WPIAL Consolation Tuesday Baseball & Softball Recaps

By: Bruce Markey
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 | 10:18 PM

Stormy weather played a part in what was scheduled to be six WPIAL consolation baseball and softball games on Tuesday. Two games were postponed, one was suspended and three did go final despite a delay or two. Here are summaries from the three District 7 consolation games that did make it into the books as finals.

A special thanks to Pete Blais, Mark Schaas, Bob Gregg and Aaron Thompson for their help on these recaps.

BASEBALL:

WPIAL CLASS AA Consolation:

Quaker Valley Quakers 2 – Deer Lakes Lancers 1 in 10 Innings
Despite a rain delay, three extra innings, and a stagnant offense at times, the No. 2 seeded Quaker Valley Quakers walked off to beat the No. 5 Deer Lakes Lancers, 2-1, in 10 innings to claim the Class AA consolation game victory. The Quakers have now earned a spot in the PIAA State Tournament now claim an 18-3 overall record this year. This game was a rematch of one of last year’s WPIAL semifinal games, which the Lancers won 4-0. Heavy rain forced a 45-minute delay prior to the first pitch at Ross Memorial Park in Washington, PA but once the action began, the grind-out styled game was on. The two had not yet met this year and the unfamiliarity seemed to play a role, favoring the two starting pitchers. Tyler Garbee started for the Quakers for his third start this postseason. Garbee allowed just one hit and four baserunners until the fifth inning when the Lancers found their first run. Dom Chiera, Lancer pitcher, drew a walk. Pat McMurray courtesy ran for Chiera and reached second a sacrifice bunt by John Carnporbst, and then third on a fielding error by the Quaker third baseman. McMurray finally scored on a wild pitch for the first run of the game. The run was scored without a basehit ever being recorded by the Lancers durng the inning. Deer Lakes took the 1-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning but ran into some trouble. Chiera walked the leadoff batter, Ben Utterback. Ryan Petrone relieved Chiera but also walked the first and only batter he faced in Adam Pilewicz. Todd Coleman then relieved Petrone and let up a single to Tyler Garbee. With the bases loaded, Peyton Russioniello hit a grounder to second base, which was fielded by Jimmy Feil. Feil threw home for the force out and catcher Matt Olesnevich tried to turn two by throwing back to first, however, the throw skipped away from first baseman Josh Plocki, allowing Garbee to score the tying run from second base. The score remained tied at one until finally, in the bottom of the 10th inning, the Quakers once again found their way to a run. John Medich walked to begin the frame and was pinch run for by Jack Hendricks. A sacrifice bunt from Matt Lacenere put Hendricks at second and a single by Chirstian Miller put runners at the corners. Then, with Alex Tanabe at the plate, Coleman threw a wild pitch, allowing Hendricks to score easily from third for the winning run. All three runs scored in the game were small ball runs, to say the least. Both starters pitched well into the game and did not allow much in the way of offense. Garbee pitched eight innings, let up just three hits, and the one run, which was unearned. He also struck out eight Lancers. Ben Utterback relieved Garbee for the final two innings and somehow came away without letting in a run, despite loading the bases in the 9th and having a runner reach third in the 10th. For the Lancers, Chiera retired the first nine batters he faced and ended up going 6 and a third, allowing five hits, no runs, while striking out four and walking one. Todd Coleman went the final three innings and gave up three hits and the winning run. Deer Lakes finishes their season at 16-6 overall and at fourth place in AA.

SOFTBALL:

WPIAL CLASS AAAA Consolations:

Latrobe Wildcats vs. Penn-Trafford Warriors – PPD

WPIAL CLASS AAA Consolations:

Greensburg-Salem Golden Lions vs. Elizabeth Forward Warriors – PPD

WPIAL CLASS AA Consolation:

Seton-LaSalle Rebels 3 – Keystone Oaks Golden Eagles 2 
The Rebels and Golden Eagles dodged heavy rain and lightning at North Allegheny with the Rebels taking advantage of three errors and a wild pitch to grab the lead and hold on for the win. Keystone Oaks had the tying run on first base with one out in the top of the sixth when the rains came. Both teams sat thru an hour and 22 minute rain delay at the start, the field was covered when both teams arrived. Keystone Oaks scored first in the top of the third, Julia Canello singled, Meghan Staab tripled to the left center field gap to drive in the first run, Staab scored standing up on a wild pitch. Seton LaSalle answered with three of their own, Lexi Mercurio singled to lead off the inning and Alyssa Miller reached on an error. Kelsey Klein attempted a bunt but popped it up. Catcher Candace Drzik caught the bunt in foul ground, she threw to second to try and double off Mercurio, the throw ended up rolling all the way to the center field wall, allowing Mercurio to score and Miller to go to third. Dani Dadig grounded to short, allowing Miller to score, the throw from Staab was high, Dadig went to second on the error. Taylor Mercurio singled to put runners at the corners, Dadig scored on a wild pitch to put Seton LaSalle up 3-2. The Rebels had a chance to add on in the fourth, getting the first two hitters on. But freshman pitcher Lauren McMillen struck out the next three batters to end the opportunity. Keystone Oaks got a runner to third with two outs in the fifth when Staab walked, then stole second and third. But Brianna Fischer flew out to deep center to end the inning. Play was halted in the bottom of the inning for lightning with one out. After a 37 minute delay, the Rebels stranded two more runners. With skies darkening again, Drzik reached on a throwing error to put the tying run on base. However, before the Golden Eagles could send another batter to the play, the rain fell so quickly that the tarp could not be placed on the field, turning the infield into a lake. The game was called after a short conference, sending the Rebels into the PIAA tournament. Lauren Zola was the winning pitcher, she allowed both runs on three hits in 5.1 innings, the junior fanned seven. Seton LaSalle goes to 13-3 overall. McMillen was the hard luck loser, allowing four hits in five innings, she also struck out seven. Keystone Oaks ends the season at 13-6, with two of the losses coming to the Rebels. Seton LaSalle will meet the winner of the District 6 title game between Phillipsburg-Osceola and Bald Eagle Area, that game is Wednesday night at Penn State’s Nittany Lion Softball Complex. The PIAA tournament gets underway on Monday.

WPIAL CLASS A Consolation:

Burgettstown Blue Devils 7 – Jefferson-Morgan Rockets 0 
Version 1:  Bre Lonick doubled, homered, scored twice and drove in a pair of runs and Kate Tarr allowed just two singles as Burgettstown topped Jefferson-Morgan, 7-0, to claim the WPIAL’s final spot in the PIAA Class A playoffs.  Burgettstown will open the state tournament Monday on the road against the District 6 champion. Cassie Carnes opened the bottom of the first with a walk and was sacrificed to second by Caley Ritts.  When the throw wasn’t caught on the bunt, Carnes moved to third.  An illegal pitch, the first of four in the inning and seven in the game called against Maddie Ludrosky, scored Carnes and moved Ritts to second.  Sami Scopel singled and the Blue Devils pulled off a double steal, Ritts scoring. After an out, Lonick doubled down the line in left, one-hopping the fence, scoring Scopel.  Two more illegal pitches brought Lonick home.  In the third, the Burgettstown catcher homered over the fence in left to make it 5-0.  Morgan Ellek singled and was forced at second by Cheyenne Winters.  After an illegal pitch and a foul out, Jordan Cullison walked.  Both runners moved up on another illegal pitch and Carnes walked.  Ritts’ grounder to short was misplayed, scoring Winters. The Blue Devils (17-5) closed the scoring in the fifth, Wilson scoring on Ritts’ rbi single. Tarr held Jefferson-Morgan (16-4) to a one-out single to Kiersten Stoneking in the first and a two-out basehit to Reagan Rush in the third, retiring seven straight between the hits and the last eight batters afterward.  With one out in the sixth, play was halted due to lightning.  After a 40-minute wait, the skies opened with heavy rain, some hail and high winds and the game was called.  Tarr did not walk a batter and struck out five.  Burgettstown has now won 14 of the last 16.  The Rockets’ season ends on back-to-back losses after winning 13 of 14 heading to the WPIAL semifinals.

Version 2:  Burgettstown raced out to an early lead and never looked back, shutting out Jefferson-Morgan 7-0 to win the WPIAL Class A Softball Consolation game and earn a spot in next week’s PIAA playoffs. The game was called in the top of the sixth inning because of heavy rainfall and thunderstorms. The fifth-seeded Blue Devils tallied four runs in the bottom of the first inning to stake claim to an early lead against the third-seeded Rockets. Centerfielder Cassie Carnes walked to lead off the bottom half of the opening frame. Carnes advanced all the way to third on a throwing error by JM on a successful sacrifice bunt by Caley Ritts. That put runners on the corners and no outs. A wild pitch would score Carnes for the first run and move Ritts to second. Sami Scopel singled to put runners back on the corners before another JM error made it 2-0. Senior catcher Bryanna Lonick doubled home Scopel to make it 3-0. Lonick would finish the first inning flurry by scoring on an illegal pitch to give the Blue Devils a 4-0 advantage. That was more than enough support for sophomore Kate Tarr, who limited the Rockets to just two base runners (both hits) in 5.1 innings pitched. The Blue Devils ace pitcher five batters and allowed just two singles in the victory. Lonick, the lone senior for Burgettstown, added a solo home run to lead off the third inning and push the score to 5-0.  The Blue Devils would tack on another run in the third and one in the fifth inning before finishing off the victory at 7-0. The Blue and White made the most of their offensive opportunities, scoring seven runs on eight hits and were helped out by five errors and five walks from the Rockets. Senior third baseman Kirsten Stoneking and junior catcher Reagan Rush each had a hit apiece for the Rockets. The Blue Devils improved their overall record to 17-5, while JM finished the season at 16-4. Burgettstown won the consolation game for the second straight season and advance to face the champion from District 6 in next week’s PIAA playoffs.