Sports
PIAA Baseball and Softball Recaps for First Round on Monday
June 7, 2016
The curtain went up on the 2016 PIAA Baseball and Softball postseason Monday as 24 district teams began the battle for state gold. Well, 22 of them did as both the Plum and Blackhawk baseball teams are on hold fore their Round One game until Tuesday. It was a so-so start for district teams as the WPIAL went 5-5 in baseball and 6-6 in softball. Here are the summaries from the eleven First Round state playoff games heard here Monday on MSA Sports. A special thanks to Sean Meyers, Johnny Lee, Steve Nagler, Jake Holmes, Lou Rood, James Dotson, Mike Azadian, Todd Brown, Jason Tennant, Mark Uriah and Bob Gregg for their help on these recaps. PIAA BASEBALL Class AAAA First Round:This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 06/2016
June 6, 2016
The first full week of June has us now turning to coverage of ths high school baseball and softball state playoffs this week here on the MSA Sports Network. We continue to wind down the 2015-2016 high school season as we open up the PIAA baseball and Softball state playoffs with First Round and Quarterfinals action along with another full week of Washington Wild Things pro baseball, plus its another edition of Rappin' on Racin' ALL here at MSAsports.net Monday, June 6th: TALK SHOW - Rappin' on Racin' at 6:00pm on MSAsports.netScholastic Notebook – 06/04/2016
June 4, 2016
For Morgan Ryan, earning a spot in the WPIAL record book means nothing. As in zero. As in zilch. As in nothing on the scoreboard under the “R” column. Ryan is a junior pitcher for the Hempfield softball team who threw a shutout in a 2-0 victory against Baldwin in the WPIAL Class AAAA championship Friday. A year ago, she threw a one-hitter as Hempfield defeated North Allegheny, 3-0. A check of the scores of WPIAL championship games shows that Ryan is the first pitcher in the history of the WPIAL to throw back-to-back shutouts in championship games. The WPIAL has been staging softball championships for 43 years. So in four-plus decades, there has never been a pitcher like Ryan. By the way, Ryan is a Notre Dame recruit.2016 WPIAL SOFTBALL PLAYOFFS Results
Unlike the district baseball playoffs where none of the top-seeds prevailed in the end, the favorites took home the gold in three of the four classifications. Hempfield repeated in Class AAAA, while undefeated Ellwood City won gold in Class AA and once beaten West Greene won their first ever Class A crown. The lone exception was in Class AAA, where 12th-seed Mount Pleasant was more than happy to play the role of Cinderella en route to their first ever district softball championship. Here are ALL of the results from the 2016 WPIAL Softball Playoffs. All results marked with (MSA) at the end are games you can hear archived here on the MSA Sports Network. 2016 WPIAL SOFTBALL CLASS AAAA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME:
Ellwood City Blasts Its Way to Second AA Softball Crown
June 3, 2016
Throughout the spring, the long ball has become synonymous with Ellwood City softball. So it should really come as no surprise that it was a pair of blasts, numbers 17 and 18 this year, which lifted the Wolverines to their second WPIAL Softball Championship. Reagen Miller hit a grand slam in the first inning and Camille Maine followed with a three-run home run in the following frame as No. 1 Ellwood City (20-0) ran away with a 10-0, five inning rout of No. 3 South Park (14-4) at California University of Pennsylvania’s Lilley Field on Friday. “I knew we had the capabilities,” Ellwood City coach Gary Rozanski said. “I didn’t know that we’d do it right off the bat like that. It seems the last few weeks we put the hits together.”
Morgan Ryan Dominates As Hempfield Repeats in Quad-A
One year ago, Hempfield pitcher Morgan Ryan threw a one-hit shutout en route to a WPIAL Championship. Flash forward to 2016, and not much has changed. Ryan threw a four-hit shutout as her #1 seed Hempfield Spartans repeated as Class AAAA Softball Champions, defeating #3 seed Baldwin 2-0 on Friday afternoon at California University's Lilley Field. Baldwin threatened early in the contest. Taylor Dadig led off the bottom of the first with a sharp single up he middle. After a wild pitch and a sacrifice moved Dadig to third, Jamie Schleicher drew a walk. Samantha Wampler drove a hard shot to third base, where Kaylee Bloom made a sliding stop and threw to first for the second out. Ryan then forced a groundout to end the inning.
Mount Pleasant Crushes West A For Surprise AAA Softball Crown
When the Mount Pleasant Vikings finished third in their section and were given the No. 12 seed for the Class AAA postseason, it seemed unlikely the Vikings would make a deep playoff run. Not only did Mount Pleasant capture gold on Friday, the Vikings did so in convincing fashion, with a 10-0 mercy rule win against West Allegheny. Courtesy of its five-inning victory at Lilley Field at California University of Pennsylvania, Mount Pleasant claimed its first WPIAL softball title. On their path to the championship, the Vikings knocked off the No. 1, 3, 4 and 5 seeds.
