What to watch for in WPIAL sports on April 9, 2025: North Hills neighbors collide in Class 5A softball

By: Don Rebel
Tuesday, April 8, 2025 | 11:07 PM

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Another chilly, but a tad warmer day will be the backdrop for a busy midweek schedule of WPIAL softball section contests.

One of the key matchups is a battle of a pair of northern power programs colliding when North Hills (8-1) hosts Shaler (4-2) at 3 p.m.

The rivals finished first and second in Section 1-5A last season with the Indians ending up one game in front of the Titans.

Both teams won their first-round 5A playoff games last spring but were ousted in the quarterfinals.

In 2023, Shaler reached the 5A final four, while in 2022, it was North Hills making it to the district semifinals.

A year earlier, the Indians made it to the 2021 WPIAL finals where they crushed Armstrong, 12-1.

Last season, the teams split their regular season games with Shaler shutting out North Hills in the first meeting, 2-0, and then the Indians prevailing in the rematch, 7-3.

This year, they are tied for first place in Section 1-5A with a combined 5-0 record.

North Hills has won five straight games, including section victories over New Castle, Mars and Fox Chapel by a combined score of 29-10.

Shaler has been on the winning side in its last three contests, including section triumphs over Plum and Penn Hills by a combined score of 29-1.

Pitching beware

There are two big softball matchups for first place in a pair of Class 2A sections in which the four teams involved are averaging nearly 11 runs a game.

In Section 1-2A, undefeated Neshannock (8-0) is home to Shenango (4-3) at 5 p.m.

The Lancers are 5-0 in the section and are averaging 12 runs a game. They also have one of the top pitchers in the state in Addy Frye, so they are only yielding 1.1 runs per contest.

The Wildcats enter with a section record of 3-0 and have scored an average of just over eight runs in their seven contests.

In Section 2-2A, Apollo-Ridge will visit Northgate at 6 p.m.

Both the Vikings and Flames come into the showdown sporting 6-1 overall records and 1-0 marks in the section.

Apollo-Ridge has already scored 88 runs and is averaging 12.5 runs per game.

Northgate has done well plating runs too, scoring 71 times for an average of just over 10 runs per game.

Properly thawed

Two WPIAL baseball Section 1-6A baseball games pushed back because of the Tuesday cold will now take place Wednesday.

It’s the second game of the three-game section series as Butler visits North Allegheny and North Hills hosts Central Catholic, both at 4 p.m.

In the openers on Monday, Sean O’Donnell doubled and drove home a run to lead North Allegheny past host Butler, 3-1.

Landon Greene was 2 for 3 with two RBI as Central Catholic edged North Hills, 3-1.

Those results left the Tigers as the only unbeaten team in the section at 1-0, the Golden Tornado are 3-1, the Vikings are even at 2-2 and the Indians slip to 0-4 in section play.

Breaking the tie … maybe

In Section 2-A baseball, there are four teams tied for third place, all looking up at Winchester Thurston and Leechburg, who are tied for first place with 5-0 section records.

Those four teams are Rochester, Union, Aquinas Academy and Western Beaver.

Two of them meet in a doubleheader Wednesday when Rochester takes on Union.

If one of them sweeps, they move into sole possession of third place in the section.

However, if they split, they will both be 3-3 and the tie will continue.

Finally, the first serve

The first three rounds of the 2025 boys singles tennis championships, originally scheduled for Tuesday, will take place Wednesday.

Thanks to realignment, this year’s Class 3A bracket has both defending WPIAL champions from a year ago are in the same class.

Last spring, then-freshman Adaita Sircar from North Allegheny won the 3A singles title while then-junior Severin Harmon from Sewickley Academy took home the gold in 2A.

Sewickley Academy moved up to 3A for this two-year cycle, and both are on opposite sides of the bracket with Sircar as the top seed and Harmon as the No. 7 seed.

In the section singles final last week, Sircar defeated Harmon, 6-0, 6-0.

The first round, quarterfinals and semifinals are set to begin at 11 a.m.

For now, the championship and consolation finals are Thursday at Bethel Park but could be moved indoors if weather is an issue.