Softball
This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 04/10/2017
April 10, 2017
While you may spend a lot of time hunting Easter eggs, you won't have to spend a lot of time searching for quality high school sports sports coverage this week here on the MSA Sports Network. We have plenty of WPIAL baseball section contests along with WPIAL softball including coverage of Hometown Softball. We also have WPIAL boys and girls lacrosse, plus another edition of WPIAL Diamond Notes ALL here at MSAsports.net Monday, April 10th: WPIAL High School Baseball - Pittsburgh Central Catholic vs Pine-Richland at 4:00pm on MSAsports.net WPIAL High School Baseball - Plum vs Norwin at 4:00pm on MSAsports.netScholastic Notebook – 04/08/2017
April 8, 2017
A star hurdler is emerging in girls track and field at Oakland Catholic, but the last time we heard much of her, she was at Penn Hills. Jayla Ellis is a sophomore at Oakland Catholic who has run the 100-meter hurdles in 14.1 seconds this spring. According to WPIAL girls track and field historian Jim Faiella, that is the second-fastest time in the history of the WPIAL. Lindsay Dolan of Center ran 14.1 in 2006. Ellis burst onto the WPIAL track scene a year ago, winning the 100 hurdles as a freshman and finishing fourth in the state. But Ellis attended Penn Hills last year. She transferred to Oakland Catholic for her sophomore year.
WPIAL Hall of Fame Class of 2017
The newest class of the WPIAL Hall of Fame includes a current NFL player, a former NFL head coach and a high school coach who sent almost a dozen players to the NFL. The 2017 class was announced by the WPIAL at a news conference Thursday at the Heinz History Center. This is the 10th anniversary of the Hall of Fame. The inductees with NFL ties are: Terrelle Pryor, who played for the Cleveland Browns last year and has signed with the Washington Redskins; former New York Jets head coach Joe Walton; former Woodland Hills coach George Novak, who sent 11 players to the NFL.
Hometown Softball Recap – West Mifflin Titans – 04/05/2017
April 5, 2017
In a true slugfest that featured 29 total hits, a pair of five-run frames keyed the Keystone Oaks Golden Eagles to an 11-8 victory against host West Mifflin on Wednesday. As a result, the Golden Eagles claimed their first win of the campaign, improving to 1-1 in Class 4A Section 2 play, 1-2 overall. Conversely, the setback drops the Titans to 0-4 in section contests, 3-5 overall. It was the Titans who scored the first run of the game, when Jaden Arcuri led off the bottom of the first with a single for West Mifflin. Following a sacrifice, Izzy Farmer plated Arcuri with a single to center field.MSA Sports Top Ten – WPIAL Softball
April 4, 2017
Each week during the 2017 regular season, MSA Sports will rank the top ten softball teams in the WPIAL in all six classifications every Tuesday at www.MSAsports.net Here are this weeks rankings...including a NEW #1 team in Class 4-A. Log on every day for updated standings and game broadcasts on your exclusive home for the 2017 WPIAL Softball Playoffs, the MSA Sports Network. CLASS 6-A Top Ten: 1) HEMPFIELD SPARTANS (4-0) (Last Week #1) 2) CANON-McMILLAN BIG MACS (1-0) (Last Week #3) 3) SHALER TITANS (1-1) (Last Week #2) 4) BETHEL PARK BLACK HAWKS (1-0) (Last Week #5)
WPIAL Alum Q&A – Caitlin Baxter
As the calendar officially turns to the spring sports season, softball and baseball come to the forefront. To that point, this week's installment of the WPIAL Alum Q&A focuses on Caitlin Baxter, a former softball standout for Butler Area, who is now excelling on the diamond in her final year at Slippery Rock University. Baxter joined the Butler varsity squad as a freshman, as she played shortstop for the Golden Tornadoes. Her first campaign represented the most team success during her tenure, as Butler concluded its season with a mark of 9-8. The following year, in 2011, Butler went 7-8, and followed that up by enduring a 5-13 record in 2012, when Baxter was sidelined because of a knee injury sustained during basketball.Hometown Softball Recap – Peters Township
April 3, 2017
