Sports
This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 05/26/2014
May 26, 2014
Championship Week is upon us as we conclude the final district playoffs of the 2013-2014 school year as May shifts into June this week here on the MSA Sports Network. We have EXCLUSIVE coverage of all eight of the 2014 WPIAL Baseball and Softball as well as the eight consolation games and some of the District 6 diamond title games, plus we Washington Wild Things baseball, the debut of Pennsylvania Rebellion softball, another edition of Rappin on Racin and The WPIAL Baseball Show...championship edition on a special night ALL here at MSAsports.net Monday, May 26th:PIAA Track & Field – Day Two Recap
May 24, 2014
If the color of success is gold, then it was a successful weekend for the WPIAL at the PIAA track and field championships. The WPIAL left Shippensburg University today (Saturday) with gold medals in 15 individual events and four relays. That’s pretty good, considering recent history. The 15 gold medals in individual events are the most in a while. The WPIAL had only 10 individual winners last year and also 10 in 2012 and 2011. The WPIAL had nine individual winners in 2010, 12 in 2009 and only five in 2008.2014 WPIAL BOYS VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS RESULTS
The more things change, the more they stay the same. That is the theme this spring in WPIAL boys volleyball. The calendar may change, but the title winners rarely do after North Allegheny won a record eighth straight Class AAA championship and Ambridge picked up a third consecutive district crown. Here are ALL the results from the 2014 WPIAL Boys Volleyball Playoffs. 2014 WPIAL BOYS VOLLEYBALL CLASS AAA CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: North Allegheny Tigers 3 - Norwin Knights 0 (MSA) (25-23, 25-11, 25-21) WPIAL CLASS AAA Semifinals: North Allegheny Tigers 3 - Bethel Park Black Hawks 1 (MSA) Norwin Knights 3 - Fox Chapel Foxes 1 (MSA)2014 WPIAL BOYS LACROSSE PLAYOFFS RESULTS
Defending WPIAL Division I champion Mount Lebanon does not believe in even-steven. The Blue Devils have won district titles in 2009, 2011 and 2013, but have never been able to repeat. That trend continued here in 2014 after the Blue Devils were shut down by Shady Side Academy. It is the first ever boys lacrosse championship for the Indians. In Division II, Quaker Valley also captured their first ever boys lacrosse title with a victory over Indiana at Highmark Stadium in Station Square. Here are ALL of the results from the 2014 WPIAL Boys Lacrosse Playoffs. 2014 WPIAL BOYS LACROSSE DIVISION I CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Shady Side Academy Indians 7 - Mount Lebanon Blue Devils 2 (MSA)2014 WPIAL GIRLS LACROSSE PLAYOFFS RESULTS
Mount Lebanon capped off a perfect season with a WPIAL Division I championship after edging previously undefeated Quaker Valley. It is the Blue Devils fourth district title but their first since 2006. In the Division II Finals, Shaler made it back-to-back championships with a victory over Chartiers Valley at Highmark Stadium. Here are ALL of the results from the 2014 WPIAL Girls Lacrosse Playoffs. 2014 WPIAL GIRLS LACROSSE DIVISION I CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Mount Lebanon Blue Devils 9 - Quaker Valley Quakers 7 (MSA) WPIAL DIVISION I Semifinals: Mount Lebanon Blue Devils 8 - Shady Side Academy Indians 7PIAA Track & Field – Day One Recap
Maddie Holmberg and Max Adams are both students at Hempfield High School. They went to the same elementary school and the same middle school. They belong to the same church. On Friday, they ended up in the same place again. The top of the winners stand. Holmberg and Adams gave Hempfield two state track and field champions as they both won gold medals today, the first day of the PIAA track and field championships at Shippensburg University. The final day of the championships is Saturday.
Shady Side Academy Beats 2013 Champ Mt. Lebanon To Win WPIAL D-I Boys Lacrosse Gold
Mt. Lebanon was the defending WPIAL Division I boys lacrosse champion and came into the tournament as the top seed. The Blue Devils had also won 3 prior Division I titles in 2009, 2011 and last year. None of that mattered on this night to Shady Side Academy mostly because of senior Dan Marous. The Indians leading scorer netted a third quarter hat trick to break open a 1-1 halftime tie and propel Shady Side Academy to a 7-3 win for its first WPIAL Boys Division I championship at Highmark Stadium at Station Square. The Indians, who were making their 2nd title game appearance in 3 seasons, got on the board first when freshman Clayton Krol took a feed from Michael Concordia and beat Blue Devils goalie Matt Lee at 1:56 of the second quarter.
