Batter up
Five of eight area baseball teams begin playoffs Monday
When the WPIAL released its baseball playoff pairings on Friday, Carmichaels coach Dickie Krause immediately took note of the schedule and when his team would play.
鈥淲e were a little surprised that it was Monday,鈥� Krause said. 鈥淲e expected no earlier than Tuesday. That鈥檚 pretty tight because that doesn鈥檛 give you a lot of time over the weekend when you鈥檙e scouting and trying to get ready for a new opponent.鈥�
Carmichaels is one of five area teams, along with Jefferson-Morgan, California, Frazier and Belle Vernon, who are slated to open the postseason on Monday.
Three more 鈥� Connellsville, Waynesburg Central and Mount Pleasant 鈥� get underway on Tuesday.
The Rockets (11-8) and Mikes (8-8) were seeded seventh and eighth, respectively, in the Class A bracket and play a doubleheader at Washington & Jefferson鈥檚 Ross Memorial Park. Carmichaels faces No. 9 Sewickley Academy (8-9) at 4 p.m. and J-M takes on No. 10 Union (6-10) at 6:30 p.m.
This will be the final playoff appearance for Rockets coach John Curtis who is stepping down after 42 years at the helm.
When asked how he鈥檚 approaching this last postseason, Curtis said, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a tough question. It鈥檚 something I try not to think about, like, well this is my last time in the playoffs, this is last home game, last this or that.
鈥淚t鈥檚 in the back of my mind but I鈥檒l think about it more when it鈥檚 all said and done. It went fast, I鈥檒l say that.鈥�
The Class A seedings fell about where Curtis thought they would with top eight in order being Eden Christian, Greensburg Central Catholic, Serra Catholic, Western Beaver, Leechburg, Avella and then Jefferson-Morgan and Carmichaels.
鈥淚 always kind of do a pre-bracket of my own, and Avella, us and Carmichaels, we鈥檙e pretty much where I thought we would be, six, seven and eight,鈥� Curtis said. 鈥淭he top four, I had Eden two and GCC one for the simple reason GCC was 15-0. I know Eden has a lot of history and they were pretty good.
鈥淩egardless, you鈥檝e got to take them one at a time, try to win and move on.鈥�
The Rockets, who have won 10 of their last 12, finished third in Section 1 behind GCC and Avella with Carmichaels fourth.
鈥淲e got kind of a late start, practice-wise, with a lot of them because of the great success of our basketball team but that was a good thing for the school,鈥� said Curtis, whose teams have had a knack for getting better as the season has gone along through his career. 鈥淲e make a few adjustments and continue to do what we do and the kids seem to respond to that. So we usually see our hitting, pitching and defense get much better as the season goes on.鈥�
Getting a scouting report on opposing teams is usually easier nowadays with much available online, but Curtis had trouble digging up information on the Scotties.
鈥淯nion is hard to gauge because they didn鈥檛 have anything on MaxPreps,鈥� Curts said. 鈥淚鈥檝e had a couple people I know help me out so we have a little bit of info but not a whole lot. All of our stuff is out there.鈥�
J-M ace John Woodward will likely be the starting pitcher against the Scotties.
鈥淵ou have to win the first one so I鈥檇 say it鈥檚 a pretty good bet,鈥� Curtis said. 鈥淭he games are a little more spread out than usual. There鈥檚 only 12 teams.鈥�
Krause has had plenty of playoff success recently, including guiding the Mikes to the WPIAL final where it fell to Serra last year, but not as much was expected from his youthful 2026 squad.
鈥淲e鈥檙e thrilled to be back in the playoffs. I鈥檓 really happy for the kids,鈥� Krause. 鈥淭o get into the playoffs was a goal at the beginning of the season. We went 7-5 in the section which I was pleased with.
鈥淭he last two years have been successful but we turned over so many players, eight seniors from last year and six the year before, so that鈥檚 14 kids out of your program in two seasons. In Class A that鈥檚 a big hit, one we haven鈥檛 had before. This year we only have three seniors and one is a first-year player.鈥�
As he expected, Carmichaels had its ups and downs this season.
鈥淲e were typical of a young team,鈥� Krause said. 鈥淥ne day we would go out and play a great game and have a nice win, then the next game we wouldn鈥檛 play nearly as well. Like Avella, we played a nice, solid game and won at their place and the next day we looked about as bad as we could look, miscommunicated, dropped a pop up on the mound that was a big play in that game and made a bunch of mistakes.
鈥淲e came on at the end, won four of our last five games, so we鈥檙e getting better and all signs are looking positive about next year when we get most of these kids back. The kids are excited about being there and we鈥檙e looking forward to Monday. This is one of the hardest working teams I鈥檝e ever had and they鈥檙e good kids.鈥�
As for Sewickley, Krause said, 鈥淭hey have a similar record and played in a section with (Bishop) Canevin, Eden and Serra and all of those teams we鈥檝e played in the playoffs the last three or four years so we know how competitive that section is.鈥�
While playing Monday was a surprise, Krause is happy with the site.
鈥淲&J is a beautiful facility so we鈥檙e looking forward to playing there,鈥� Krause said.
