Seven area teams remain in baseball, softball playoffs
The smoke has cleared from the first week of WPIAL baseball and softball playoff battles and seven area teams remain alive, including four from Greene County.
Both the baseball and softball squads from Carmichaels and West Greene have made it to the second week, along with three other softball teams: Frazier, Bentworth and Elizabeth Forward.
If not for the weather, only six teams would still be in contention as the Class A softball quarterfinal matchup between Frazier and West Greene, scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday at Peterswood Park was rained out and moved to today with the same site and time. The winner will play top-seeded Union in the semifinals, 3 p.m. at Montour on Wednesday.
Another top-seeded Union team, this one in Class A baseball, will face No. 8 Carmichaels in a quarterfinal game today at Burkett Park with the first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. West Greene’s baseball team will take on second-seeded Eden Christian, also today, in a 4:30 p.m. game at Peterswood Park.
The winners of those two games will advance to Tuesday’s semifinals.
Mikes coach Dickie Krause preferred having the significant gap between the first round (played on Tuesday, May 14) and quarterfinal games. Union received a first-round bye.
“If you play those first two games back-to-back, it’s too abrupt,” Krause said. “This way if you win a game you have another week of season left before you face that one seed and you get your team together and try to make sure you’re ready and see what happens.”
Also in action Tuesday will be second-seeded Bentworth which has reached the Class AA semifinals. The Lady Bearcats face No. 3 Laurel in a 6 p.m. game at North Allegheny.
The Carmichaels and Elizabeth Forward softball teams are both back in action Wednesday.
The second-seeded Lady Mikes face Section 2-A rival and third-seeded Chartiers-Houston for the third time this season in the Class A semifinals in a 5 p.m. game at Montour. The two split their previous meetings with Carmichaels winning 7-5 at Chartiers-Houston in a suspended 17-inning game and the Lady Bucs winning on the Lady Mikes’ field 6-5. The two ended up tying for first place.
“Both games could’ve went either way,” Carmichaels coach Dave Briggs said. “We could’ve won both, they could’ve won both. We’re pretty evenly matched. It could be one hit or one error here or there that decides it.
“We’re looking forward to it.”
The top-seeded Section 2 champion Lady Warriors (18-1) face a formidable foe in fourth-seeded Section 3 champion Chartiers Valley (16-3) in a 3 p.m. quarterfinal game at West Mifflin.
Elizabeth Forward’s lone loss was 2-1 to Hempfield, the top-seeded team in Class AAAAAA. The Lady Colts’ three losses have come to second-seeded Hampton, which they split with, Class AAA playoff team South Fayette and Class AAAA quarterfinalist Montour.
Hampton meets No. 11 Blackhawk in the other semifinal, 3 p.m. Wednesday at North Allegheny.
All softball championship games will be played at PennWest-California University’s Lilley Field with dates and times to be determined.
Several of the upcoming softball matchups include teams with common opponents.
Fourth-seeded and Section 3 champion Frazier (13-0) and No. 5 West Greene (12-7), which finished third place in Section 2 behind co-champions Carmichaels and Chartiers-Houston, have both played Leechburg, St. Joseph and Monessen.
The Lady Commodores swept the Lady Blue Devils, 16-0 and 14-0, the Lady Spartans, 16-0 and 11-1, and the Lady Greyhounds, 17-1 and 12-0, while the Lady Pioneers defeated Leechburg in the first-round, 11-1, and handled St. Joseph, 17-2, and Monessen, 15-1, during the regular season.
Union, which defeated No. 8 Jefferson-Morgan in the quarterfinals, 11-2, awaits the winner. The Lady Rockets were the first Class A team to stay within double-digit runs of the Lady Scotties (19-1) whose only loss was to unbeaten Class AA No. 1 seed Neshannock.
Carmichaels (14-2) and C-H (15-2) played in the same section so obviously had five common opponents who each swept.
Section 3 champion Bentworth (16-2) and Laurel (17-4), which finished second to Neshannock in Section 1, have both played Charleroi and Shenango.
The Lady Bearcats defeated Charleroi twice, 8-0 and 4-0, and eliminated Shenango in the quarterfinals, 8-1. The Lady Spartans blanked Shenango twice, 10-0 and 12-0, and knocked out Charleroi in the quarterfinals, 4-0.
The winner will play either the Lady Lancers or No. 5 Our Lady of the Sacred Heart who will clash directly before the Bentworth-Laurel game at North Allegheny with a 4 p.m. start.
On the baseball side, neither Carmichaels (12-4), which finished in a three-way tie with West Greene and Avella for second place in Section 1, and Section 2 champion Union (13-3) nor the Pioneers (12-5) and Section 3 champion Eden Christian (14-4) have any common opponents.
“I know that Union stumbled in the playoffs last year against a team from our section (a 9-6 loss to California in the semifinals),” Krause pointed out. “We’re going to embrace it.”
If West Greene can get by Eden Christian, it will face a familiar Section1 foe in Tuesday’s semifinals against either third-seeded and section champion Fort Cherry or No. 6 Avella, who also play at Peterswood Park at 2 p.m. The Pioneers split with the Rangers and lost two tight games (3-1 and 2-1) with the Eagles.