Quaker Valley Claims First Ever WPIAL Boys Lacrosse D-II Title
There was going to be a first time champ in WPIAL Division 2 boys lacrosse Friday and the Quaker Valley Quakers were the one. Quaker Valley defeated the Indiana Indiana 13-10 to earn the crown. At the outset of the game it seemed to be the a tighter game than the score would indicate. Indiana jumped out to the 1st lead in the game 1-0 when junior attack David Zimmerman tickled the twine with a hard shot. Quaker Valley was able to answer later in the 1st with a goal from Jared Vescio. Vescio better known through the game for his face off ability winning a majority of face offs also had a pair of goals. The next goal was scored by Mike Clark of Quaker and we went to the end if the 1st Quaker Valley a 2-1 lead.MSA Sports Baseball Playoff Recap for Friday, May 23rd
Seven Final Four baseball games took place on Thursday as the winners celebrated a berth in the finals while the losers began to regroup and prepare to play for a berth in the state playoffs. That left one missing piece to the district championship puzzle and that played out Friday afternoon at West Mifflin High School. Here is the recap. A special thanks to Dennis Fischer for his help on this recap. WPIAL CLASS AAA Semifinals:Scholastic Notebook – 05/23/3014
May 23, 2014
The perfect championships don’t happen often in WPIAL softball. But for the Deer Lakes Lancers, they’ve been in the perfect storm before. Deer Lakes is 18-0 and will play Beaver (15-0) for the Class AA championship Thursday at California University of Pennsylvania. It is only the third time in 17 years that a softball title game will match two undefeated teams. But it’s the second year in a row for Deer Lakes. In 2013, Deer Lakes and Riverside both took undefeated records into the title game before Riverside came away with a 5-1 victory. The only other time in the past 17 years that two undefeated teams met in a final was 1998 when Carmichaels beat Sto-Rox for the Class AA crown.
Mount Lebanon Captures First WPIAL Girls Lacrosse D-I Title in 8 Years
The last loss that Mt. Lebanon suffered left a bad taste in their mouths. Shady Side Academy led the Blue Devils 9-7 in last year’s WPIAL Girls Division I Lacrosse semifinals when lightning forced the game to be called off with about ten minutes remaining. Mt. Lebanon took it personal. How personal? The Blue Devils adopted the motto “Let the storm rage on” even putting that mantra on t-shirts for the 2014 season. The WPIAL storm is over for Mt. Lebanon as they improved to (20-0) after defeating Quaker Valley 9-7 at Highmark Stadium. Just like she did in the team’s semifinal win over Shady Side Academy, senior captain Alyssa Battaglia led the Blue Devils scoring 5 goals.
Titanic Performance Helps Shaler Repeat as WPIAL Girls Lacrosse D-II Champs
The Shaler Titans are now back-to-back Division II lacrosse champions after an 11-9 victory over the Chartiers Valley Colts, Thursday night at Highmark Stadium. The No. 2 seeded Titans used a well-balanced offensive attack to jump out to a four goal lead at halftime, thanks in part to four free position goals from Shannon Lynch. Despite falling behind with 1-0 and 2-1 deficits in the early portion of the opening half, Shaler would never trail again after tying the game at two. Margo Mason and Hope Tornabene got things going early for CV but responded quickly to both goals and then out-scored the Colts 6-2 to finish the first half.
Eight is Great as North Allegheny Wins Another WPIAL AAA Boys Volleyball Title
For an unprecedented eighth year in a row, the North Allegheny Tigers are WPIAL champions in boys volleyball. The Tigers used a furious rally in game one to build momentum and propel them to a 3-0 victory over Norwin for the Class AAA crown. Set scores for Thursday night’s match at Baldwin were 25-23, 25-11 and 25-21. Norwin jumped out quickly in the first set, scoring the game’s opening four points and building a seven-point advantage. With the score at 16-9, however, North Allegheny began chipping away at the Knights’ lead. By late in the set, the Tigers had stormed all the way back to tie the score at 22. Then, with the score knotted at 23, a block by senior David Haus and a Norwin miscue gave North Allegheny the come-from-behind victory.
