Westmoreland County baseball notebook: Penn-Trafford bolsters resume with nonsection slate
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Tuesday, April 22, 2025 | 4:46 PM
Plum’s Enzo Mele steals second base past Penn Trafford’s Brayden Stone on April 7, 2025 at Plum High School.
Penn-Trafford is in the thick of the Section 1-5A race, but its nonsection baseball schedule has been beneficial.
The Warriors (7-5, 4-2) own three wins over Class 6A teams in Norwin, Hempfield and North Allegheny.
The third win is the most impressive because North Allegheny was ranked No. 1 when the Warriors thumped the Tigers, 9-1.
“It’s good for us to beat 6A teams; it helps our confidence,” coach Lou Cortazzo said. “That is why you schedule those teams, to give you better competition. It could help us with playoff seeding, too.”
Section 1-5A was tight at the beginning of the week. Latrobe (9-3) was in first at 6-2, followed by Plum (10-2) at 5-1, Franklin Regional (8-3) and Penn-Trafford at 4-2, and Armstrong (6-7) at 4-4.
Kiski Area and Penn Hills had one section win apiece.
Rankings newcomer
Thanks to a five-game winning streak, Norwin has blasted off into the TribLive HSSN Class 6A rankings.
The Knights went from unranked to No. 3.
Other Westmoreland County teams in the rankings include Belle Vernon (No. 4 in Class 4A) and Greensburg Central Catholic (No. 4 in Class A).
Steal city
Franklin Regional kept the basepaths moving in a wild 15-9 victory over Gateway.
The Panthers not only had 13 hits and scored in all six innings but also had a season-high 13 stolen bases.
Scrimmage, anyone?
Hempfield found a unique opponent to work out with last Monday.
Webster Thomas, a school in Webster, N.Y., was on its way to play a game at PNC Park but wanted to warm up, so it sought out a team to scrimmage. Hempfield obliged and hosted the Titans.
The game at PNC Park was rained out.
Games to watch
Notable section games Wednesday include Canon-McMillan at Hempfield (Section 2-6A), Franklin Regional at Armstrong (1-5A), Greensburg Salem at Derry (3-4A), Ligonier Valley at Yough (3-3A), Mt. Pleasant at Southmoreland (3-3A) and Greensburg Central Catholic at Avella (1-A).
Norwin plays at North Hills in a nonsection matchup.
On Friday, Hempfield will travel to Canon-McMillan to complete their three-game series, and Pine-Richland at Norwin is another good nonsection test.
Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.
More Baseball
• High school roundup for May 20, 2025: Pine-Richland pulls off another 1-run win to reach finals• 6th-inning rally sends Norwin past rival Hempfield into WPIAL Class 6A finals
• Riverside’s Zack Hare no-hits Burrell as Panthers advance to Class 3A semis
• Riverview sophomore keeps composure, leads Raiders past Burgettstown in 2A quarterfinals
• Another no-hit outing from Tyler Samide leads Greensburg Central Catholic past Bishop Canevin in Class A
