WPIAL Softball Playoff Recaps for Thursday 5/21

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, May 21, 2015 | 11:33 PM

The Final Four. The winners reach a major goal and earn a spot in a WPIAL championship game. The losers have to deal with a dream dashed and yet still prepare for a consolation game and a berth in the upcoming state playoffs. Here are summaries from all seven softball Semifinals contest played on Thursday.

A special thanks to Sean Meyers, Lee Mohn, Mike Azadian, Rob Longo and Lou Rood for their help on these recaps.

WPIAL CLASS AAAA Semifinals:

Hempfield Spartans 9 – Shaler Titans 1 
In a matchup that pitted the top-seeded team against the defending Class Quad-A champions, No. 1 Hempfield Area scored a convincing 9-1 victory against Shaler Area at Fox Chapel High School, ending the Titans bid to repeat. The Lady Spartans gained the upper hand in the bottom of the first inning, and keyed by tremendous speed, strong pitching and stellar defense, Hempfield never relinquished the lead. In the opening frame, Taylor Hoffman led off with an infield single for the Spartans, and two batters later, Michaela LeDonne added an infield single of her own. Taylor Blevins plated both girls with the third hit of the inning, giving Hempfield the 2-0 edge. Shaler, the No. 4 seed, trimmed into the deficit in the second, as Jacey Schott scored after a pair of miscues by Spartans on an attempt to turn a double play. That would be all the offense the Titans could muster, though, as Hempfield’s sophomore hurler Morgan Ryan surrendered just five hits, and struck out eight. Ryan also benefited from an array of smooth plays from her defense, including several by shortstop Alexa Pastor. The Spartans also proved dangerous with the bats, as they added a pair of runs in the third inning against Shaler pitcher AJ Nichols, including a solo home run to center field by Blevins. Hempfield took complete command in the fourth, scoring three more times against Bri Dobson, who came on in relief. Madison Stoner led off with a single, and Jordan Sterling followed with an opposite-field double. Hoffman’s fielder’s choice scored a run, and Jenna Osikowicz plated another with a single to right field. Hoffman later scored in the frame on a sacrifice fly by LeDonne, as the Spartans went ahead 7-1. Hempfield added two more runs in the sixth, capitalizing on a pair of miscues by the Titans’ defense to begin the inning. With the triumph, Hempfield advances to the Class Quad-A Championship next Thursday, while Shaler will play in the consolation game for a spot in the PIAA postseason.

North Allegheny Tigers 5 – Baldwin Highlanders 1 
The North Allegheny Tigers are California bound after defeating Baldwin 5-1 on a chilly Thursday afternoon.  Baldwin jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning collecting three straight hits after one out.  Charlotte Nieman doubled then Samantha Wampler hit an infield single to move Nieman to third then Carly Santillo bunted and it went over the head of pitcher Maddie Beining for a single.  Baldwin would load the bases but could not score again in the inning.  The Tigers tied the game in the bottom of the third after Baldwin pitcher Jamie Schliecher retired the first seven batters  Erika Jelinek launched a home run over the left field fence.  North Allegheny would tally two more in the fourth   Emily Hogan led off with a single and was sacrificed to second and with two outs Logann Woodley hit an RBI single to give the Tigers 2-1 lead.  Then Schlecher walked the next three batters to force in another run North Allegheny would 3-1.  The Tigers would score two more in the fifth receiving an RBI single from Liz Scherer and a RBI ground out from Madi Beining and that is all North Allegheny needed.  Baldwin threatened in the 7th inning putting the first two runners on but could not score.  Madi Beining pitched a complete game scattering 5 hits and striking out six.  Baldwin will now face Shaler for a spot in the upcoming PIAA playoffs and North Allegheny will face Hempfield next Thursday at 7pm .  The Wright Automotive player of the game was Erika Jelinek. Her home run jump started the Tiger offense,

WPIAL CLASS AAA Semifinals:

Belle Vernon Leopards 3 – Southmoreland Scotties 2 
The second game of a triple header played at California University of PA’s Lilley field saw the Southmoreland Scotties and the Belle Vernon Area Leopards tangle in first of two AAA semifinals scheduled.  Belle Vernon, the #1 seed entered the game with an 18-2 record while Southmoreland came in at 13-3. It looked to be a classic matchup and the game did not disappoint.  BVA’s freshman pitcher entered the game with 179 K’s on the season and proceeded to strike out the side in the first inning and added two more K’s in the second.  The Scotties however sandwiched a pair of singles by Kristen Suhan and Makenna Myers and a passed ball to score Suhan from second on Myers hit.  The 1-0 lead would hold through to the top of the 4th when Olivia Porter singled for Southmoreland then moved to 3rd after consecutive walks to Caitlyn Troisi-Clark and Adeline Nicholson.  Makenna Myers picked up her second RBI with a sacrifice fly to right and the Scotties had a two run lead on Belle Vernon heading into the bottom of the 4th.  The Leopards answered Bailey Parshall hit a lead-off double to right center.  Lexie Church entered as courtesy runner for Parshall and moved to 3rd on Nicole Ashcraft’s single to center.  Emily Frederick singled to right to score Church and it looked like Belle Vernon had the makings of a big inning, but Southmoreland pitcher Kristen Suhan was able to pitch her way out of the bases loaded jam without giving up another run. The run made it a 2-1 Scottie lead.  After Southmoreland failed to score in the top of the 5th BVA was able to tie the score in the bottom of the inning. Kaitlyn Faiola singled with one out but was forced out at second by Parshall’s ground out.  Church came in to run for Parshall again and moved to 3rd on Ashcraft’s double to center.  Emily Frederick then hit a high pop up which pitcher Suhan was unable to field allowing Church to score to make it 2-2.  Suhan was able to end the inning with a strikeout but the game went to the 6th tied at 2.  In the top half of the 6th Parshall gave up a 2 out single to Nicholson but got Suhan to fly out to end the inning.  When BVA came up in the bottom of the 6th they faced a new pitcher in Caitlyn Troiser-Clark.  She set the Leopards down in order to set up the decisive 7th inning.  The Scotties managed a 1 out walk by Kylee Wisilosky in their half of the inning but Parshall was able to get a K and a ground out to end the inning.  In the bottom of the 7th Megan Christner led off with a walk, reached 2nd when   grounder to short was bobbled, and scored when Bailey Parshall took a pitch to the left centerfield wall for the walkoff single and game winning hit.  Parshall  went 2-4 on the game with 1 RBI.  Nicole Ashcraft led the Leopards with 3 hits and Kaitlyn Faiola chipped in with 2 hits.  Parshall was the winning pitcher tossing a complete game while giving up 5 hits, 2 runs-1earned, 3 walks and striking out 10.  Caitlyn Troisi-Clark got the loss in relief, pitching 1 inning while giving up only 1 run-unearned, 1 walk and 1 strikeout.  Kristen Suhan’s numbers were 5 innings pitched, 7 hits, 2 runs-1 earned, 0 walks and 3 strike outs.  With the loss Southmoreland will now take on Trinity Tuesday of next week to determine the 3rd place finisher/qualifier from the WPIAL for the PIAA tournament.  Belle Vernon will move into the Championship where they will take on the Yough Cougars winners of the nitecap semifinal next Thursday at Cal U.

