What to watch for in WPIAL sports for May 12, 2025: Baseball, softball, lacrosse playoffs begin

By: Don Rebel
Sunday, May 11, 2025 | 10:23 PM

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Welcome to 2025 spring sports postseason where this week, the WPIAL baseball, softball, boys volleyball and lacrosse playoffs all begin.

On Monday, it is only softball, girls lacrosse and two baseball preliminary games on the postseason center stage.

The WPIAL has always tried to avoid having teams from the same section meet one other in the first round of the district playoffs.

So it stood out when not one, but two of the five Class 4A softball first-round games are between section foes.

In Section 1, Derry (10-6) finished in a tie for second place, one game ahead of fourth-place Greensburg Salem (12-5).

On Monday, the two meet for a third time at Norwin as the No. 8 Trojans battle the No. 9 Golden Lions at 3 p.m.

Derry won the first meeting 3-2 on the road April 9, while Greensburg Salem claimed a 9-5 victory as the road team in the second matchup May 2.

The other first round clash of section rivals has No. 5 Blackhawk (11-5) facing No. 12 Western Beaver (6-12) at Montour at 5 p.m.

The Cougars won the two regular season games against the Golden Beavers in a six-day span by a combined score of 18-2.

Blackhawk won 9-2 on the road April 22, then shut out Western Beaver, 9-0, six days later at home.

The Cougars won their last two games and have picked up victories in six of their last eight games.

The Golden Beavers needed section wins over Central Valley and North Catholic in the final week of the season to earn a playoff berth.

The other three first round games in Class 4A softball are:

• No. 4 West Mifflin (13-6) faces No. 13 North Catholic (8-8) at Montour at 3 p.m.

• No. 7 Indiana (9-10) battles No. 10 Uniontown (10-8) at Norwin at 5 p.m.

• No 6 Beaver (13-5) will take on No. 11 Belle Vernon (9-10) at Pleasant Valley Elementary School in Peters Township at 6 p.m.

Title game rematch lifts curtain in 5A softball

They played the final game of the Class 5A district softball season a year ago, and now they are one of eight games to kick off the 5A postseason this spring.

Thomas Jefferson (12-6) will square off against defending champion Armstrong (13-7) at Plum at 5 p.m.

In the 2024 5A finals, Armstrong scored single runs in the first and third innings before Thomas Jefferson tied the game with two runs in the fourth and took the lead with a run in the fifth inning.

But the River Hawks blew the game open with seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to win the school’s second crown in three years, 9-3.

Abigail Bauer had a three-run homer for Armstrong and winning pitcher Madison Baker also went yard for the Hawks.

Olivia Stock and Morgan Alisesky had two hits each for the Jaguars.

While the stage isn’t as grand, these two enter with a chip on their shoulders — Armstrong as a double-digit seed defending champ and Thomas Jefferson as defending state champ and current section winner as the No. 6 seed.

Here are the other seven 5A first round matchups on Monday:

• Top-seed Penn-Trafford (17-2) is challenged by Moon (7-9) at West Mifflin at 5 p.m.

• No. 8 Plum (14-5) will square off with No. 9 Chartiers Valley (11-6) at West Mifflin at 3 p.m.

• No. 4 North Hills (15-4) meets another section runner up in Baldwin (13-5) at North Allegheny at 3 p.m.

• No. 5 Franklin Regional (13-6) takes on No. 12 Fox Chapel (12-6) at North Allegheny at 5 p.m.

• No. 2 Shaler (14-4) will play No. 15 Connellsville (12-6) at Plum at 3 p.m.

• No. 7 South Fayette (13-6) will battle No. 10 Trinity (11-9) at Pleasant Valley Elementary School in Peters Township at 4 p.m.

• No. 3 West Allegheny (13-4) clashes with No. 14 Latrobe (10-8) at Plum at 7 p.m.

Baseball pigtails

The biggest spring sports postseason field is the Class 3A baseball tournament where 18 teams clinched playoff berths.

Thus, there will be two pigtail, or preliminary round games, Monday to set the field of 16 ahead of Tuesday’s first round.

For the No. 16 seed and the right to play top-seeded Riverside, it will be Shady Side Academy (7-13) against McGuffey (9-9) at West Mifflin at 5 p.m.

The Bulldogs finished in fourth place in Section 2-3A and won three of their last four games and five of their last seven.

The Highlanders ended up tied for fourth place in Section 4-3A after being swept in their final section series against Seton LaSalle.

The game for the No. 15 seed and the chance to battle defending champion Avonworth in the first round pits South Allegheny (7-9) against Keystone Oaks (8-9) at West Mifflin at 7:30 p.m.

The Gladiators finished in third place in Section 2-3A and won three of their last four games, including a victory over South Park.

The Golden Eagles didn’t clinch until the final day of the regular season when they lost to Washington, but qualified when McGuffey lost both games of a doubleheader against Seton LaSalle.

This will be the first night playoff game at West Mifflin.

Girls lacrosse opens playoffs

The first round of the district lacrosse playoffs for girls 3A and boys 2A begins Tuesday and boys 3A on Wednesday.

So the light is shining bright on the eight playoff teams in first round action in girls 2A on Monday.

The very first WPIAL Class 2A girls lacrosse playoffs took place 16 years ago when Quaker Valley captured gold in 2009.

The Quaker repeated in 2010.

All these years later, and Quaker Valley (8-4) still is a postseason regular, this season as the No. 7 seed as it prepares to host No. 10 Indiana (10-5) at 7 p.m.

A year ago, both the Little Indians as the No. 2 seed and the Quakers as the No. 11 seed lost in the district quarterfinals.

The winner will move on to this year’s quarterfinals to battle No. 2 Seton LaSalle.

Here are the other three 2A girls lacrosse opening round matches:

• No. 8 Oakland Catholic (8-3) will battle No. 9 Franklin Regional (9-6) at Norwin at 7 p.m.

• No. 5 Hampton (10-7) will be home to No. 12 Trinity (8-9) at 7 p.m.

• No. 11 Sewickley Academy (8-5) visits No. 6 South Fayette (12-6) at 7 p.m.

Tags: Armstrong, Baldwin, Beaver, Belle Vernon, Blackhawk, Chartiers Valley, Connellsville, Derry Area, Fox Chapel, Franklin Regional, Greensburg Salem, Hampton, Indiana, Keystone Oaks, Latrobe, McGuffey, Moon, North Catholic, North Hills, Oakland Catholic, Penn-Trafford, Plum, Quaker Valley, Sewickley Academy, Shady Side Academy, Shaler, South Allegheny, South Fayette, Thomas Jefferson, Trinity, Uniontown, West Allegheny, West Mifflin, Western Beaver