Sports
This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 05/14/2017
May 14, 2017
The final gold rush of the 2016-2017 school year begins with the start of the spring high school sports postseason this week here on the MSA Sports Network. MSA Sports once again has EXCLUSIVE broadcast coverage of the 2017 WPIAL Baseball, WPIAL Softball, WPIAL Lacrosse and WPIAL Boys Volleyball Playoffs which all begin this week, plus the first full week of Frontier League pro baseball continues with Washington Wild Things away and home baseball ALL here at MSAsports.net Monday, May 15th: WPIAL High School Softball Playoffs - Class 6-A First Round: Shaler vs Norwin at 3:00pm on MSAsports.net WPIAL High School Softball Playoffs - Class 6-A First Round: Latrobe vs Mount Lebanon at 5:00pm on MSAsports.netFINAL 2017 WPIAL Baseball Standings
Here are the latest WPIAL baseball standings for the 2017 season...plus all the FINAL teams that have clinched playoff berths. The standings will be updated daily through the regular season. You can follow the high school baseball season with schedules, scores, weekly rankings every Monday and daily game broadcasts here on the MSA Sports Network. The 2017 WPIAL Baseball Playoffs sponsored in part by the Aul Bat Company can be heard ONLY on the MSA Sports Network. The top four teams in each section qualify for the WPIAL playoffs. # - Clinched Section Title * - Clinched Playoff Berth x - Eliminated From Playoff Contention {SET WITH 13 CLASS 6-A PLAYOFF TEAMS}FINAL 2017 WPIAL Softball Standings
Here are the FINAL WPIAL softball standings for the 2017 season...including the FINAL list of teams that have clinched WPIAL postseason berths. The standings will be updated daily through the regular season. You can follow the high school softball season with schedules, scores, weekly rankings every Tuesday and game broadcasts, including another year of the MSA Sports Hometown Softball Program here on the MSA Sports Network. The 2017 WPIAL Softball Playoffs ONLY on the MSA Sports Network will be sponsored by Carlow University. Teams in capital letters are part of the MSA Sports Hometown Softball Program.FINAL 2017 WPIAL Boys Volleyball Standings
Here are the FINAL standings for the 2017 WPIAL Boys Volleyball season...including the latest WPIAL Playoff clinchings. You can follow the WPIAL Boys Volleyball regular season with updated results and standings, plus regular season and postseason broadcasts only here on the MSA Sports Network. Top four teams in each section make the playoffs. If there is a tie for fourth place, head-to-head will be the tiebreaker. If there is a split in the head-to-head, both tied teams make the playoffs. # - Clinched Section Title * - Clinched Playoff Berth x - Eliminated From Playoff Race Only section records are shown. (SET WITH 12 CLASS 3-A PLAYOFF TEAMS)FINAL 2017 WPIAL Lacrosse Standings
Here are the FINAL WPIAL boys and girls lacrosse standings for the 2017 season...including the FINAL list of teams that have clinched playoff spots. The standings will be updated daily through the rest of the regular season. You can follow the high school lacrosse season with schedules and scores along with weekly broadcasts here on the MSA Sports Network. The 2017 WPIAL Boys and Girls Lacrosse Playoffs can be heard ONLY on the MSA Sports Network.2017 WPIAL BOYS BASEBALL PLAYOFFS
May 13, 2017
Last year, Norwin, Chartiers Valley, Riverside and Serra Catholic won WPIAL baseball championships. All four are back with two of them garnering top seeds. But even if they all repeat, there will still be two new champions crowned at Wild Things Park in Washington. The opening round begins Tuesday, May 16th and Wednesday, May 17th. Here are the First Round matchups for the 2017 WPIAL Baseball Playoffs. WPIAL CLASS 6-A First Round: #1 Pine-Richland Rams - BYE #8 Plum Mustangs vs #9 Peters Township Indians AT Fox Chapel High School on Tuesday, May 16th at 4:30pm #4 Bethel Park Black Hawks vs #13 Shaler Titans AT the Burkett Complex in Robinson Township on Tuesday, May 16th at 6:30pmScholastic Notebook – 05/12/2017
May 12, 2017
The weather has been pretty decent for high school sports this spring. At West Allegheny, the spring has been near perfect. But it has nothing to do with the weather. The West Allegheny baseball team and the West Allegheny softball team are enjoying tremendous success. Both teams came close to perfect regular seasons. The West Allegheny softball team was undefeated until the final game of the season when it lost to Chartiers Valley, 4-2. The Indians finished 18-1. By coincidence, the West Allegheny baseball team also finished the regular season 18-1. The baseball Indians lost only to Moon, 9-5, in the regular season.2017 WPIAL BOYS LACROSSE PLAYOFFS
