Highland defeated Gateway, 6-2, in their first matchup April 21.

Three-way race in Section 1-3A

With Steel Valley (7-1), Burrell (6-1) and Valley (7-2) all within a half-game of first place, the Section 1-3A baseball title seems far from decided.

There's a key matchup Wednesday when Valley visits Burrell at 4 p.m. Burrell won 4-2 when the teams played April 18.

This is the finale for Valley, but Burrell has two more section matchups left: Thursday vs. East Allegheny and Monday at Steel Valley.

Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.