PIAA Baseball & Softball Semifinals Wednesday Recaps

By: Bruce Markey
Wednesday, June 10, 2015 | 8:23 PM

After being postponed twice over the previous 48 hours, Knoch baseball and Hempfield softball were finally able to hit the field, both playing at Mount Aloysius College with mixed results. WPIAL AAA baseball champion Knoch used an offensive explosion for the first time this postseason to advance to their first state title game while WPIAL AAAA softball champion had very little offense as their dreams of state gold came to an end. Here are recaps from the final two PIAA Semifinals contests played on Wednesday afternoon in Cambria County.

A special thanks to Josh Rowntree and Don Rebel for their help on these recaps.

BASEBALL:

PIAA CLASS AAA Semifinals:
Knoch Knights 8 – Donegal Indians 2
Knoch (22-2) used a pair of four-run innings to run away with an 8-2 PIAA AAA Semifinal win over Donegal (23-6) on Wednesday evening at Mount Aloysius College. Alex Stobert hurled a complete game for the Knights, allowing just two runs on six hits and striking out seven batters along the way. Knoch jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the second inning on three straight singles by Asa Adams, Stobert and Garrett Traggiai. A two-run triple by Addis Crouch down the left field line would then give the Knights a 2-0 lead. After an RBI ground out by Logan Hickey, Chris Law would drive home Dominick Bucko, extending Knoch’s lead to four runs. Stobert, who faced the minimum through the first nine batters, would struggle on his second trip through Donegal’s order. In the fourth inning, Sam Lazowski would plate Ryan Myers and Ethan Hess with a 2-RBI single. However, Chris Beaudoin would hit into an around-the-horn double play, ending the threat. Donegal would threaten again in the fifth inning though, as the Indians would load the bases with just one out. Myers would then fly out to right field for the second out. On the play, Donegal’s Dale Houser would tag up and score from third base, but be ruled out after Knoch appealed and it was deemed by the umpires that Houser had left early on the tag up. The break would be all that the Knights would need, as Knoch would explode for four more runs in the sixth inning to put the game away. After loading the bases, Law would strike again, ripping a two-run single into right field. Two batters later, Jordan Kowalski would plate Bucko and Law with a two-out, two-run single, raising Knoch’s advantage to 8-2. Stobert would cruise with the big lead, retiring the last seven Donegal batters he faced. Donegal’s Camren Ney would be tagged with the loss, his first of the season. The righty gave up 12 hits in 5-plus innings of works, allowing all eight runs. With the win, Knoch advances to the PIAA AAA Championship Game, where they will meet District 2 Champion Abington Heights on Friday at 12:30pm at Penn State’s Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.

SOFTBALL:

PIAA CLASS AAAA Semifinals:
Cumberland Valley Eagles 1 – Hempfield Spartans 0
Hempfield picked a bad time to come up empty on offense. The WPIAL Quad-A champion Spartans were shutout for the first time all year as Jen Henshaw fired a three-hitter in leading Cumberland Valley to a 1-0 victory Wednesday at Mount Aloysius College. The games only run scored in thir third inning on a sacrifice fly by Katie Wingert. Cumberland Valley, which was the #3 team out of District 1, improves to 24-4 and will battle Parkland on Friday afternoon at Penn State University for the PIAA Quad-A state title. It is the Eagles second trip to the state softball finals in school history. Hempfield saw a 12-game winning streak come to an end as they finish their memorable season with a record of 20-3.
 

Tags: Hempfield, Knoch