Ambridge Three-Peats as WPIAL Boys Volleyball Double-A Champs
For the third consecutive year, the Ambridge Area boys’ volleyball team claimed the Class AA championship, defeating Derry Area in straight sets 29-27, 26-24, 25-20. The top-seeded Bridgers used a pair of dramatic comebacks to capture the first two sets, and pulled away at the end of the third set to secure the three-peat at Baldwin High School.MSA Sports Baseball & Softball Playoff Recaps for Thursday, May 22nd
The threat of storms postponed eleven baseball and softball third round games on Wednesday, making for a very busy Thursday on the postseason diamonds. Five baseball and eight softball contests to determine the participants in Championship Week helped make for some one-sided and thrilling performances on Semifinals Thursday around the WPIAL. A special thanks to Don Rebel, Sam Hall, Mark Schaas, Jason Tennant, Bob Gregg, Greg Kuntz, Josh Rowntree and Bob Barrickman for their help with these recaps. BASEBALL: WPIAL CLASS AAAA Semifinals:MSA Sports Softball Playoff Recaps for Tuesday, May 20th
May 21, 2014
For some, it was a turn around of less than 24 hours between the First Round and the Quarterfinals of the WPIAL Softball Playoffs. Rain last week forced a cinch in the belt and a much tighter schedule than usual. But Tuesday's winners wont complain because they are Final Four bound and will actually have a days rest before the Semifinals on Thursday. A special thanks to Jason Tennant, Chris Lackner, Greg Kuntz, Bob Gregg and Josh Rowntree for their help on these recaps. WPIAL CLASS AAA Quarterfinals:MSA Sports Baseball & Softball Playoff Recaps for Monday, May 19th
May 20, 2014
After being pushed back from the postseason spotlight last week because of Mother Nature, it was a busy day of both First Round and Quarterfinals contests in the WPIAL softball playoffs. Plus a leftover Class AAA baseball Quarterfinals game and a pair of Class A Semifinals contests made for plenty of diamond doings on Monday. Here are summaries of all the action, most of which was heard here on The Network. A special thanks to Don Rebel, Josh Rowntree, Bobby Fox, Randy Gore, Dennis Fischer, Bob Gregg, Lou Rood, Pete Blais, Sean Meyers, Mike Azadian, Jason Tennant, Greg Kuntz and Adam Gusky for their help on these recaps. BASEBALL: WPIAL CLASS AAA Quarterfinals:Scholastic Notebook – 05/19/2014
May 19, 2014
Seneca Valley has been the surprise team of the WPIAL Class AAAA playoffs. The Raiders are the No. 16 seed, but find themselves in the semifinals. One more win and Seneca Valley will make history, but not because of their seeding. Seneca Valley plays Pine-Richland in a semifinal game Wednesday at a site and time to be determined. A win will put Seneca Valley into the championship game for the fourth year in a row. It has been at least 50 years since a team made it to a title game four consecutive years. In fact, it is likely that no team has ever made it to a championship four years in a row. So far in the playoffs, Seneca Valley has knocked off No. 1 seed Hempfield, 10-5, and also No. 9 seed Shaler, 3-0. Smith Does it AllBlackhawk’s McKay Continues Scoreless Innings Streak
May 18, 2014
It was a pitcher's duel for five innings at Pullman Park, but in the end Brendan McKay came out on top again as Blackhawk defeated Indiana 4-0 to advance to the Class AAA WPIAL baseball semifinals. The senior moved into third place in the National Federation of High Schools record book, pitching 65 consecutive innings without allowing a run, dating back to last season.The national record is 80 innings by Joey Porter in Mississippi in 1973.MSA Sports Baseball Playoff Recaps for Saturday, May 17th
May 17, 2014
The surprises continued on Quarterfinals Saturday in AAAA, AAA and AA as the baseball brackets continue to be busted. The #1 seed in Class AA, Neshannock was ousted as was the #2-seed in Class AAA in Chartiers Valley. Here are recaps from all twelve second round baseball games as the twists and turns to CONSOL Energy Field continue. A special thanks to Sean Meyers, Brandon Showers, Bob Gregg, Pete Blais, Josh Rowntree, Mike Azadian and Mark Schaas for their help on these recaps. WPIAL CLASS AAAA Quarterfinals:
