Local roundup
Waynesburg girls pick up key win over Washington Waynesburg Central is fighting for the top spot in Section 7-AA along with Elizabeth-Forward, McGuffey and Belle Vernon.
The Lady Raiders took one step closer trying to seal up sole possession of first place with a 7-4 win over Washington.
“It was an important win for us because of the competition in the section,” said Waynesburg coach Lou Giachetti.
Waynesburg’s Melinda Henderson gave the Lady Raiders their first lead of the game with a triple in the sixth inning that drove in two runs. Henderson also singled.
Tyler Joseph went 3-for-4 for Waynesburg (9-1, 5-1) with three singles, and Angie Kayla also went 2-for-2.
“Washington played great defense,” said Giachetti.
Pitcher Nikki Shriver picked up her sixth win of the season.
The Lady Raiders will play at home at 4 p.m. Monday against McGuffey.
Beth-Center 7, West Greene 1 – Matt Falcone pitched a complete game, and Drew Frost and Tristan Pinkney hit back-to-back home runs as Beth-Center defeated host West Greene in a non-section game.
Frost also doubled and drove in three runs as the Bulldogs improved to 4-8.
Falcone, who survived an early jam, allowed one unearned run on six hits with three walks and six strikeouts.
“Matt did a good job,” B-C coach Frank Pryor said. “In the second inning they had the bases loaded with one out and he got a strikeout and a ground out, and then he put it on cruise control from there. He did really well. I was pleased with his effort.”
Beth-Center scored one run in the first, then scored three in the fifth when Frost hit a two-run homer to right-center on a 1-2 pitch, and Pinkney followed with a solo shot to left for a 4-0 lead.
“They just got the big hits in the fifth, back-to-back home runs to put us in a hole,” West Greene coach Bill Simms said. “We left nine runners on base. They’re pitcher had a real good curve ball. We never really hit anything truly hard.”
Matt Stay doubled and was on base with a walk when Frost hit his homer. Garrett Balas had two hits and two RBIs.
Losing pitcher Justin Allen struck out four and walked five in 4 1-3 innings and Tom Golacinski was 3-for-4 for the Pioneers (1-12).
West Greene travels to Mapletown today for a 4 p.m. game.
The Bulldogs play two games at Beth-Center Athletic Stadium early next week, against Monessen at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, and against Frazier under the lights at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday.
Softball
Beth-Center 12, Albert Gallatin 2 – Chelsea Stotka picked up the win on the mound, and Alisha Holt doubled as Beth-Center (9-5, 5-0) rolled to an easy non-section win over Albert Gallatin.
Tammy Penland went 2-for-3 and scored three runs for B-C.
Albert Gallatin scored its two runs in the first inning when Ashley Ruble doubled in Holly Williams and Gina Dean.
Losing pitcher Jennifer Tressler struck out two and walked five.
The Lady Colonials (3-8, 0-4) will host Uniontown today at 4 p.m. and Beth-Center will host Frazier at 4 p.m. Friday.
Uniontown 4, Frazier 2 – Emily Fisher and Stacey Riggar singled for Uniontown’s only hits, but it was enough to lift the Lady Red Raiders past Frazier in an exhibition contest.
Frazier got on the scoreboard first as it scored two runs in the second. Uniontown chipped away at the lead with single scores in the sixth and seventh inning to tie the game. Uniontown got two insurance runs in the top of the ninth inning to take home the victory.
April Pasterick had a two-run double for the Lady Commodores (2-6, 1-3).
Frazier will visit Geibel Catholic today at 4 p.m. while Uniontown travels to Hempfield on Friday (4 p.m.).
Geibel Catholic 13, West Greene 3 – Annie Kozel went 3-for-4 with a double as Geibel Catholic crushed host West Greene in a six-inning, non-section matchup.
Liz Sunseri smacked a double and a single, and winning pitcher Carrie Gessner also and had two hits for the Lady Gators (3-8).
Gessner allowed four hits and four walks with two strikeouts.
