West Greene headed to WPIAL finals
Holly Tonini
West Greene celebrates its 10-0 victory over Monessen in the WPIAL Class A softball semifinals at California University of Pennsylvania鈥檚 Lilley Field on Wednesday. The Lady Pioneers play Chartiers-Houston on June 2 for the WPIAL championship.
Holly Tonini
West Greene鈥檚 Madison Renner combined with teammate Bailey Bennington for a no-hitter in the Lady Pioneers鈥� 10-0 victory over Monessen on May 25 at California University of Pennsylvania鈥檚 Lilley Field. Renner and Bennington are the 缅北禁地 Small School Players of the Year.
West Greene's Kaitlyn Rizor gets the first home run of the game against Monessen during Wednesday's game at California University of Pennsylvania's Lilley Field.
CALIFORNIA 鈥� Both West Greene and Monessen softball teams were making their first ever appearance in the WPIAL semifinals, but only one could go home happy.
The Lady Pioneers struck early with five runs in the first inning and cruised to a 10-0 victory in five innings in the Class A semifinals last聽Wednesday afternoon at California University of Pennsylvania鈥檚 Lilley Field.
鈥淭his has been a good, hitting ball club the whole season and today the bats came alive,鈥� West Greene coach Billy Simms said. 鈥淣o matter the sport, you want to score first and set the tone. It was big for us and it鈥檚 always easier to play in that comfort zone. The girls were highly motivated today.鈥�
With the win, West Greene extends their winning streak to 19 games and advanced to face Section 1-A rival Chartiers-Houston on Thursday, June 2聽in the finals at Lilley Field.
In their two regular season match-ups in 2016, the Lady Pioneers (22-1) defeated C-H by scores of 11-1 on April 5 and 12-2 on April 21. Both games lasted six innings.
West Greene defeated Monessen early in the season, 10-0 in six innings, on April 18.
鈥淭hey have a lot of power in their line-up,鈥� Monessen coach Bo Teets said. 鈥淭hey are one of the better hitting teams we have seen this year no matter the classification. Everyone talks about their offense, but I thought their defense was very good today. They caught some hard line drives and kept us off the scoreboard.鈥�
After Monessen went down in order in the top of the first, West Greene loaded the bases with the first three batters in the frame and Bailey Bennington slapped a three-run double down the third base line to give the Lady Pioneers a 3-0 lead.
鈥淭his is a special team,鈥� Bennington said. 鈥淔rom those early, off-season practices to the trip to Myrtle Beach, we knew we had something special this year. We wanted to be aggressive in the very first inning and play with a lead. It was nice to have that cushion.鈥�
Kaitlyn Rizor quickly made it 5-0 in the next at-bat with a two-run home run to right centerfield.
鈥淭hese girls can hit home runs,鈥� Simms said. 鈥淲e have hit like 26 home runs this season. Monessen鈥檚 pitcher is a quality pitcher and throws a lot of hard stuff in the zone. We wanted to make her work and avoid striking out. We wanted to attack her early in the count and make solid contact with pitche s in the zone.鈥�
The Lady Greyhounds (15-6) had their best scoring chance in the second, as Madison Telegraphis and Carly Rock drew back-to-back walks to start the inning. Both runners advanced a base after a wild pitch with no outs.
West Greene鈥檚 Madison Renner left those runners stranded, however, as the crafty sophomore pitcher got out of the inning with a line out and two strikeouts.
McKenna Lampe started the second for the Lady Pioneers with a walk, stole second and scored off of an outfield error. Renner aided her own cause later in the inning with a RBI single to make it 7-0.
After a scoreless third, West Greene tacked on three runs in the bottom of the fourth, courtesy of a two-run homer by Madison Lampe and a solo shot by Bennington.
鈥淪he threw a lot inside to me in the first couple at-bats,鈥� Bennington said. 鈥淚 figure she had to come in or put it over the outside sooner or later. I was waiting on that pitch and I just took advantage of it.鈥�
Bennington came on in relief of Renner to begin the top of the fifth, and shut the door on Monessen with a three up, three down inning to secure the semifinal triumph.
Renner allowed no hits in her four innings in the circle, while registering four strikeouts and working around two walks and a hit batsman.
鈥淚t鈥檚 such a great feeling to win today and to know that we are one win away from a WPIAL title,鈥� Renner said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very exciting and we are ready for the moment. We knew we had something special with this team at the beginning of the season.鈥�
Monessen鈥檚 Dana Vatakis was handed the loss, and after pitching back-to-back shutouts in the first two rounds of the playoffs, was tagged with 10 runs on eight hits with four strikeouts and three free passes.