Seneca Valley, Hempfield again set for championship clash in Class 6A

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Tuesday, May 27, 2025 | 2:21 PM

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Ace pitcher Lexie Hames still remembers watching the softball sail out of the park.

Two years ago, Hempfield’s Mia Bandiermonte launched a game-winning home run off her in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift the Spartans to a 2-1 victory over Seneca Valley in the WPIAL Class 6A championship under the lights at Cal (Pa.)’s Lilley Field.

The memorable blast lifted Hempfield to its eighth WPIAL title and crushed the Raiders’ hopes.

Hames, now a senior, recovered just fine: She won a second WPIAL title last year and will go for a third at 11 a.m. Thursday at Norwin when she gets another shot at Hempfield in her fourth straight title game.

“It was a learning lesson, to be honest with you,” Hames said of the homer. “That was something that made me better. I was not as good then, and I have improved on a lot of things.”

Hempfield (20-1) knows all about Hames but boasts a terrific lineup and has a proven pitcher of its own in senior Riley Miller, a Kent State commit.

“We’re a competitive team, and Hempfield is a competitive team,” said Hames, a Clemson commit. “It’s fun when we play them.”

The teams split their two-game section series this spring, each winning at home, to keep their 6A series, which began in 2022, even at 5-5.

“Hempfield-Seneca is about as close of a matchup as it gets,” Hempfield coach Tina Madison said.

Hames struck out 18 in a 2-1 win for the Raiders (16-3), but Hempfield bounced back to win 1-0 as Miller and Hames each allowed one hit.

Hames and Miller have become must-see pitching when they meet.

This will be their eighth head-to-head matchup. Miller has won four, including the ’23 WPIAL title, and Hames has three.

Hames didn’t pitch as much when she was a freshman, and she was resting a minor injury when she pitched sparingly in the teams’ second regular-season matchup of 2023.

Miller missed one game against Seneca Valley because of a leg injury, a 7-2 quarterfinal loss when she was a freshman.

“With Hempfield and us, it comes down to which team makes a mistake,” Seneca Valley coach Marlesse Hames said. “It will come down to our defense. We have to make the plays. We have to play solid and be ready for Riley Miller’s spin.”

Hames is 16-2 and has 259 strikeouts this season. She has 931 strikeouts, 66 shy of Hempfield grad Jaci Kalp (997), who is second all-time behind WPIAL leader Amy Aloi (1,073), a 2002 Riverside grad.

Miller is 16-1 with a 0.96 ERA and 163 strikeouts.

“It’s a pitching duel at its finest,” Madison said.

Madison pointed out that if you eliminate the two games when Miller and Hames did not pitch, Hempfield has 15 runs in the series and Seneca Valley has 14.

Hempfield has one of its most potent lineups, and there have been many in a history laced with them. The group is hitting .404 as a team and has 202 runs in 21 games.

Some of the top hitters are second baseman Lauren Howard, a Virginia commit who is hitting .655 with five triples, five home runs, 36 RBIs and 32 runs, and outfielder Claire Mitchell (Maryland Baltimore County) has a .476 average, six homers, 24 RBIs and a program-record 37 runs. Shortstop Allie Cervola (Ohio) bats .415 with 18 RBIs and 27 runs.

Catcher Ella Berkebile (Bucknell) and pitcher Julia Varhola (James Madison) also are Division I commits.

Hempfield is notorious for not pitching to Hames, who has seven homers this season and 35 for her career. She leads off for the Raiders.

“She’s not a leadoff hitter,” Marlesse Hames said. “She is a 3 or 4 hitter. But we moved her because teams won’t pitch to her.”

Lexie Hames would love to hit one out against the Spartans on a big stage, but she probably won’t get a chance.

“I am hoping,” Hames said. “Fingers crossed.”

The Raiders, who clipped Norwin, 4-3, last year in the title game, are more than Lexie Hames.

Bella Gross, Abby Kalkowski and Emry Rice are key contributors to the offense.

“Bella Gross should have been first-team all-section,” Marlesse Hames said. “She is an integral part of this team.”

Hempfield is back in the finals after a stunning loss to Norwin in last year’s semifinals.

“I think there is a sense of redemption,” Madison said. “In a way, we were really looking forward to a matchup in the playoffs with Norwin, but it didn’t happen.”

Seneca Valley beat Norwin, 6-1, in the quarters as Hames fanned 16.

“We will be prepared for the game, but it is a tall task at hand,” Madison said. “You are asking a group of girls to beat a pitcher who is a generational player. We talk about the details of the game; every detail matters — 60 feet matters; stealing on a ball in the dirt, hitting a cut, every detail matters because it is going to be a low-scoring and tight game.”

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

Tags: Hempfield, Seneca Valley