PIAA Class 5A softball championship preview: Armstrong vs. Lampeter-Strasburg

By: Don Rebel
Thursday, June 17, 2021 | 8:37 PM

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History is being made in Happy Valley this week as the WPIAL sends 10 baseball and softball teams to Penn State University to compete in the PIAA championships.

This is the fourth year the PIAA has had six championships in baseball and softball.

In 2017, the WPIAL sent seven teams. In 2018, it grew to eight District 7 teams, but in 2019, only five district baseball and softball teams reached the state finals.

Armstrong (18-5) vs. Lampeter-Strasburg (29-1)

4 p.m. Friday at Beard Field at Nittany Lions Softball Park at Penn State

Path to Penn State

Armstrong defeated District 3 Twin Valley, 10-1; District 3 Exeter Township, 15-4, WPIAL North Hills, 7-4

Lampeter-Strasburg defeated District 1 Marple-Newtown, 8-2; District 1 Springfield Delco, 5-0; District 2 West Scranton, 3-0

District Postseason

Armstrong defeated South Fayette, 16-3; Indiana, 11-0, Fox Chapel, 2-1, and lost to North Hills in the WPIAL championship game, 12-2

Lampeter-Strasburg defeated New Oxford, 10-0; Donegal, 13-0; Elizabethtown, 8-2; Twin Valley in the District 3 championship game, 5-1

Performers to Watch

Armstrong

Starting pitcher Julia Hetrick and DH Riley Kilgore are two senior leaders on a team loaded with underclass talent that includes junior Mackenzie Egley, sophomores Jenna Clontz, Isabella Atherton, Emma Smerick and Cameryn Sprankle along with freshmen Emma Paul and Jessie Pugh. Smerick had two homers and four RBIs on Monday in the state semifinals win over WPIAL champion North Hills.

Lampeter-Strasburg

Junior Keiva Middleton will get the start in the circle for the Pioneers, coming off back-to-back shutouts of Springfield-Delco and West Scranton in the PIAA quarterfinals and semifinals. She has over 200 strikeouts for the season. She and sophomore teammate Brooke Zuber, who doubled in the win over West Scranton, were named to the Carpenter Cup team representing Berks, Lancaster and Lebanon counties in a tournament in Philadelphia.

Streaks

Armstrong has a modest three-game winning streak while Lampeter-Strasburg has won 28 straight games.

Factoids

• Armstrong is a perfect 3-0 in the school’s first PIAA softball playoffs.

• Lampeter-Strasburg has a 16-5 record in the PIAA playoffs. This will be the Pioneers’ fourth appearance in the softball state finals, all in the last six years. Lampeter-Strasburg defeated West Allegheny, 6-2, to win the 2018 PIAA 5A championship. The Pioneers lost to Yough in the 2016 AAA title game and fell to Penn-Trafford in the 2019 5A finals.

• The three previous PIAA Class 5A softball champions were Donegal (District 3) in 2017, Lampeter-Strasburg (District 3) in 2018 and Penn-Trafford (WPIAL) in 2019.

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