High school notebook: Defending softball state champion Mt. Pleasant eyes 2nd chance

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, May 26, 2018 | 11:00 PM

Mt. Pleasant has been down this road before.

The Vikings softball team was denied a trip to the WPIAL championship game last season after a 1-0 semifinal loss to Belle Vernon but rebounded with a victory in the third-place game and won four consecutive games to bring home a PIAA 4A championship.

Last week, Mt. Pleasant lost to Belle Vernon, 1-0, in the WPIAL semifinals. Now, a matchup against Yough (16-4) in another third-place game stands between the Vikings (16-1) and another potential state-title push.

The teams play at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Seton Hill.

“The loss (to Belle Vernon) is definitely going to light a fire under my team,” Mt. Pleasant junior pitcher Carolyn Alincic said. “We all took the loss really hard just because the game was so close for so long. Hopefully, the Yough game goes our way and we can get on a roll in states. I'm sure this game will be in the back of our minds with all of the games we play the rest of the season.”

Yough knows all about the PIAA playoffs — the ultimate second chance in high school sports. The Cougars two years ago lost to West Allegheny in the WPIAL semis only to bounce back and win the state title.

The Cougars also were foiled by Belle Vernon and star pitcher Bailey Parshall in last year's WPIAL title game.

Second chance

Latrobe and Monessen will look to avenge championship-game losses with rematches in the softball finals at Seton Hill.

Both teams sustained mercy-ruled losses a year ago.

Latrobe takes on three-time defending champion Hempfield in 6A, which it lost to, 13-2 in six innings, and Monessen meets West Greene, which blanked the Greyhounds last year, 10-0.

Latrobe and Monessen have hope they can win after splitting section matchups with their nemeses.

Latrobe broke a nine-game losing streak against Hempfield, and Monessen edged West Greene, 2-1, for its first win in the series since 2014.

Getting a lift

Training camps won't start until Aug. 13, but some area teams were already thinking about football — or at least the guys in the trenches were.

Franklin Regional won the fourth annual Norwin Football Lineman Challenge, edging Hempfield by one point.

Norwin finished third.

For the first half of the competition, players went through offensive and defensive “learning” stations.

Then it was time to show some strength and agility. Players took part in a 25-pound extended plate hold, a tire flip relay race, a 25-pound medicine ball toss, a 45-pound plate relay, an obstacle course and the best part of the day, a six-man tug-of-war.

Steelers center BJ Finney was a guest speaker at the event.

Drennen hired

Belle Vernon hired former boys basketball assistant coach and skill-training guru Ronnie Drennen as its girls basketball coach.

Drennen, 29, replaces Lisa Fairman, who left to take the same position at Thomas Jefferson. Drennen played basketball at Point Park and has been active in AAU coaching and teaching skill work with I'm Possible Training.

He coached with Kyle DeGregorio in the boys program for five seasons. DeGregorio left to coach the girls team at Baldwin.

Recruiting

Norwin junior Gianni Rizzo now has an even 12 Division I scholarship offers for football after Akron offered last week.

Rizzo is a 6-foot-2, 195-pound linebacker and receiver.

• Norwin senior linebacker Adam Horvat will continue his football career at Anna Maria College, a Division III school in Paxton, Mass.

All-Americans

Parshall and Derry senior shortstop Chelsea Bisi were named to the Premier Girls Fastpitch All-American Regional team.

Parshall and Bisi are Penn State recruits.

Parshall, a two-time WPIAL strikeout leader, has led defending WPIAL champion Belle Vernon back to the title game.

Bisi missed most of her final high school season with a knee injury that did not require surgery.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at bbeckner@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BillBeckner.

Tags: Belle Vernon, Franklin Regional, Hempfield Area, Latrobe, Monessen, Mt. Pleasant, Norwin, Yough