West Greene wins first WPIAL softball championship
CALIFORNIA — It was worth the wait for West Greene softball.
The Lady Pioneers were once again powered by their potent offense in Friday’s 12-3 victory over eight-time champion Chartiers-Houston in the WPIAL Class A finals at California University of Pennsylvania’s Lilley Field.
West Greene improved to 23-1 in winning its first WPIAL title in school history.
“Our goal was to play in the WPIAL finals, and we one-upped ourselves with the win today, but we hope this run doesn’t end anytime soon,” West Greene coach Billy Simms said. “The following from the community has been tremendous, and if you want to rob anything in Rogersville, now would be the time to do it.”
West Greene’s McKenna Lampe is known for her speed, tremendous batting average and on-base percentage, but the freshman centerfielder showed she can hit hit for power in belting a pair of two-run home runs in the second and seventh innings, which were her first two of the season.
“She was trying to hit her spots, but the first opportunity was down the middle so I took it,” Lampe said. “We are excited to come back here Monday.”
Starting pitcher Madison Renner hit a home run to right-center on the first pitch she saw in the third and picked up the win in the circle after allowing three runs (one earned) on five hits. The sophomore had five strikeouts and walked three in throwing 98 pitches.
“I always have confidence that our lineup will give me runs to work with,” Renner said. “We are very fortunate to have so many underclassmen. I will only have two more years, but most of our team will have three more years.”
Both teams played twice in the regular season with West Greene winning by scores of 11-1 and 12-2, but Simms knew that the proud Lady Buccaneers would not concede despite being the underdog.
“The road through the Class A playoffs goes through Chartiers-Houston and we feel very fortunate to beat them three times this year,” Simms said. “I haven’t slept in a month, and I think it was a conspiracy theory by the WPIAL and Chartiers-Houston to move this game up another day to see if I would fall over dead, but I have the utmost respect for them. They were in the finals last year and I don’t expect them to lay down to the District 6 champion. They will show up well in the state tournament.
“That (Macie) Kesneck girl at third base really tried to beat us on her own. She was tremendous out there.”
The Lady Pioneers held a 6-3 lead after five, but a four-run inning in the sixth let the West Greene faithful breathe a little easier.
Shelby Morris walked to lead-off the inning, and after a strikeout, moved to second on Madison Lampe’s single. Morris scored on Renner’s RBI single, and the Lady Pioneers’ pitcher advanced to second on the throw to home plate. Lampe sprinted to third on the throw and Brianna Goodwin came into the game to run for Renner.
Bailey Bennington was intentionally walked, and with two outs, Lexie Mooney hit a three-run double to center field to score Bennington, Goodwin and Lampe for a 10-3 West Greene advantage.
Bennington is the team’s lone senior, and the California University of Pennsylvania recruit was able to win a WPIAL title on the field she will play in college.
“It is great to win a WPIAL title on the field I will play in college on,” Bennington said. “The great thing about this team is I have never had to give them a big speech or anything like that. They have wanted to win from Day 1 and are a very self-motivated group.”
West Greene was the designated visiting team due to a coin flip prior to the game, and the Lady Pioneers jumped out early to a 1-0 lead in the first when Madison Lampe singled, moved to second on an error and third on a groundout, before scoring on Bennington’s RBI double to right center.
The Lady Bucs responded in the bottom of the inning with one run on no hits, as the Lady Pioneers made two errors.
Macie Kesneck walked on a 3-2 pitched and moved to second on Brittany Blumen’s ground out. Kesneck stole third and scored on a throwing error to tie the game at 1-1.
West Greene uncharacteristically made four errors, which is something that Simms knows his team needs to clean up before Monday’s game.
“We will be ready for Monday’s game,” Simms said. “We didn’t have a clean game defensively but we were able to get the key hits when we needed them and Madison (Renner) started to hit her spots after walking some batters the first few innings.”
The Lady Pioneers came right back with two in the second on McKenna Lampe’s homer for a 3-1 advantage. Mackenzie Carpenter, who had singled, scored on Lampe’s blast.
“(Kaitlyn) Rizor and (Mackenzie) Carpenter are not getting the ink like the Lampes are because they are not putting up the numbers like them, but they are right there with them, and we have four or five freshman that might make an impact next year,” Simms said.
West Greene would push its lead to 5-1 in the third. After Renner’s homer, Bennington reached on an error and moved to second on Kaitlyn Rizor’s sacrifice grounder. Bennington moved to third on a passed ball and raced home on a double steal when Mooney walked, but was caught stealing second.
“We didn’t want to get into a game where we had to score a lot of runs to win,” Chartiers-Houston coach Tricia Alderson said. “West Greene is a great hitting team and they showed it today.”
The Lady Bucs loaded the bases in the third and scored when a ball hit by Jaylese Lombardi was not fielded properly and Brittany Blumen scored for a 5-2 West Greene lead. Blumen reached base on a single.
The Lady Pioneers loaded the bases in the fifth, but could only get one run across when Linzee Stover walked with the bases loaded to score Madison Lampe for a 6-2 lead.
“We started to get a little nervous at that point but responded with a big inning in the sixth,” Simms said. “Lexie Mooney got the big hit and we were able to relax a little bit.”
Chartiers-Houston scored one run in the fifth on two hits. Starting pitcher Kaitlyn Dittrich singled and Macie Shober came into the game as a courtesy runner. Shober moved to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on Kayla Alderson’s groundout before scoring on Lauren Lober’s RBI grounder for a 6-3 Lady Pioneers lead.
Dittrich allowed 12 runs (11 earned) on 12 hits in seven innings. She had three strikeouts and walked six in throwing 128 pitches.
The Lady Bucs will meet District 6 champion Conemaugh Valley on Monday at Penn State University. The first pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
“We just have to regroup and get ready for Monday’s game,” Alderson said. “We know it is going to be a tough game.”