In Class 2A on Monday, No. 8 California plays No. 9 Freedom in a 4 p.m. game at Peterswood Park and No. 13 Frazier goes up against No. 4 Riverview, 6:30 p.m. at West Mifflin.
Trojans first-year coach Jason Rechichar felt his team would be seeded a bit higher.
鈥淚 honestly thought we would be somewhere between five and seven, with our record being 14-6 overall and 10-2 in the section,鈥� said Rechichar, whose squad finished second behind top-seeded Fort Cherry in Section 1. 鈥淚 felt we鈥檇 get a better seed than what we got, looking at say Apollo-Ridge, which had five section wins and eight overall and was put above us. It was frustrating.
鈥淲e lost some non-section games to good, bigger schools, like Belle Vernon and South Park and Ringgold, that were playoff teams. That鈥檚 who I wanted to play in the regular season to make our team better but I guess they didn鈥檛 take that into account.鈥�
Rechichar did agree with the Rangers being placed at the top of the seedings
鈥淔ort Cherry is a very good baseball team and I鈥檓 not surprised they were No. 1,鈥� Rechichar said. 鈥淲hat did surprise me was I felt like they didn鈥檛 give the rest of our section the respect it was due.鈥�
Rechichar has done a bit of scouting on Freedom.
鈥淚 know they鈥檙e a contact hitting team and they have two pretty good pitchers,鈥� he said.
Rechichar took over as California鈥檚 coach after Taylor Andrisko left the Trojans to coach Belle Vernon, but he was part of the program.
鈥淚 was the middle school coach for three years here prior to taking this job, so the transition was really smooth,鈥� Rechichar said. 鈥淚 knew most of the kids, obviously, having coached them before. It was pretty seamless.鈥�
He has a four-man coaching staff behind him including former Brownsville coach Skooter Roebuck, who has a WPIAL title on his resume.
鈥淪kooter coached me in high school,鈥� Rechichar pointed out. 鈥淎lso I have PJ Ross, Chris Daniels and Trent Wible.鈥�
Rechichar feels his players are ready for the postseason.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e excited to be in the playoffs and we feel confident,鈥� Rechichar said. 鈥淲e were literally one out away from beating Fort Cherry the second time we played them and a kid hit a home run in the seventh inning to tie it and we wound up losing. I鈥檝e told them you guys can beat anybody if you bring your 鈥楢鈥� game.鈥�
Andrisko took the reins of a Leopards team that reached the Class 4A semifinals last year under Tony Watson. Belle Vernon (14-5), which tied with West Mifflin for second in Section 2, is the fifth seed and plays No. 12 Hampton, 6:30 p.m. at Gateway on Monday.
鈥淲e鈥檙e very satisfied with the five seed,鈥� said Andrisko, who led California to the WPIAL final three years ago. 鈥淚 think had we won at home against West Mifflin last week we may have been a spot or two better. I think the committee did a great job this year and the playoffs are going to be competitive in every round.鈥�
Andrisko is wary of the Talbots.
鈥淲e know that Section 1 is very competitive top to bottom and has some very good teams,鈥� he said. 鈥淗ampton has had some very impressive wins this season so we know they鈥檙e battle-tested out of that section. They also have some impressive non-conference wins.
鈥淭hey certainly don鈥檛 appear to be a 12 seed to be slept on. That speaks to the entire 4A bracket. Every team in the field is competitive and has a guy on the mound that they trust, and that makes anyone dangerous on any given day.鈥�
Waynesburg is the 16th and last seed in Class 3A but owns a win over No. 2 Seton LaSalle. The Raiders (7-12) placed fourth in Section 4.
鈥淲e weren鈥檛 surprised with where we landed,鈥� Waynesburg coach Perry Cunningham said. 鈥淯ltimately, if we wanted a better seed, we should鈥檝e played better in both the section and our non-section schedules.
鈥淲ith that being said, we feel our non-section has prepared us for the postseason. We scrimmaged and played five playoff teams, four of which are 4A as well as Avella, plus Trinity. We didn鈥檛 play very clean in most of those games, but I still felt the speed of those teams and pressure they put on us will help us.鈥�
The win over the Rebels gives his players hope against top-seeded Avonworth. The two will meet in a 6:30 p.m. game on Tuesday at Ross Memorial Park in the second game of a doubleheader. No. 8 Mount Pleasant (12-8) faces No. 9 Charleroi in the first game at 4 p.m.
鈥淲e talked to our kids about the reality of our Seton LaSalle win and if we can beat the No. 2 team, why can鈥檛 we beat the No. 1 team?鈥� Cunningham said. 鈥淐ertainly it鈥檚 going to be a challenge and we鈥檒l have to play clean baseball just as we did against Seton LaSalle, but that win should be a reminder that we can play a solid game, and, hopefully, our kids bring that confidence.
鈥淎lso, this is a different feeling for us this year. Last year鈥檚 team had expectations and there was a certain level of pressure that came along with those. This group doesn鈥檛 have any pressure, especially as the No. 16 seed.鈥�
Like Waynesburg, Connellsville (9-11) is a No. 16 seed and faces top-seeded Pine-Richland on Tuesday in a 6:30 p.m. game at Gateway.