Local roundup: Blackhawk upends top-seeded Leopards, 7-3
When the WPIAL baseball playoff pairings were released Belle Vernon coach Tony Watson was pleased yet wary.
The Leopards were made the No.1 seed in Class AAAA but their first-round opponent was perennial power Blackhawk which finished the regular season with a 7-10 record.
“Statistically they had a down year but they’re well coached,” Watson said. “Lou Wolber does a great job over there. I certainly see them as a much better seed than 16.”
The Cougars played nothing like a bottom seed on Wednesday as they rode a strong performance by winning pitcher Dylan Smith to a 7-3 win over No. 1 Belle Vernon at Boyce Mayview Park.
Smith took a no-hitter into the fourth inning and pitched into the seventh. He allowed two runs on five hits with four walks and seven strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.
Smith also singled twice and drove in three runs.
Blackhawk (8-10) scored twice in the first inning and once in the third to take a 3-0 lead off Belle Vernon starting pitcher Colton Lee, although two of the runs were unearned. Lee allowed three hits and a walk with two strikeouts before being relieved by Parker Lind with one out in the third.
The Section 2 champion Leopards (13-4) got within a run by scoring twice in the sixth inning on doubles by Adam LaCarte, Jake Gedekoh and Parker Lind. Austin Hoffman singled to put the potential tying and go-ahead runs on base but Smith got Connor Bergman on a fly out to deep left field to end the rally.
Blackhawk was blanked by Lind in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings but broke through for four runs in the top of the seventh on two-run singles by Smtih and Cody Woodward to go up 7-2.
Aiden Gill relieved Smith with one out in the bottom of the seventh and was touched up for a single by Cole Matusik and an RBI double by Alex Nash before finishing off the game.
Gedekoh had two hits for Belle Vernon.
Thomas Jefferson 11, Ringgold 3 – The second-seeded Jaguars pulled away from the pesky 15th-seeded Rams with a six-run sixth inning in claiming a WPIAL Class AAAA first-round victory at Boyce Mayview Park.
Cody Kirsch doubled and knocked in four runs for Thomas Jefferson (18-2) which also got three hits from Alec Warden and two each from Noah Kaszer, Luke Kosko and Brady Hodge.
Ringgold (8-12) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead.
Andrew Sprinkle and Eddie Frizzell singled to open the game against TJ starting and winning pitcher JJ Siemon. After a ground out by Alex Kolano moved up the runners Gavin Angotti delivered an RBI single to center field although courtesy runner Amoni Ward was thrown out at home also trying to score on the play.
Ringgold scored another run in the second inning when Spencer Behrendt reached on an error, was bunted to second by Demetri Lowe and scored on Micah Petrosky’s single to center.
The Jaguars scored once in the second inning, went ahead to stay with two runs in the third and tacked on two more runs in the fourth for a 5-2 lead.
The Rams scored their final run in the fifth to make it 5-3. Petrosky started the inning with a bunt single, stole second, advanced to third on Frizzell’s fly out and scored on an infield error.
Thomas Jefferson finally put the Rams away with its six-run explosion in the sixth, ignited by Kirsch’s three-run double.
Starting and losing pitcher Frizzell, one of four pitchers Ringgold used in the game, allowed two earned runs on five hits in three innings.
Sprinkle had two hits for the Rams.
North Catholic 8, Elizabeth Forward 0 – Josef Safar hit two home runs and Thomas Schafale tossed a four-hit shutout and also homered as sixth-seeded North Catholic blanked the No. 11 Warriors in a WPIAL Class AAAA first-round playoff game at Peterswood Park.
The Trojans (14-4) hit four home runs in the game with Blake Primrose also going deep.
Schafale walked none and struck out five.
Losing pitcher Cy Herchelroath surrendered seven runs on six hits with six walks and five strikeouts in four innings.
Safar wound up with three hits and four RBIs.
North Catholic plated three runs in the first and gradually pulled away from there. The Trojans scored in every inning except the second.
AJ Greene and JB Crovak both doubled for the Warriors (11-8).
Girls softball
Armstrong 4, Connellsville 1 – Emma Paul had two hits, including a two-run homer, to help the top-seeded Lady Red Hawks fend off the No. 8 Lady Falcons in a WPIAL Class AAAAA quarterfinal game at Gateway.
Winning pitcher Madison Baker fired a five-hitter with no walks and 10 strikeouts.
Paul’s home run came in the third inning to put Armstrong (16-3) in front to stay.
Connellsville (13-8) sliced the lead in half in the top of the sixth Rylee Dreves singled and scored on Cali Leichliter’s double.
The Lady Red Hawks gave themselves some breathing room in the bottom of the inning when they combined a walk and singles by Isabel Prazenica and Lily Guthrie to score two more runs.
Prazenica totaled two hits and two RBIs and Guthrie also had two hits.
Leichliter and losing pitcher Iris Burd had two hits apiece for the Lady Falcons.
Burd gave up seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
Elizabeth Forward 10, West Mifflin 0 – Shelby Telegdy did it all for the top-seeded Lady Warriors in their six-inning WPIAL Class AAAA quarterfinal playoff victory over the ninth-seeded Lady Titans at Norwin.
Telegdy tossed a no-hitter with one walk and 13 strikeouts and added four hits, including a home run and a double, and two RBIs with the bat as EF advanced to next week’s semifinals against No. 4 Chartiers Valley.
Berlyn Holibaugh had three hits, including a double, and two RBIs and Julia Johnson doubled twice and drove in two runs for Elizabeth Forward which also got two hits and two RBIs from Addy Nigut and a double from Hannah Evans.
The Lady Warriors took control from the start with five runs in the first inning and one in the second. After tacking on another run in the fourth they ended the game on the 10-run mercy rule with three runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Rylie Dobnak was the losing pitcher.