Last year, both North Allegheny in 3-A and Mars in 2-A captured their very first WPIAL boys lacrosse championships. Now both the Tigers and Fightin' Planets are the top-seeds for this years years postseason. Here are the matchups for the First Round of the 2017 WPIAL Boys Lacrosse Playoffs. WPIAL CLASS 3-A First Round: #1 North Allegheny Tigers - BYE #8 Mount Lebanon Blue Devils vs #9 Butler Golden Tornado AT Peters Township High School on Tuesday, May 16th at 6:00pm #4 Upper St. Clair Panthers vs #13 Latrobe Wildcats AT Upper St. Clair High School on Tuesday, May 16th at 8:00pm #5 Bethel Park Black Hawks vs #12 Fox Chapel Foxes AT Bethel Park High School on Tuesday, May 16th at 8:00pmMSA Sports Top Ten – WPIAL Baseball Playoff Teams – 05/11/2017
May 11, 2017
Call it ranking them, call it seeding them, whatever you want to refer them as, MSA Sports presents our final Top Ten of the baseball season as we put the 75 postseason bound teams in their respective classification in the order as we see it. Obviously, the steering committee will have their own view, which becomes official Friday when the brackets for the upcoming district playoffs are released. The one rule of thumb guiding us which the committee will also follow is trying to stay away from First Round matchups between teams from the same section. Tune in Friday evening at 7:00pm for the WPIAL Baseball Playoff Pairings Show here on your exclusive home for the District Diamond Postseason, the MSA Sports Network.MSA Sports Top Ten – WPIAL Softball Playoff Teams – 05/10/2017
May 10, 2017
Call it ranking them, call it seeding them, whatever you want to refer them as, MSA Sports presents our final Top Ten of the softball season as we put the 78 postseason bound teams in their respective classification in the order as we see it. Obviously, the steering committee will have their own view, which becomes official Thursday when the brackets for the upcoming district playoffs are released. The one rule of thumb guiding us which the committee will also follow is trying to stay away from First Round matchups between teams from the same section. Tune in Thursday evening at 7:00pm for the WPIAL Softball Playoff Pairings Show here on your exclusive home for the District Diamond Postseason, the MSA Sports Network.Hometown Softball Recap – Baldwin Highlanders – 05/10/2017
With a section title matchup against Canon-McMillan looming, Baldwin took the field against a Bethel Park squad determined to spoil its rivals hopes of a third straight section championship and senior day. The playoff bound Black Hawks did just that with an 8-7 stunner Tuesday over the Highlanders.2017 Hometown Softball Recap – Belle Vernon Leopards
In a battle of MSA’s #1 and #2 teams, Belle Vernon defeated Yough 5-4 in 12 innings in a thrilling section finale for both teams at Belle Vernon High School on Tuesday. The win by Belle Vernon makes the Leopards and Cougars Section 2 Class 4-A Co-Champions with the teams finishing 11-1 in section play and providing the lone loss to each other. For the largest part of the game it was a pitching duel between BV’s ace junior Bailey Parshall and Yough’s sophomore Kiera Waywood.Hometown Softball Recap – Elizabeth Forward Warriors – 05/10/2017
The Elizabeth Forward Warriors celebrated their senior recognition day with an impressive victory, 8-0, against West Mifflin at William Penn Field on Tuesday. In their final home contest of the season, the Warriors plated a pair of runs in the first, third, fourth and fifth innings, and also received a complete-game shutout from pitcher Lauren Mathews. As a result, Elizabeth Forward concludes its Class 4-A Section 2 slate with a record of 7-5 (8-10 overall), while the Titans season comes to an end with a mark of 2-10 (6-12 overall). Although West Mifflin, coming off of a 17-2 victory against Carrick, threatened to score in the top of the first, Mathews worked out of trouble, stranding a pair of runners to keep the Titans off the board.New Champs Crowned at 2017 WPIAL Team Track & Field Finals
May 9, 2017
Call it a changing of the guard or a passing of the torch. Whatever you choose, you can call Seneca Valley boys, Riverside boys, Butler Girls and Burrell girls NEW WPIAL Track & Field champions. In 2016, three of the four WPIAL Track & Field teams that claimed district gold were repeat champions. In fact, two programs had mini-dynasties going on as North Allegheny boys had won four straight Class 3-A titles while Hempfield girls had gone one better with five consecutive Class 3-A crowns. But those three teams along with Beaver girls could not claim gold on Monday at Baldwin High School as the Raiders, Panthers, Golden Tornado and Buccaneers trumped all.Hometown Softball Recap – Blackhawk Cougars – 05/04/2017
May 8, 2017
It was a string of incredible highs and lows for the Blackhawk Cougars softball team this season. The high point was a five game winning streak including wins over Beaver and Ambridge. The lows, two losses each to Hopewell and New Castle that contributed mightily to the end of the Cougars season and today’s one sided home loss to the section champion Bridgers 16-5 in 6 innings. Blackhawk (7-7) trailed 2-0 after a half inning. The Cougars got a run back on Abby Riggio’s single in the bottom of the inning. Ambridge plated two more runs in the third and Blackhawk rallied again as Haley Holsinger singled home a run to cut the score to 4-2.
