Westmoreland County baseball notebook: Norwin, coach break through with trip to finals

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Thursday, May 22, 2025 | 4:43 PM

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When he coached at Yough for six seasons, Craig Spisak made the WPIAL baseball playoffs four times but always hit the ceiling in the semifinals.

In his third year at Norwin, he and the Knights have broken through to the final.

Fourth-seeded Norwin (14-8) rallied for a 7-4 victory over rival Hempfield (9-13) in Tuesday’s semis to return to the championship game for the first time since 2016, the last year for four classifications in the WPIAL.

That season, Norwin was the No. 14 seed and knocked off unbeaten No. 1 Plum, 7-3, to win its first title since 1960.

Former Norwin coach Mike Liebdzinski also reached the final in his third season, in 2006.

“I’m happy for our kids,” Spisak said. “They’ve worked very hard and handled the adversities and ups and downs of the season.”

Norwin will play No. 2 Seneca Valley for the title next Tuesday or Wednesday at EQT Park in Washington.

“It means everything to us,” Norwin pitcher Caden Sivrich said. “We have always known that we could make a title run. We just needed to put everything together. We have done that because of our coaching and because our team is such a tightly knit bunch of kids.”

Spisak made the semis three times at Yough, where he was 56-48, twice as an assistant. The last time was 2019 as head coach.

Junior outfielder Ryan Helphenstine said the Knights rebounded from a slow start — three wins in their first nine games — to seize momentum and make a run at a section title.

They came up a game short of the section title but are stacking wins in the playoffs.

“From starting off in a low spot with a couple rough games to start the year, being able to come together as a group to get to where we are now has been an amazing ride,” he said. “The thing that really made us think we had a shot at the title this year, at least for me, was our series against Canon-McMillan, specifically Game 2. We found a way to rally late against a really high-quality pitcher. This game demonstrated the never-say-die attitude that we have all bought into throughout the year. We carried that into our two come-from-behind playoff victories.”

Norwin rallied past Butler, 5-4, in the first round.

Norwin also made the finals in 2015 under Liebdzinski and lost to Central Catholic.

In the ’16 title game, pitcher Chad Coles pitched a five-hitter and struck out six. He outpitched Plum’s Alex Kirilloff, who would go on to play for the Minnesota Twins as an outfielder. Norwin had nine hits against a team that had not allowed one in the playoffs up to that game.

Reno Rainey homered, and Jonathan Pingree had a three-run triple for the Knights.

GCC rained out again

The Greensburg Central Catholic-Serra Catholic WPIAL Class A semifinal was rained out for a second day in a row. It is now set for 4 p.m. Friday at Gateway.

GCC (17-2) has 11 straight wins and is chasing its first finals appearance since 2017. Serra Catholic (18-3) is trying to reach the finals for the fourth straight season. It was runner-up the last two years after winning a WPIAL title in 2022.

Third-place game

Belle Vernon will play an all-or-nothing game to try to make the PIAA playoffs.

The Leopards, who fell to No. 1 Indiana in the Class 4A semifinals, will face Central Valley in the third-place game at a time and site to be announced.

The top three teams in 4A go to states.

GCC in states

By way of its WPIAL semifinal appearance, Greensburg Central Catholic has qualified for the PIAA tournament in Class A.

The Centurions are one of the four qualifiers in the classification.

In 6A, Norwin can make the state bracket but must win the WPIAL title to do so. Only one team from the WPIAL’s largest class moves on.

Latrobe scholarships

A pair of Latrobe baseball players were awarded scholarships honoring two men who made an impact on Wildcats athletics.

Luke Bulebosh received the Max Sciullo Baseball Scholarship, named after the former Latrobe baseball player who was killed in an auto accident in 2016. He was 23.

Cooper Basciano was the recipient of the Richard “Rick” Kozusko Memorial Baseball Scholarship, which recognizes the longtime coach and athletic contributor who died in December at 72.

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

Tags: Belle Vernon, Greensburg C.C., Norwin