Peters Township played fabulous defense for 6 2/3 innings. Unfortunately for the Indians, softball is a full seven inning game. Two throwing errors by PT defenders in the 7th and 8th innings allowed Mount Lebanon to rally and hold on for a 3-2 victory Monday at wet Peterswood Park. Kiley Hartbauer of Peters Township and Catie Rogan of Mount Lebanon each pitched four shutout innings before the Indians plated the first run of the game in the bottom of the fourth. Kate Hondru led off with a double and two outs later scored on a Haley Cecere double.This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 04/03/2017
Spring has sprung as we not only hit April, but also the start of section play on the district diamonds this week here on the MSA Sports Network. We have plenty of WPIAL baseball section contests along with WPIAL softball as we begin our coverage of Hometown Softball with a record 11 schools, plus we begin our WPIAL boys lacrosse coverage and debut WPIAL Diamond Notes for another season on Tuesday evenings ALL here at MSAsports.net Monday, April 3rd: WPIAL High School Baseball - Laurel Highlands vs Franklin Regional at 4:00pm on MSAsports.net WPIAL High School Baseball - Hampton vs North Hills at 7:00pm on the Hampton Talbots Sports Network at MSAsports.netThis Week on the MSA Sports Network – 03/27/2017
March 27, 2017
It's all about the transition. We make the transition of broadcasting winter sports to spring sports as march transitions into April this week here on the MSA Sports Network. We begin our spring scholastic sports coverage with a handful of WPIAL baseball games, a WPIAL softball contest and a WPIAL boys volleyball match, plus one more winter sports event with the Quigley Classic girls and boys high school basketball games ALL here at MSAsports.net Monday, March 27th: WPIAL High School Baseball - Bishop Canevin vs West Allegheny at 4:30pm on MSAsports.net Tuesday, March 28th: No Broadcast Wednesday, March 29th:WPIAL Softball: 2017 Season Preview
March 23, 2017
A mild winter is leading into a mild start to spring. While the roller coaster ride Mother Nature will put all of us on over the next couple of months will be interesting, so will the action on the diamond in the new world of six classifications. While the great thing about high school softball is they will decide the six champions on the field and not in the rankings, that doesn't slow us down from dishing out our Preseason Top Ten and Players to watch in each class. CLASS 6-A Preseason Top Ten: 1) HEMPFIELD SPARTANS 2) SHALER TITANS 3) CANON-McMILLAN BIG MACS 4) LATROBE WILDCATS 5) BETHEL PARK BLACK HAWKS 6) BALDWIN HIGHLANDERSWPIAL Softball: 2016 Season Review
A year ago, some new faces flashed championship gold in WPIAL softball as both Mount Pleasant in AAA and West Greene in A won their first ever softball district titles while Ellwood City won the AA championship for the second time and first in nearly a decade. The exception was Hempfield, who repeated as AAAA champ with their third WPIAL championship in eight years. Both Hempfield and Yough went on to win a PIAA state softball title as well. Before we look ahead, we look back at the 2016 WPIAL Softball season. FINAL 2016 WPIAL SOFTBALL STANDINGS:
MSA SPORTS CUP RESULTS – Sewickley Kings of Single-A Again
July 12, 2016
Sewickley Academy is once again on top of the Class A standings in the chase for the MSA Sports Cup after leapfrogging defending champ Greensburg Central Catholic. In fact, the Panthers and Centurions have been tagging in for titles the last five years with GCC winning in 2012-2013 and 2014-2015 and SA claiming the Cup in 201--2011, 2013-2014 and now in 2015-2016. The championship for Sewickley Academy is the schools 9th in 13 years of the competition and was aided greatly by district and state championships in boys golf and boys tennis along with WPIAL crowns in boys cross-country and boys soccer.
MSA SPORTS CUP RESULTS – A New Champ Wins Double-A
July 9, 2016
For only the fifth time in the thirteen years of the MSA Sports Cup Class AA chase, the torch has been passed to a new champion. Greensburg Central Catholic won the first three years, followed by a five year run by Shady Side Academy and three of the last four years the AA Cup has gone to Quaker Valley with a one year run at the top by Seton-LaSalle two years ago. Now the AA crown is coming to Beaver County thanks to Beaver High School. After a couple of close calls in recent years, the Bobcats were lifted to the top spot in part because of district championships won in each season...girls tennis in the fall, ice hockey in the winter and a second straight WPIAL title in girls track & field in the spring.
