May 3, 2002 By The 6 min read

One Falcon team came up short in its quest to claim a share of a boys tennis section title on Thursday, but another Falcon team will take aim at that same goal today after earning a key win. While Brownsville was dropping a 4-1 decision to visiting Greensburg Central Catholic, leaving coach Dan LoNigro’s Falcons in second place in Section 1-AA, Connellsville was trouncing Ringgold, 4-1, to set up a Section 5-AAA rematch with first-place Hempfield that could make coach Don Campbell’s Falcons a co-champion.

Both Connellsville (14-2, 9-2) and Brownsville (8-3, 8-2) have already clinched playoff berths.

Connellsville got victories at No. 1 singles and No. 2 singles from Ryan Hornick and Josh Martin, respectively. Hornick won a three-set battle over Mike Bartoletti, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6, winning the tiebreaker in the third set, 7-2. Martin won in straight sets.

Campbell’s Falcons swept the doubles matches with Matt Ratai and Steve Lucas winning at No. 1 and Steve Haines and Gene Cunningham triumphing at No. 2.

“I thought that we played well today, despite the windy conditions,” Campbell said. “It was a good match to prepare us for Hempfield.”

Connellsville hosts Hempfield at 3:30 p.m. today. The Falcons lost to the Spartans, who are 10-1 in section play, earlier in the season, 4-1, at Hempfield.

Brownsville’s lone win against the Centurions (14-2, 10-0), who also beat the Falcons 4-1 earlier in the season, came at No. 3 singles from Luke Lucostic, who didn’t lost a game in a straight-set rout. GCC picked up close victories at No. 2 singles, where C.J. Goldstrom beat Neil Chafin, 6-4, 6-3, and No. 1 doubles, where John Clatty and Robel Tesfamariam wore down Josh Seelye and Elliott Sally, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Boys baseball

Jefferson-Morgan 7, Chartiers-Houston 2 – With no postseason hopes of its own left to play for, Jefferson-Morgan could’ve easily went through the motions when it traveled to Chartiers-Houston for a Section 1-A game against the playoff-bound Bucs.

Coach John Curtis’ squad wasn’t about to give in, however.

Matt Fanase pitched a complete game and helped himself out with a pair of hits as J-M improved to 6-5 overall and 4-4 in the section. Chartiers-Houston falls to 11-4 and 7-3.

“Fanase pitched a great game,” Curtis said. “The kids pulled it together and wanted to win this one for the seniors.”

The Bucs scored a run in the first, but Jefferson-Morgan surged in front to stay with two in the fourth in textbook fashion. Fanase led off with a double and Zack Weston walked. C.J. Moon laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners up and Matt Barbetta delivered a two-run single.

The Rockets blew open a close game in the seventh with a five-run outburst. Jeff Coneybeer got things started with a double, Eric Cox singled him to third and Bryan Lorence walked to load the bases. A.J. Curtis and Fanase connected for back-to-back RBI singles, Weston hit into a run-scoring fielder’s choice and John Pochron capped the inning with a two-run single to make it 7-1.

Fanase, who only threw 80 pitches, allowed seven hits and one walk with six strikeouts.

Justin Benson took the loss for C-H.

Jefferson-Morgan travels to Avella today for a 1 p.m. It will be the first of two games on the day for the Eagles, who will host Carmichaels at 4 p.m.

Bentworth 10, Frazier 1 – Dominick Wykovich tripled, doubled and scored twice, and Don Martin and P.J. Myers hit solo home runs as Bentworth beat visiting Frazier in a Section 7-A game.

Winning pitcher Jason Molesky struck out 10 in tossing a six-hitter. He allowed six hits and seven walks.

Gary Puskarich had a triple, single and an RBI for the Bearcats, who improved to 7-1 in the section. Casey Thompson and Bryan Anderson each went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Anderson also scored two runs. Bentworth pounded out 11 hits altogether.

Tom Begonia was 3-for-4 for the Commodores (4-10, 4-4) and drove in their only run. Losing pitcher Adam Souply tossed a complete game with five walks and four strikeouts. Frazier left 11 runners on base.

The Commodores wrap up their season on Monday when they host Jefferson-Morgan in a non-section game at 4 p.m.

Uniontown-LH game rescheduled – Thursday’s Uniontown at Laurel Highlands high school baseball game was postponed by wet grounds. The game will be made up at 4:30 p.m. Monday at the Hutchinson Field.

Girls softball

Monessen 1, Geibel Catholic 0 – Laura Campbell fired a one-hitter with 11 strikeouts and no walks, but Geibel Catholic coughed up an unearned run in suffering a surprising loss to last-place Monessen in a Section 6-A battle.

It was the first section win of the season for the host Lady Greyhounds (3-9, 1-7). The Lady Gators fall to 6-4 overall and 4-2 in section play.

Angie Lynn threw a five-hit shutout for Monessen. She struck out five and walked five, and got error-less support from her defense.

The Lady Greyhounds scored the only run of the game in the fifth when Renee Janosic reached second base on a single and an error, then scored when she stole third and the throw went awry.

Katie Andyjohn went 2-for-4 to lead Geibel’s offense.

The Lady Gators travel to Beth-Center for another section game on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Elizabeth-Forward 2, Albert Gallatin 0 – Heather Riley gave Elizabeth-Forward its second no-hitter in as many days as the first-place Lady Warriors blanked visiting Albert Gallatin in a Section 3-AAA contest.

Sarah Holets threw a five-inning perfect game against Uniontown on Wednesday for Elizabeth-Forward (8-4, 7-1).

This time if was E-F’s ace, Riley, who came within one Lady Warrior error of another perfect game. She struck out 15 and walked none.

The Lady Colonials’ Jessica Lemro turned in a gallant performance in defeat, allowing no earned run on three hits with three strikeouts and no walks.

Riley and Lemro were locked in a scoreless duel until Elizabeth-Forward tallied the game’s only two runs in the bottom of the sixth. Heather Boyd reached on an error, stole second and went to third on Melissa Korenoski’s single. Boyd scored on a double steal and Korenoski eventually came home on a wild pitch.

Korenoski had two hits for E-F.

Albert Gallatin falls to 3-11 overall and 1-7 in section play.

Mapletown 8, Clay-Battelle 4 – Jenna Ealy went 3-for-3 and ignited a four-run first inning with a two-run single as Mapletown doubled up visiting Clay-Battelle in a non-section game.

Kayla Fordyce was 2-for-3 with a double, and Annie Mochiak also had two hits for the Lady Maples (3-12). Erin Hutchinson chipped in with a triple.

Winning pitcher Elizabeth Novak allowed six hits and no walks with three strikeouts in going the distance.

Mapletown built a 7-2 lead after three innings and coasted home from there.

Jenna Toothman was the losing pitcher.

The Lady Maples return to section play on Monday when they travel to Jefferson-Morgan for a 4 p.m. game.