Westmoreland notebook: WPIAL champs head to PNC Park; lacrosse players hit big stage

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Saturday, July 31, 2021 | 3:59 PM

A pair of WPIAL championship teams will be honored Sunday at PNC Park. The Franklin Regional baseball team and Mt. Pleasant softball team will be recognized, along with 10 other WPIAL champions, when the Pirates host the Philadelphia Phillies at 1:05 p.m.

Franklin Regional won its third WPIAL title June 1 with a 2-1 win over Bethel Park as senior Andrew Muraco delivered a walk-off single in the Class 5A final at Washington’s Wild Things Park. Mt. Pleasant, meantime, crushed Ellwood City, 15-0, in five innings to claim its second WPIAL title. The Vikings erupted for 16 hits, 12 for extra bases (10 doubles), in the Class 3A final June 2 at Lilley Field on the Cal (Pa.) campus.

Mt. Pleasant went on to claim the PIAA championship with a 5-3 victory over Mid Valley on June 18 at Penn State.

Other baseball champs to be honored Sunday include Union (Class A), Shenango (2A), Hopewell (3A), New Castle (4A), and North Allegheny (6A). Additional softball winners are West Greene (A), Laurel (2A), Beaver (4A), North Hills (5A), and Bethel Park (6A).

Big stage

Two Latrobe lacrosse players are in Baltimore this weekend for the Under Armour All-American Boys Lacrosse Tournament. Rising sophomores, Aiden Kammerer and Ryen Miele are playing for the South and Philadelphia teams, respectively, in the Command division.

Kammerer and Miele qualified for the national event through tryouts. One was in Philadelphia, which drew more than 120 participants.

Many players who moved on are top players from prep schools in the eastern part of the state.

AAU finalists

A trio of area girls basketball players reached the AAU national championship last Sunday at Spooky Nook in Lancaster.

The Western PA Bruins Zeise 2024 team finished as the national runner-up in the Girls Under Armour Association Rise Championship to finish the season with a 46-7 record.

The local players on the team included Avery Davis (Norwin), Elle Snyder (Latrobe) and Kaitlin Mankins (Greensburg Salem).

Team Stuck, which defeated the Bruins in the final, was coached by former Detroit Pistons player Rodney Stuckey.

Recruiting

Mia Smith, a fast-throwing softball pitcher from Penn-Trafford, announced plans to continue her playing career at Pitt-Johnstown. A junior, Smith had a 5-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 92 2/3 innings this past season.

• Hempfield football player Daniel Sierk now has two Division I offers on the table. The 6-foot-5, 240-pound Sierk, who will move from tight end to offensive tackle this season, has offers from Bucknell and Penn.

• Former Greensburg Salem wrestler Trent Patrick will continue his career at Waynesburg. Patrick, who also played quarterback in football, was a four-year starter in wrestling and posted 80 wins at 197-285 pounds.

• Senior Luke Levendosky of Norwin, a quarterback and safety, has an offer to play at Grove City.

• Grove City also extended offers to Penn-Trafford senior lineman Luke Jollie, all 6-foot-7 and 275 pounds of him, and senior tight end/linebacker Jack Jollie.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Franklin Regional, Hempfield, Latrobe, Mt. Pleasant, Norwin, Penn-Trafford