MSA SPORTS CUP RESULTS – SF Three-peats in Triple-A
July 7, 2016
In the first ten years of the MSA Sports Cup, while there were a couple of dominating schools in the other three classifications, the chase for the Class AAA Cup had been up for grabs with eight different schools earning The Cup. However in the last three years of the season long competition, Triple-A has become the pride of the Lions. After finishing as the runner-up in 2012-2013, South Fayette has staked its claim on top in Class AAA as the Lions are the first school in this classification to win a third consecutive MSA Sports Cup.
MSA SPORTS CUP RESULTS – NA Remains Perfect in Quad-A
July 6, 2016
Another school year is in the books and another MSA Sports Cup in Class AAAA is headed to North Allegheny High School. NA captured the schools 13th Cup in 13 years since the MSA Sports Network started this school year long competition to determine the top sports programs in each classification. There are 20 sports in which schools can earn points in the competition and the Tigers earned points in 18 of them. While it was not the highest point total or largest margin of victory, North Allegheny still cruised to their final Quad-A Sports Cup as they will move up to 6-A starting this fall. The second place school finished 430 points behind NA.
2016 MSA SPORTS DIAMOND DOLLS
June 24, 2016
Pitchers can dominate the sport of softball. But this year’s Diamond Dolls all-star team is led by pitchers who also were big factors as hitters. The Diamond Dolls is made up of the top 10 players in the WPIAL, regardless of position, and is picked by the MSA Sports staff. Pitchers like Hempfield’s Morgan Ryan, Shaler’s Bri Dobson and West Greene’s Madison also had huge impacts as hitters and led their teams to highly successful seasons. All four WPIAL champions have a player on the Diamond Dolls team. Youth also is served on this team as it includes four sophomores. Here is a look at the Diamond Dolls team. PLAYER OF THE YEAR MORGAN RYAN, HEMPFIELD Pitcher - Senior
Yough Blanks L-S For First Ever State Softball Crown
June 16, 2016
Olivia Miller and Cassidy Pearce hit back-to-back doubles in the top of the seventh, giving Yough a 1-0 win over Lampeter-Strasburg, the Cougars' first-ever PIAA softball championship. The WPIAL third-place team won five straight post-season games since a 1-0 loss to West Allegheny in the WPIAL semifinals. With the aid of a caught stealing in the top of the fourth, the first 13 Yough batters were retired by LS senior Jordan Weaver, a Mount St. Mary's recruit. Back-to-back singles to open the sixth by Kayley Westerman and Kierra Waywood were wasted by Yough (22-3) with a bunt pop-out, a fielder's choice and a groundout.
Williams Valley Edges West Greene for PIAA A Softball Title
The PIAA Class-A Softball Championship Game pitted two very similar teams against one another and both the East Champion Williams Valley and the West Champion West Greene played a hard fought even game that would end in walk-off fashion with a Williams Valley Vikings run in the bottom of the seventh securing a 3-2 win over the Pioneers and a State Championship. The game started with defense as the first 11 batters combined produced no base runners for either team.PIAA Baseball and Softball Recaps for Semifinals on Monday
June 13, 2016
The final step toward a happy place, specifically Happy Valley, the site of the 2016 PIAA baseball and softball championship games. Round Three was held Monday with four baseball and four softball teams from the WPIAL halfway to a state championship. Plum and Vincentian Academy baseball and Hempfield, Yough and West Greene softball are now one win from a state crown, while Riverside and Serra Catholic baseball and South Park softball see their dreams and seasons come to an end on Monday. Here are recaps from the State Semifinals games, all of which were heard here on MSA Sports. A special thanks to Todd Brown, Mike Azadian, James Dotson, Lou Rood, Jason Tennant and Sean Meyers for their help on these recaps. BASEBALL:2016 PIAA SOFTBALL PLAYOFFS
Yough did not even qualify for the WPIAL championship game, but they did win the district consolation game to earn a sport in the PIAA playoffs that paid off handsomely on Thursday. The Cougars won the schools first ever state championship with a win over Lampeter-Strasburg to win the Class AAA title game. Meanwhile, West Greene did win the WPIAL Class A championship, but finished second in the state when Williams Valley scored a run in the bottom of the seventh to win the state crown. Here are ALL of the results from three of the State Softball Championships at Penn State University on Thursday, plus the schedule for the Quad-A title game on Friday in the 2016 PIAA Softball Playoffs.