West Greene Rolls Past Char-Houston for First Ever WPIAL Softball Title
West Greene's Freshman centerfielder, McKenna Lampe, was confident at the beginning of the season that the young Pioneers could claim WPIAL softball gold for the first time ever. On Friday morning at California University's Lilley Field, dreams became a reality for West Greene (23-1) as they ran away with the WPIAL Class A Championship with a 12-3 win over Chartiers-Houston (14-8). The coin flip was the only thing that went wrong for the Pioneers on this day, as they were forced to bat first following the toss. But West Greene did not let that effect the way they played, as they started early. Madison Lampe singled with one out in the first and later scored virtue of a Bailey Benninger double to right center to start the scoring.2016 WPIAL Softball Championship Preview
June 2, 2016
The WPIAL softball championships have a trio of new faces this year. The championships will be played Friday at California University of Pa.’s Lilly Field and three of the eight participants have never been so close to WPIAL gold medals. Mount Pleasant, West Allegheny and West Greene are all making their first appearances in a championship game. Meanwhile, Hempfield, Baldwin, Ellwood City, South Park and Chartiers-Houston have all won at least one championship before. The games were rained out Thursday and rescheduled for Friday. Here is a look at each championship: CLASS AAAA: The game: Baldwin (13-3) vs. Hempfield (20-2), 2:30 p.m.2016 WPIAL BASEBALL PLAYOFFS Results
It was not a good championship for the favorites. All four higher seeds, including three top-seeds fell in the finals as gold was hoisted by a pair of #2-seeds, a #8-seed and a #14-seed. Four new champions were crowned as Norwin, Chartiers Valley, Riverside and Serra Catholic are celebrating district gold. Here are ALL of the results from the 2016 WPIAL Baseball Playoffs. All Results marked with (MSA) are games that can be heard archived on the MSA Sports Network. 2016 WPIAL BASEBALL CLASS AAAA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Norwin Knights 7 - Plum Mustangs 3 (MSA) WPIAL CLASS AAAA Consolation:
Norwin Hands Plum First Loss in WPIAL Quad-A Finals Upset
The year of the upset continues in the WPIAL, however the nightcap of Wednesday action may have been the biggest shocker as the 14th seeded Norwin Knights defeated the previously unbeaten Plum Mustangs, 7-3. The Knights got off to a very hot start, a leadoff single by Dan Kiester was followed by a walk and a single by Reno Rainey loaded the bases early. Plum pitcher, Alex Kirilloff walked in one of those runs before Jonathon Pringee crushed a base clearing triple to give the Knights a 4-0 lead in the first. A few pitches later, Brad Lucas brought in Pringee on a hard single to give Norwin a 5-0 lead. Norwin pitcher, Chad Coles began his outing just as well as his offense, shutting down the Mustangs in order leaving the score 5-0 after one.
Big Inning Helps Serra Catholic Unseat GCC for WPIAL Class A Gold
June 1, 2016
The third time this season was the charm for the Serra Catholic Eagles (22-2). After dropping two decisions to the Greensburg Central Catholic Centurions (15-4) earlier in the year, the Eagles responded in a big way with five runs in the fourth inning to claim a 6-3 victory in the WPIAL Class A baseball championship game at Consol Energy Park on Wednesday night.WPIAL Baseball Consolation Wednesday Recaps 2016
While district baseball gold was being handed out at CONSOL Energy Park again on Wednesday, state playoff berths were at stake next door at the Washington & Jefferson College Sports Complex. A pair of Class AAA and Class AA teams were hoping to win and continue their season into the state playoffs. Here are the recaps from the two games heard here on The Network. A special thanks to Mike Azadian and Jake Holmes for their help on these recaps. WPIAL CLASS AAA Consolation:
Chartiers Valley Gallops Past Blackhawk for First Baseball Title
May 31, 2016
The Chartiers Valley Colts (16-7) won their first baseball championship in school history with a come-from-behind 4-3 win over the Blackhawk Cougars (18-5) In the WPIAL AAA Championship at Consol Energy Park in Washington, PA. Cole Horew was the star on the mound for the Colts, pitching all seven innings with seven strikeouts and seven scattered hits, walking none. Chartiers Valley would threaten in the bottom of the first inning. With one out, Dante Panucci doubled deep to left field. Horew then reached on an error, putting runners at second and third base. A walk to Joe Sibeto loaded the bases. But Blackhawk's Mark Engel induced Tristen Zimmer into an inning ending double play.
600 is Golden As Riverside Wins WPIAL Baseball Crown
It was thought that the WPIAL Class AA baseball championship game would turn into a pitcher's duel. The game lived up to that billing and then some. Riverside's Mike Boswell and Neshannock's Frank Fraschetti pitched over eight scoreless innings each, but it was the Riverside Panthers (20-2) came out on top, defeating the Lancers 1-0 in nine innings at CONSOL Energy Park in Washington.WPIAL Softball Consolation Tuesday Recaps
WPIAL softball gold will be decided on Thursday with all four district championship games at Lilley Field at California University of Pennsylvania. On Tuesday, it was time to decide which teams would join the finalists in the upcoming PIAA softball postseason. Here are recaps from all four WPIAL Consolation contests played at Cal U and West Allegheny Tuesday afternoon. A special thanks to Ed Troup, Steve Nagler, Kyle Dawson and Lee Mohn for their help on these recaps. WPIAL CLASS AAAA Consolation:WPIAL Baseball Consolation Tuesday Recaps
While the spotlight was shining on the district championship games at CONSOL Energy Park in Washington, there was important action going on right next door at Ross Memorial Park and the Washington & Jefferson College Sports Complex. A pair of battles in Class A and Class AAAA to determine third place in the district and a coveted spot in the upcoming PIAA state baseball playoffs. Here are recaps from those contests. A special thanks to Mark Uriah and Greg Kuntz for their help on these recaps. WPIAL CLASS AAAA Consolation:
2016 WPIAL Baseball Championship Previews
May 30, 2016
For 75 percent of the teams in the WPIAL baseball championships, foes are familiar. Three of the four championships match teams that have already played once this season. Greensburg Central Catholic vs. Serra, and Neshannock vs. Riverside are title games between teams from the same section. Plum played Norwin in a non-section game. The Class AAA championship – Blackhawk vs. Chartiers Valley – is the only game where teams have not played before. All of the championship games will be played Tuesday and Wednesday at Consol Energy Park, home of the Washington Wild Things and heard here on the MSA Sports Network. Here is a breakdown of the four championships: WPIAL CLASS AAAA:
