Time for WPIAL baseball, softball playoffs
Jonathan Guth | Herald-Standard
Jonathan Guth | Herald-Standard Carmichaels’ Matthew Barrish lays down a bunt in front of Bentworth catcher Jacob Maimone during Friday’s Section 1-AA game at Carmichaels High School.
Edward K.Thompson
West Greene second baseman Kaitlyn Rizor prepares to throw to first for the out after fielding a ground ball as Belle Vernon’s Sophie Godzak runs by during their game in Washington Township on May 7. Rizor was named to the All-Greene County Messenger Softball Diamond Cutters team. (Photo by Edward K. Thompson)
Carmichaels coach Dave Briggs stands in the third base coaches box during the Lady Mikes' game at Monessen on May 1.
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Carmichaels’ Megan Walker stands at third base after singling, stealing second and taking third on an error in the ninth inning of Tuesday’s game at Monessen. Walker would eventually sprint home and slide in with the game’s first run on a passed ball, but the Lady Greyhounds scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to pull out a 2-1 victory in an epic battle.
Greene County will have seven teams advancing to the postseason in 2018 as the high school softball and baseball regular season is wrapped up this week.
Waynesburg Central softball team qualified for the playoffs in Class AAA, while Carmichaels, Mapletown and West Greene advanced to the postseason in Class A.
The Lady Raiders have made the WPIAL’s second season in 17 of the last 21 seasons, including a fifth-straight trip.
The Lady Mikes (19 of the last 21 years, 12 straight seasons) and the Lady Pioneers (12 of the last 21 years, four straight seasons) have been perennial playoff contenders, but this is just the Lady Maples’ second trip to the playoffs since 1997. They last made postseason in 2008.
Greene County is home to six WPIAL softball championship teams and the county as a whole has won the last three Class A titles.
West Greene has claimed the Class A title the last two seasons, while Jefferson-Morgan won in 2015. Waynesburg won a title 2005, while Carmichaels posted championships in 1997 and 1998.
Waynesburg’s baseball team made it to the playoffs this spring for the 10th time in the last 21 seasons in Class AAA. Carmichaels is in the postseason once again out of Class AA. This is the Mikes’ 18th-straight year of qualifying for the playoffs.
West Greene made it in Class A for the first time since 1993.
Greene County is home to four WPIAL baseball titles, belonging to Carmichaels (2003, 2005 and 2008) and Waynesburg (1999).
The brackets and seeds for these playoff squads were not known at deadline, so what I’d like to do is to take a quick look at the playoff landscape for each classification and see what we can expect for our local teams in the upcoming weeks.
Class AAA softball
Waynesburg comes into the postseason with a 9-7 overall mark and finished tied for second in Section 3-AAA with Southmoreland with a 7-3 record.
The Lady Raiders have outscored the competition this spring by a 158-127 margin and have posted 10 or more runs nine times in 2018. Waynesburg is definitely led by its offense, and if the Lady Raiders want to grab a couple of wins in the playoffs, they will likely have to out-slug teams.
If I had to take a guess out of the 12-team field in Class 3-A, Waynesburg will probably get a No. 7 or 8 seed.
The favorites to win it all are Section 3-AAA champion South Park, who won last year’s PIAA title, and Section 1-AAA champion and undefeated Freeport. There are also two good teams in Section 2-AAA, Avonworth and Freedom, that could make a playoff push.
Class A softball
I said this at the end of last year’s regular season and I even said it at the beginning of the preseason .. and, yes, I will say it again right now. The three best teams in Class A all reside in Section 2-A: West Greene, Monessen and Carmichaels.
All three of those teams made it to the semifinals last year and all advanced to the PIAA tournament.
The Lady Pioneers will likely get the top seed, as they are the two-time defending WPIAL champion. Monessen will more than likely get the two-seed, while Carmichaels might get the seeded third or fourth.
Union (13-1, Section 1-A) and Leechburg (11-3, Section 3-A) might be the only two teams that can break up the Section 2-A dominance.
With so many tiebreakers to determine the number of teams in the Class A bracket, it’s kind of tough to figure out what type of seed Mapletown will get. Obviously, the Lady Maples will avoid their fellow Section 2-A teams in the first round and they could be slotted to face Union or Leechburg.
If I had to pick a team to win Class A, it’s very tough not to pick West Greene. The Lady Pioneers have the talent, the experience and the coaching to continue their unprecedented run on the softball diamond. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Lady Pioneers met Monessen or Carmichaels in the finals.
Class AAA baseball
If Class AAA is a 12-team bracket (could be 13 or 14 due to tiebreaker scenarios), I could see Waynesburg getting a 9 or 10 seed.
Waynesburg was 7-4 in section and met Charleroi on Wednesday to determined second place in Section 3-AAA behind Brownsville.
There are a lot of solid teams in Triple-A and on the top of that list is Section 2-AAA champion and defending WPIAL champion Riverside (13-1). Avonworth (12-4) finished second in that section and is also a quality team.
Section 1-AAA is kind of a log-jam at the top with Valley (10-5), Burrell (8-2) and Steel Valley (9-5). This could be the year that a very good Brownsville team gets the No. 2 seed and make it the finals to face off with Riverside.
Class AA baseball
Carmichaels turned its season around with a 10-game winning streak during the spring and clinched the outright Section 1-AA title with an 18-0 win at Burgettstown on Monday.
The Mikes has a lot of depth and balance in their lineup, and when their No. 1 pitcher, Matthew Barrish, is on they are a tough squad to contend with in Double-A.
With Carmichaels’ playoff pedigree and its winning tradition in the postseason, I believe the committee will reward the Mikes with a No. 3 or 4 seed.
Like in most years, Class AA is very tough and there’s a lot of talented clubs at the top of the class.
The Section 2-AA champion Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic (15-3) and the Section 3-AA champion Serra Catholic (18-1) will be the favorites to win this spring. California is the defending Class AA champ.
Other teams to watch out for are Neshannock (15-3), Shenango (11-6) and Carlynton (11-3).
Class A baseball
West Greene made an improbable run in the regular season to make it to the postseason and the Pioneers’ run in the playoffs will probably have them pitted against some stiff competition.
The Pioneers finished fourth in Section 2-A with a 6-6 mark and unfortunately they might get selected at the 11th or 12th seed in the projected 12-team bracket.
Vincentian Academy (12-2) won Section 1-A this year and is the projected favorite to win the Class A title.
Two teams out of Section 2-A that were in the finals last year, Jeannette and Greensburg Central Catholic, might be the only thing stopping the Royals from winning the title this spring.
Other Class A squads to keep an eye out for in the playoffs are Union (10-3), Quigley Catholic (11-1) and Western Beaver (7-6).