WPIAL Baseball/Softball/Lacrosse Playoff Recaps for Monday 5/18

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, May 19, 2015 | 12:58 AM

The forecast was promising, but there was hope that most of the WPIAL spring sports playoff schedule could get squeezed in before expected storms hit. Oh well. While most of the early action did get played, that was not the case for most of the baseball and softball scheduled games. Heck, even half of the lacrosse matches were postponed and pushed back until Tuesday. Here are some of the recaps from the action that did take place on a stormy Monday.

A special thanks to Don Rebel, Jason Tennant, Bob Orkwis, Rob Longo and Josh Rowntree for their help on these recaps.

BASEBALL:

WPIAL CLASS AAAA Quarterfinals:

Shaler Titans 1 – Plum Mustangs 0 
Shaler’s Jake Potock threw a complete game, three-hit shutout, striking out nine batters in a 1-0 win over Plum (19-3) in the WPIAL Quarterfinals at Fox Chapel High School. Potock, a West Virginia recruit, sends Shaler (17-4) to the WPIAL Semifinals, where they will meet either Seneca Valley or Pittsburgh Central Catholic on Wednesday. Shaler, the No. 10 seed in the AAAA bracket, would score the game’s only run, an unearned run, in the fourth inning. Anthony Venezia led off the inning with a single and advance to third on a throwing error during the following at-bat. Venezia would then score on an RBI single by David Pietrapola, giving the Titans a 1-0 lead. The solitary run would be all that Potock would need. After allowing Plum runner to reach second and third base with no outs in the second, Potock would go on a tear, retiring 12 batters in a row and 18 of the last 19 of the game. Additionally, he held the top three batters in Plum’s order to an 0-for-9 combined performance. Nick Satovich would be charged with the loss for Plum, allowing just the one, unearned run in over five innings of work.

WPIAL CLASS AAA Quarterfinals:

Montour Spartans 2 – Indiana Little Indians 0 
Sophomore sensation Trent Veitmeier pitched six scoreless innings and allowed only three hits while Chris Hanlon pitched out of a first and second, no-out jam in the seventh as #14 Montour picked up a second straight shutout win in these playoffs. Veitmeier, an LSU recruit, has allowed only five hits and no runs in 12 innings pitched while picking up back-to-back victories. Montour improves to 12-9 and will now face either Knoch or Blackhawk in the Semifinals Wednesday at West Mifflin High School. Indiana’s season ends with a final record of 12-9.

WPIAL CLASS AA Quarterfinals:

Quaker Valley Quakers 5 – Riverside Panthers 0 
After the first inning of action in Monday’s Class AA quarterfinal contest between Quaker Valley and Riverside, it looked like the two sides were heading towards a pitcher’s duel, with only one or two total runs winning the game. For the most part, that was exactly what happened. Quaker Valley picked up a pair of runs in the second and fifth innings, followed by an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning. The Quakers outhit and outpitched the Panthers thanks to a solid performance by Adam Pilewicz at the plate and Tyler Garbee on the mound. Pilewicz collected two hits and drove in two runs, more than enough run support for Garbee. Garbee went the complete game on the mound, striking out eight while issuing three walks, allowing seven hits off 111 pitches. His counterpart, Vincent Luccisano, went five innings and allowed four runs off 10 hits with a strikeout, and did not issue a walk. It wasn’t the fact that Luccisano pitched poorly, as several of Quaker Valley’s hits found holes just beyond the infield or just short of the outfielders. Quaker Valley moves on to face the winner of Keystone Oaks/New Brighton, a game which was postponed Monday.

Neshannock 5, Shady Side Academy 0 (Suspended in 3rd Inning)
Just like many other locations across the WPIAL, the back end of a twin bill at Chippewa Park was cut short due to inclement weather. But before Shady Side Academy and Neshannock were pulled off the field due to thunder – and later torrential downpours – the Lancers sparked a rally in the bottom of the third inning. Neshannock nearly batted around in the inning, bringing home five runs. When the game was suspended, Neshannock replenished the bases by reloading them after a base-clearing double by Don Colucci. There were still no outs in the inning. The suspended contest will be played once again at Chippewa Park, with action picking back up at 3 p.m.

WPIAL CLASS A Quarterfinals:

Bishop Canevin Crusaders 1 – Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic Trojans 0 
Bishop Canevin entered the final day of section play needing a win to finish third and just qualify for the playoffs. Now after back-to-back surprising wins, the Crusaders are on their way to the Final Four. Sam Smallhoover drove in the games only run in the 5th inning while Justin Dix pitched a one-hitter in a well played 1-0 triumph over the Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic Trojans. Dix, who found out he would be pitching just an hour before game time from head coach Dale Checkets, allowed only three base runners in going the distance with no walks, a hit-batter and 7 strikeouts. Danny Lynch’s two out single in the 2nd was the Trojans only hit. Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic starter Nick Nyman was matching zeroes until the 5th inning when the Crusaders Austin Liebro hit a routine ground ball to shortstop Jake Matschner, whose throw to first beat the runner but skipped off the glove of first baseman Andrew Kocay for a two base error. Following a one-out walk to Mitchell King, Nyman was taken out and staff ace Nick Tunstall was summoned. After striking out Giovanni DeMarzo for the second out, Smallhoover ripped a single up the middle. Trojans center fielder Danny Lynch made a strong throw to the plate, but a hard slide by Liebro knocked the ball loose from catcher Calin Gribbin when it looked like the call was going to be out at the plate. Nyman was the tough luck losing pitcher for CWNC, allowing one unearned run in 4 1/3 with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. The Trojans season ends at 14-8 while the Crusaders win improves them to 8-6 as they await the winner of the Greensburg Central Catholic vs Carmichaels winner on Wednesday in the Semifinals at West Mifflin High School.

SOFTBALL:

WPIAL CLASS A Quarterfinals:

Jefferson-Morgan Rockets 3 – Sewickley Academy Panthers 1 
It was with heavy hearts, the Jefferson-Morgan Rockets took the field at Fairhaven Park against Sewickley Academy in the Quarterfinals.  Just three days ago, assistant coach Chris Dugan passed away after a long battle with cancer.  The team has rallied around #teamdugan, and remarkably, Chris’ daughter Camryn did not miss a practice and started the game Monday at second base.  The Rockets battled for a hard-fought 3-1 win to advance to the Semifinals.  Hits were at a premium in the game as each team finished with just five.  However, four Sewickley Academy errors gave the Rockets extra base runners as they had at least a runner in scoring position in every inning.  The first threat came in the bottom of the second as after two errors, the Rockets had runners on the corners with two outs.  The inning ended in bizarre fashion as Morgan Gamble popped up on the first base line. Catcher Sarah Manzinger had the ball going away from her and couldn’t make the play as the ball bounced off her glove. First baseman Chandler White then fell down in her attempt to field the ball.  While on the ground, White was ready to make a throw to first but it took a big heads-up play from right fielder Hannah McGinley to cover the bag just in time to record the rare 2-3-9 putout that kept the Rockets off the scoreboard.  Reagan Rush led off the bottom of the third with a double and scored the game’s first run when Morgan Simkovic reached on an error.  The Panthers quickly got that run back in the top of the fourth when Kat Goebel led off with a single and came around to score on a very well struck double by White. However, following that double, Rocket pitcher Maddie Ludrosky retired 11 of the final 12 she faced.  The Rockets got the lead for good when Rush had another leadoff double in the fifth and scored on a Ludrosky single.  The Rockets added an insurance run, with the help of a Panther throwing error, in the seventh. Ludrosky got the win, striking out 11 without allowing a walk.  The loss went to Savannah Henry.  She struck out two and walked two.  Jefferson-Morgan will face the Frazier/Greensburg Central Catholic winner in the Semifinals on Wednesday.

BOYS LACROSSE:

WPIAL DIVISION II Semifinals:

Hampton Talbots 12 – Quaker Valley Quakers 5 
The Talbots came out in this match at North Allegheny’s Newman Stadium physical and aggressive and Hampton remained that was throughout the entire contest, dethroning the defending WPIAL Division 2 Boys Lacrosse champions with a convincing 12-5 win. Senior attack Nick Grabowski scored a pair of first quarter goals for Hampton the first of which came 1:24 into the game. Jake Giotto netted a man-up goal for the Quakers at 9:31 but Grabowski answered at 11:37 to give the Talbots a 2-1 lead. Luke Andersson tallied: 51 into the second quarter to give Hampton a 3-1 lead that would stand up for over 40 minutes due to a weather delay. When the game resumed, senior midfielder Jared Veshio scored at the 4:49 mark to pull the Quakers within one at 3-2. But the Talbots would score 4 unanswered goals, 2 in the second quarter and 2 to start the third to pull ahead 7-2. Grabowski completed the hat trick at 7:37 of the third and turned the Hampton offense over to senior midfielder Seve DiBucci. DiBucci ended the second quarter scoring with a man-up goal off a Grabowski assist and ended the 4-goal Talbot run with his second goal of the game at 4:37 of the third quarter. In between Seve’s first goals of the night, his younger brother Dante found the net at 2:57 of the third. Junior Tyler Smith scored the first of his two goals at 7:33 to make the score 7-3, but Seve DiBucci added his third and fourth goals of the game before the end of the quarter to give the Talbots a 9-3 lead. Dante DiBucci notched his second goal: 45 into the final quarter and when Grabowski scored his 4th goal just: 19 later, the Talbot lead bulged to 11-3. Smith scored at 1:34 but sophomore attack Isaac Capezzuti scored on a step out move for Hampton’s 12th goal of the game. Sophomore Connor Mangan scored a short-handed goal for Quaker Valley to finish out the scoring and make the final score 12-3. The second seeded Quakers, who were making their third consecutive semifinal appearance, saw their season end at (14-4). The loss denied Quaker Valley a shot at its third straight championship game, as the Quakers were the Division 2 runner-up in 2013 before winning their first title last year. Hampton, the #3 seed, improved to (13-6) with the win. The Talbots, who spent the last two seasons competing in Division 1, return to the championship game after having much previous success in Division 2. Hampton captured three WPIAL titles in the division in 2009, 2011 and 2012 and the Talbots also finished as runner-up in 2010. The championship game appearance will be the fifth in seven years for Hampton. The Talbots will face either Canon-McMillan or Mars on Friday at 6 P.M. at Highmark Stadium. The Big Macs and the Planets were scheduled to face-off in the second game of the doubleheader at North Allegheny, but due to the weather delay, that game has been moved to Tuesday night at 6 P.M. at Chartiers Valley High school.