Yough Cougars 10 – Trinity Hillers 1 
The third game of the tripleheader at Cal U’s Lilley Field took place between the Trinity Hillers and the Yough Cougars as they battled to determine who would take on Belle Vernon in next weeks’ championship game.  The Cougars entered the game as the #3 seed and the Hillers the #6 seed.  Yough was 16-3 on the season and Trinity 16-4 so a close contest was anticipated. For the first four innings that is exactly what the fans got as the game developed into a pitcher’s duel between Yough’s Macy Mularski and Trinity’s Paige Galentine.  Yough scored its lone run in the bottom of the 2nd when Galentine hit opposing pitcher Mularski to start the inning. She moved to 2nd on a walk to Cassidy Pearce and to third on Alona Sleith’s ground out that forced Pearce at 2nd.  Galentine’s wild pitch allowed Mularski to score, but that is all Yough was able to manage in the inning.  The 5th inning saw the tenor of the game change as Trinity capitalized on Madison Hornak reaching base on 3B Rachel Mlinek’s error.  Hornak was able to advance all the way to 2nd on the play and moved to 3rd on Olivia Gray’s fly out to RF.  Hornak then scored on Delaney Elling’s sacrifice pop up to short right field caught over the shoulder by 2B Aubrie Mance who was not able to throw out the speedy Hornak at home and Trinity tied the game at 1.  No one could foresee what was about to unfold in what had been a very tight game to this point.  Yough started out the bottom of the 5th with walks to Jordan Corle and Hannah Bach.  Allie Harvey then singled up the middle to load the bases.  Aubrie Mance then doubled in a pair of runs and a third run scored when Mlinek reached on an error.  Pearce singled in another run later in the inning and the final run plated on an error giving the Cougars 5 big runs in the 5th to take a 6-1 lead into the top of the 6th.  Trinity went out in order in the top half of the 6th and Yough came to bat with a 5 run cushion.  Harvery doubled and moved to 3rd on an outfield error to start the 6th, Mance reached on an error, stole 2nd and scored on Mlineks 2 run single.  Sleith then made it 10-1 when she hit a 2 run HR to left center and what had been a close 1-1 game ended up a rout that no one envisioned. Mularsky set down the Hillers in order in the 7th and Yough was on its way to a meeting with neighbor and big time rival Belle Vernon in the AAA Championship game.  Trinity’s season is not over as they will play Southmoreland Tuesday to determine the 3rd place team for the WPIAL in the PIAA state tournament.  Both Mularsky and Galentine pitched complete games, Mularsky getting the win.  She pitched 7 innings giving up only 3 hits, 1 unearned run, 3 walks and 9 K’s.  Galentine threw 6 innings giving up 8 hits, 10 runs-5 earned, 5 walks and 4 K’s.  Madison Hornak had a pair of hits for Trinity and Allie Harvey and Aubrie Mance had 2 hits each for the Cougars.  Mance and Sleith each had 2 RBI’s and Mlionek drove in 3 runs for Yough.  The AAA Championship game will be next Thursday at 4:30 at Cal U.

WPIAL CLASS AA Semifinals:

Deer Lakes Lancers 10 – Steel Valley Ironmen 0 
The Deer Lakes Lancers in dominating fashion move on to the WPIAL girls softball AA finals with a 10-0 six inning mercy rule victory over the Steel Valley Iron Men. Steel Valley the number 12 seed had already beaten the 5th and 4th seeds and were hoping for another upset. Thru three innings it was a close game as the Lancers had only 2 baserunners. Steel Valley got a double play in the first and threw a runner out trying to steal in the third to keep Deer Lakes off the scoreboard. The Iron Men however could only produce a single thru three innings and could not score so it was 0-0 into the 4th inning. The Lancers scored 4 runs in the 4th inning. Lead off batter Rachel Tanilli hit a home run, Shane Robsen hit a single. After one out Tiffany Edwards hit an RBI single then Maria Taliani followed with an RBI double. The next batter Stephanie Drapela drove home the 4th run with a single and it was 4-0 Deer Lakes and they never looked back. They would plate a run in the 5th inning as Katie Gozzard hit an RBI double. Then in the 6th induce the mercy rule with 5 runs. Maureen Hutchinson had a big RBI double and Gozzard had  a 2 RBI single producing the 9th and 10th runs. Robson, Gozzard, and Drapela all had two hits for the Lancers. Tiffany Edwards gets the win for Deer Lakes going 6 innings, giving up only 4 hits, 1 walk, and 6 strikeouts. She only allowed 7 baserunners, and only two got as far as third base. Deer Lakes which improves to 20-1 will face Mohawk now 16-0 in the 2nd seed on Thursday May 28th at California University of Pennsylvania in the WPIAL championship game at a time to be determined. For the Iron Men Chelsea Rohan went 3 for 3 with 2 singles and a double getting three of her teams 4 hits. Steel Valley falls to 9-6 on the season and  will play in a consolation game on Tuesday May 26th at a site and time to be determined against Seton  La Salle for the right to go to the PIAA state playoffs.

