West Greene rolls past Glendale in PIAA Class A 1st round

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, June 4, 2018 | 6:18 PM

After a sloppy start, three-time reigning WPIAL softball champion and defending PIAA champ West Greene righted the ship and cruised to a 12-2 victory over District 6 runner-up Glendale in six innings Monday at Peterswood Park.

The win advances the Pioneers (20-4) to the Class A quarterfinals for the third year in a row.

Glendale took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on an RBI single by Alaney Vereshack that scored Kristen Hewitt.

West Greene tied it in its half of the first but ran out of taking the lead. With one out, Madison Lampe singled and scored on a Madison Renner double.

Jade Renner singled and took second on the throw home to put Pioneers at second and third. However, Madison Renner was picked off third and after being tagged in a rundown between third and home, Jersey Wise (running for Jade Renner) was caught in a rundown between second and third and tagged out.

“I was disappointed in the way we ran the bases today,” West Greene coach Billy Simms said. “We made our share of mistakes today, but it's nice to win 12-2 when making those mistakes instead of losing 5-4.”

A key play happened in the second as the Pioneers made it 3-1. After a Kaitlyn Rizor double, Lexie Mooney walked and Linzee Stover singled to load the bases, MacKenzie Carpenter hit a slow roller to the first base side of the circle, Vikings pitcher Lexi Mulhollen fielded it but instead of getting the sure out at first, her throw home was late as Rizor scored. One out later, McKenna Lampe scored another with a run-producing single.

West Greene scored three runs in the third, fourth and sixth innings, with Lampe scoring the game-ending run in the sixth on a bases-loaded error by Glendale second baseman Olivia Reese with two outs.

The Pioneers hammered out 16 hits against a pair of Vikings pitchers. McKenna Lampe and the Renner sisters — Madison and Jade — led the way with three hits each while Carpenter delivered four RBIs out of the No. 8 spot in the batting order.

“I never want to sound like I'm bragging on my own team, but we are pretty tough from top to bottom for a Single-A lineup,” Simms said.

West Greene will face District 5 runner-up McConnellsburg, a 14-6 winner over Coudersport, in a quarterfinal matchup Thursday.

While the Pioneers have made two straight trips to Penn State for the PIAA title game, Simms said his team is enjoying the ride and taking nothing for granted.

“We understand at our school, that this run is going to come to an end sooner than it is later,” he said. “We are not Aliquippa football or Farrell during their volleyball title run. We're living in the moment and trying to be like SpongeBob and soak it all up.”

Don Rebel is a TribLive High School Sports Network broadcaster and staff writer. Reach him at drebel@tribweb.com.