WPIAL Softball Playoff Recaps for Tuesday, May 15th

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, May 16, 2012 | 12:20 AM

There were a total of 19 Preliminary round and First Round WPIAL softball playoff games played Tuesday after Monday was washed away by Mother Nature. Six of those games were heard here on the network as we began our exclusive coverage of the postseason leading all the way to the four finals at California University of Pennsylvania. 

A special thanks to Jason Tennant, Lee Mohn and Mike Azadian for their help on these recaps.

WPIAL CLASS AAAA FIRST ROUND:

Latrobe Wildcats 12 – Plum Mustangs 1  
Everything was working both offensively and defensively for the Latrobe Wildcats as they cruised into the quarterfinals with a 12-0 win over Plum.  Plum actually started off great as pitcher Taylor Johns shut down the Wildcats in order in the top of the first.  Then Jordan Seneca led off the bottom of the first with a single, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and stole third, all with nobody out.  Latrobe took over from there.  Pitcher Olivia Gumbita recorded back-to-back strikeouts and a groundout to end Plum's only real threat and then the Wildcat bats woke up for good.  Latrobe scored a run in the second before the inning ended on a 1-2-3 double play with the bases loaded.  They added three in the third, five in the fourth, and three more in the fifth.  Ashley Perillo went 3-for-4 with a double and two singles, driving in four and scoring once.  Rachel Conrad and Emily Yokopenic also went 3-for-4, each with three singles and 2 RBIs.  Gumbita got the win, striking out 3 and allowing only 3 hits.  The loss went to Johns, who was relieved by Jessica Bitsura after 2.1 innings.  Latrobe ended up with a total of 16 hits.

North Allegheny Tigers 11 – Baldwin Highlanders 1  
North Allegheny spotted Baldwin the first run in the bottom of the first but then scored the next 11 runs and defeating the Highlanders 11-1 in first round playoff action. Pitcher Sami Beining gave up 3 singles to the first 4 batters giving Baldwin the 1-0 lead.  The 5th batter Mari Bandi struck out and Erica Young flied to first base to end the threat.  NA would score 2 runs in the 2nd with one out.  Bonnie Pearson walked, Matti Huckestein singled then Stephanie Hnat singled home courtesy runner Emily Hogan then a bad throw let Huckestein score making the score 2-1.  NA would break the game open in the 4th scoring 6 times on 6 hits and sending 10 men to the plate.  Mary Funderlich had 2 RBI's along with Jordan Macey and Stephanie Hnat and Christine Sscherer had 1 RBI.  Mary Funderlich would add an RBI single in the 6th and Jordan Macey 1 in the 7th.  Sami Beining pitched 4 solid innings giving up just 4 hits and striking out three.  Mary Funderlich finished the finial 3 innings not allowing a run and also striking out three.  North Allegheny moves on to the quarterfinals on Thursday to face Hempfield.

WPIAL CLASS A FIRST ROUND:

Jefferson-Morgan Rockets 1 – Elderton Bobcats 0  
A run under unusual circumstances was the only run scored in a pitching dual that was ultimately won by Kaitlyn Coles and the Jefferson-Morgan Rockets.  Coles finished with 9 strikeouts and walked only one while allowing only 2 hits.  Her opponent Elderton's Laina Walker struckout 7 and walked only one.  She allowed a total of 3 hits.  Through 5 innings, the teams had combined for only 4 runners in scoring position.  Jefferson-Morgan stranded a runner at second in the third.  Elderton stranded Walker at third after a 2-out triple in the fourth.  The Rockets got the first two batters on in the fourth with an error and a hit, but Walker slammed the door with back-to-back strikeouts and a popout.  Elderton then stranded a runner at second in the fifth.  In the bottom of the 6th, Jefferson-Morgan's Reagan Rush walked to lead off the inning.  Kirsten Stoneking then laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved Rush to second.  As Rush rounded second, she started for third as no one was covering the bag.  Elderton's third baseman, Alyssa Clark hurried to the bag, took a throw from first base and applied the tag to Rush, who was called out.  After a brief huddle by the umpires, they determined that Rush had been obstructed by shortstop Cassie Wright on her way to third and was ultimately ruled safe.  With Coles at the plate, Rush then scored the game's only run on a wild pitch thrown by Walker.  Elderton got a 2-out single in the top of the 7th, but Coles caught Tiffany Smietana looking at strike three for the final out of the game, sending the Rockets into the quarterfinals.

South Side Rams 5 – West Greene Pioneers 1  
In WPIAL single A first round softball action in Burgettstown, the South Side Rams defeated the West Greene Pioneers by a score of 5-1, in a game that took only 55 minutes to play.The first three innings of this game took less than 20 minutes, between the teams there were only 4  base-runners and both pitchers Alexis Tripp for South Side, and Paige Moninger for the Pioneers were stellar. Neither pitcher walked a batter the whole game.The scoring started in the 4th when the Rams got singles from Cheyenne Siek, and Cassie Gentile. Tricia Lamont reached on a fielders choice, and Michelle Klein singled. A few infield outs plated runs and it was 4-0. The Rams got a double from Seik In the 4th and she scored on a Lamont single to make it 5-0. The Pioneers had a double by Autumn Widyup in the 7th followed by a Lauren Weaver Double to score their lone run for the 5-1 final. For the Rams, Seik was 2-3, Lamont 2-3 and 2 RBI, and Klein 2-3. Tripp got the win going the distance on the mound giving up 5 hits, the 1 run, 0 walks and 5 strikeouts. At one point from the second thru 6th inning she retired 14 in a row. The Pioneers finish at 11-9, while the Rams improve to 17-3 and move on to the quarter finals where they will face the Vincentian Academy Royals next week on a date and time to be determined.

Vincentian Academy Royals 10 – Rochester Rams 0 
In WPIAL girls single A softball playoff first round action the Vincentian Academy Royals defeated the Rochester Rams in 5 innings by a score of 10-0. The Royals scored 3 runs in the first inning on 5 hits highlighted by a Bridget Melvin 2 RBI double. Rochester left 3 runners on base in the second and couldn't chip away at the lead. The Royals plated 2 more runs in the 3rd inning on 2 hits, 2 walks, and 2 fielders choices. The Rams in the bottom of the 3rd again put runners on and did not score,  this time stranding 2 runners. That was all the Rams would do as they never threatened again.  Vincentian in the 4th had 5 hits, 4 of them doubles to plate 3 more runs, then in the 5th had 2 runs on 1 hit to end the scoring. The Rams end their season at 10-8. The Royals improve to 12-4 and will face The South Side Rams next week in the quarterfinals on a date and time to be determined. For the Royals, Ashly Darby was 2-4 with a double and single and 1 run  scored and a stolen base. Katie Yough went 2-2 with 2 singles, 2 walks, and 2 runs scored. Zenia Moore was 1-3 with a double, 2 RBI, 2 runs scored and a stolen base. Bridgett Melvin went 2-2 with 2 doubles, a walk, 3 runs scored, and 2 RBI. Danielle Melvin went 2-3 with a single and double, and  2 RBI. Noreen Fischer went 2-3 with 2 singles and 2 RBI. Natalie Milas went 2-3 with a single and a double, with 1 run scored. Rachel Benkovec stole a base and scored a run, Serena Morreal went 1-3 with a double. Dani Schneider went 1-1 with a double and 2 RBI. The Royals had 14 hits, 7 doubles, and 7 singles. The winning pitcher was Bridget Melvin who pitched 5 innings, gave up no runs on 2 hits, struck out 6 and walked 3. She retired the last 9 batters in order to end the game. 

Sto-Rox Vikings 14 – Avella Eagles 0  
Avella could not get anything going against starting pitcher Natalya Smarra and was retired 15 up and 15 down losing to Sto Rox 14-0 in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs.  The hardest hit ball was by Courtney Kern in the first inning when she flied out to right field  Smarra was in complete control striking out the side in the 5th inning to complete her perfect game.  Sto Rox was led by Smarra with the bat also smacking 2 doubles and a home run with 4 RBI"s and Mary Cersosimo with 3 hits and 2 RBI's   Sto Rox stays undefeated at 18-0 while Avella which was making their first playoff appearance in more than 8 years finishes at 6-12.