Mohawk Warriors 6 – Seton-LaSalle Rebels 1 
Thursday’s WPIAL Class AA semifinal between undefeated Seton-La Salle and undefeated Mohawk had all the makings to be a pitcher’s duel. Tristian Voss of Mohawk and Lauren Zola of Seton-La Salle both found plenty of success during the regular season and post season, just like their respective teams. It seemed to be that way for the first couple of innings, with the Rebels picking up a run in the second inning when Julie Curry scored from third after a runner on first was caught in a rundown. Zola recorded seven-consecutive strikeouts at one point between the first and third innings, but it was the base running of Leah Woytek that wreaked havoc on Seton-La Salle. After hitting a ball past the drawn-in infield, a slipup by the left fielder allowed Woytek to slide safely into second. During the next at bat, Woytek stole third, and a bad throw rolled into the outfield to even up the game. The following inning, Mohawk added three more runs using speed and extra-base hits. The Warriors added insurance runs in the fifth and sixth innings, closed the door on Seton-La Salle in the top of the seventh to advance to the WPIAL finals, where they will take on top-seeded Deer Lakes. Coming into Thursday’s game, Seton-La Salle outscored opponents 93-4. Mohawk is only the second team this season to score multiple runs on the Rebels, who will face Steel Valley in the third-place game to determine who gets the final PIAA playoff bid from District 7.

WPIAL CLASS A Semifinals:

Chartiers-Houston Buccaneers 7 – Bishop Canevin Crusaders 5 
Lilly Field in California, PA, home of the Cal U Lady Vulcans softball team was the site for this Class A softball semifinal between Bishop Canevin and Chartiers Houston.  Under cloudy skies and cool temperatures the stage was set to determine the opponent for Jefferson Morgan who had qualified for the championship game the day before.  Chartiers Houston kept Canevin off the scoreboard in the first despite a pair of singles and a throwing error when Alexis Pilch was thrown out at home by RF Kayla Elliot while trying to score on Kaitlyn Sonson’s single. Megan Kraushaar got the Lady Bucs started in the bottom of the first singling to left and advancing to second when the ball was bobbled in the outfield.  She moved to third on a wild pitch and then scored from there on another wild pitch to give Char Houston an early 1-0 lead.  Canevin answered in the top of the 2nd when Rachel Rittleman singled and scored on Alex Parra’s two out double.  It looked to be a tight game as Char Houston came to bat in the bottom of the second and Canevin pitcher Kylee Sonson quickly retire the first two hitters she faced.  But with two outs, lightning struck for the Lady Bucs.  Macie Kesnick walked and scored when LF Jalynn Meyers crushed a 2-run HR to deep left center to make it 3-0. Kraushaar was then hit by a pitch and moved to third on Sabrina Stankus’ double to center. Kayla Alderson walked to load the bases and Kassie Kesneck quickly cleared them with a 3-RBI double to center as Char Houston plated 5 runs with two outs.  Down 6-1 entering the top of the 3rd, Canevin started to chip away at the Char Houston lead.  They picked up a run in the 3rd on two errors and added another in the 4th when Rittleman singled and Pilch doubled to put runners on 2nd and 3rd.  Rittleman scored on Parra’s sacrifice fly which cut the lead in half, 6-3 Char Houston.  Then in the top of the 6th it got very interesting as Canevin scored a pair of runs to cut the lead to 1.  Rittleman picked up another hit as did Parra, but both Canevin runs were unearned as they were the result of a Lady Buc throwing error.  Having a 1 run lead entering the bottom of the 6th, Char Houston responded when Kraushaar walked, stole 2nd, advanced to 3rd on an infield out and scored on Kassie Kesneck’s infield hit to take it back to a two run cushion.  Canevin tried to come back one last time in the top of the 7th when Alexis Pilch led off with a single, but two consecutive grounders to SS Kraushaar resulted in a force out at 2nd and a game ending double play.  The 2 run win advances Chartiers Houston to the championship game with the opportunity to garner their 10th WPIAL Championship in school history.  Freshman Kaitlyn Dittrich picked up the win for Char Houston pitching a complete game while allowing 10 hits, 5 runs-2 earned, walked 1 and struck out 2.  Kylee Sonson was the losing pitcher throwing a complete game as well while giving up 9 hits, 7 runs-all earned, 4 walks and 8 strike outs.  Canevin will play Frazier to determine the 3rd place finisher that will qualify for the PIAA tournament.  Chartiers Houston will face Jefferson Morgan for the third time this year in the Championship game.  The two split their season series and were co-champions of Section 1A.