Coaches Corner – Harry Rutherford
May 7, 2017
In this feature titled “Coach’s Corner”, I will be interviewing a different coach every week and asking them questions about their personal life and about coaching. Hopefully their answers will not only shed some light on how they coach their respective teams, but also allow readers to get to know the men behind the fields/courts. This week features head softball coach Harry Rutherford of Elizabeth Forward high school. Coach Rutherford is in his 8th season as head coach of the Warriors, producing only one losing season. Coach Rutherford has led his squad to 5 straight postseason berths, and in 2012 they fell short of a WPIAL title, losing in the finals to Montour. Let’s take a look inside Coach Rutherford’s corner:This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 05/07/2017
We say so long to the spring high school sports regular season and prepare for the postseason as well as say hello to another season of pro baseball this week here on the MSA Sports Network. We wind down the regular season with plenty of WPIAL baseball and WPIAL softball including coverage of several Hometown Softball broadcasts. We also have WPIAL boys and girls lacrosse, WPIAL boys volleyball and the start of another season of Washington Wild Things baseball, plus another edition of WPIAL Diamond Notes along with the WPIAL Softball and WPIAL Baseball Playoff Pairings Shows ALL here at MSAsports.net Monday, May 8th:Scholastic Notebook – 05/06/2017
May 6, 2017
The Waynesburg Raiders have gone about one of the most impressive turnarounds in WPIAL baseball from last season to this season. Leading the Raiders’ resurgence is a senior and a freshman who live in the same house. Hunter Robinson is a senior at Waynesburg and his younger brother, Luke, a freshman. They have turned baseball diamonds into Robinson's Township this season. Hunter (5 feet 11, 185 pounds) has been super as a pitcher. He is 5-1 with a 0.39 ERA and has struck out 52 in 36 innings. Hunter has signed to play next season at California, Pa. Luke (6-0, 190) leads Waynesburg in hitting with a .526 average (20 of 38). He also has pitched nine innings in six games.Luke Ross Repeats in 2-A While Frosh Connor Bruce Win 3-A Tennis Titles
It wasn't easy, but both Connor Bruce of Peters Township and Luke Ross of Sewickley Academy are kings of the WPIAL Boys Singles tennis court. Both needed three sets to win gold Friday afternoon at The Club Sports and Health Center in Monroeville. It's more gold for the senior Ross, who repeats as WPIAL 2-A champ in winning his third singles championship of his career. He also helped Sewickley Academy win a 13th straight team title two weeks ago. Ross beat Luke Phillips of Carlynton 6-3, but then fell 6-1 in the second set. Ross won the third set to beat Phillips for the third time in a title match. the two squared off in both the WPIAL and PIAA boys singles tennis final a year ago with Ross winning both.Hometown Softball Recap – Peters Township Indians
May 4, 2017
The Peters Township Indians fell at home in a game they needed to win to continue to control their own destiny in their march to the WPIAL Softball Playoffs. The Baldwin Highlanders strung four hits together in the pivotal 5th inning and defeated the Indians 4-0 for the 8th consecutive time. Baldwin took a 1-0 lead in the 3rd inning. Cassie Carlson led off with a single and Salena Juquay beat out a sacrifice bunt to give the Highlanders first-and-second with no outs. Taylor Dadig then sacrificed Carlson to third base and Juquay to second base before Addie Tagg delivered the first run with an RBI groundout.