Geibel scored two in the first, one in the second and three in the third to take a 7-1 lead. The Lady Gators added three in the fourth, West Greene tacked on single runs in the bottom of the fourth and fifth, and Geibel tallied four in the sixth to set up the 10-run rule.
Emily Pennington hit a double for the Lady Gators.
Vanessa Kennedy was 2 for 3 with a double, and Jennifer Horr also doubled for the Lady Pioneers (2-7). Rebecca Burns was the losing pitcher.
Geibel returns to Section 6-A play today when it hosts Frazier at 4 p.m.
Norwin 4, Connellsville 3 – Norwin handed Connellsville its first loss of the season as it edged past the Lady Falcons in a non-section contest.
Winning pitcher Nicole Lindberg held Connellsville to just two hits, struck out six and walked four. Losing pitcher Kerri Hiles struck out 13, allowed only one walk and scattered six hits.
Lindsey O’Donnell and Heather Rulli doubled for Connellsville for their only hits of the game.
The Lady Falcons will travel to Greensburg Salem at 4 p.m. Friday.
Hempfield 10, Laurel Highlands 0 – Allison Truxal tripled and doubled as Hempfield (8-4, 4-1) shut out Laurel Highlands (3-8, 2-3) in a Section 3-AAA match-up.
Erin Truxal also doubled for Hempfield.
Winning pitcher Heather Riggle struck out six and walked one, while losing pitcher Angie Shotter had one strikeout.
Jen Barry had two singles for Laurel Highlands.
Boy’s tennis
Connellsville 5, Trinity 0 – Connellsville continues to roll in Section 5-AAA as it blanked Trinity on the road.
Josh Martin kicked things off in the No. 1 singles match with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Jim Ramey. Gene Cunningham made quick work of Dave Leasure (6-2, 6-1) and Randy Richter defeated Scott Schmidt in the No. 3 singles match (6-2, 6-0).
“I thought we played an excellent match today. The elements were bad and it wasn’t ideally good tennis weather,” said Connellsville coach Don Campbell.
The Falcons also swept the doubles matches. The team of Matt Ratai and Steve Haines defeated Orin Heath and Rus Haines (6-0, 6-2) while Joe Teets and Scott Campbell defeated Travis Elwood and Mike Esray (6-2, 7-5).
“I saw some good things today. I like where we are at this time,” said Campbell. “I think we’re going to get better.”
Connellsville hosts McKeesport at 3:30 p.m. today.
Brownsville 3, Southmoreland 2 – Brownsville swept the singles to edge Southmoreland and keep sole possession of first place in Section 1-AA.
The Falcons (7-2, 6-0), coming off a key section victory over Mount Pleasant, won each singles match in straight sets as Ryan Minor topped Donald Meteny, Neil Chafin beat Matt Grabiak and Josh Seelye blanked Kyle Thomas.
The Scotties ruled in the doubles, however, with Jason Yoder and Nathan Booher defeating Aaron Crable and John Marcolini, and John Eutsey and Jimmy Donley knocking off Ian Glumac and Colin Ryan.
Southmoreland fell to 4-5 in the section.
Brownsville travels to McGuffey today and hosts Greensburg Central Catholic Friday. Both matches begin at 3:30 p.m.
Men’s baseball
IUP 9, California (Pa.) 1; IUP 8, California (Pa.) 7 – The California University men’s baseball team was tied with IUP at the start of Wednesday’s doubleheader but came home trailing the Indians after dropping two games.
California (20-19, 8-8) dropped two games behind IUP (18-15, 10-6) in the conference, in the race for the No. 2 spot behind Slippery Rock.
In the first game, IUP’s Anthony Zambotti (9-0) held the Vulcans to just three hits and one run over seven innings. California’s Nick Damico (3-3) pitched the opening four innings giving up seven runs, and Adam Wilfong threw the final two innings allowing two runs.
In the second game, IUP scored single runs in the first two innings, and Cal erupted for five runs in the top of the third to take the lead.
IUP answered with a run in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead to two.
California added single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to take a 7-to-5 lead into the sixth. The Indians scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh. Todd Sneddon hit a one-out double in the seventh and scored the winning run on a Brandon Billotte single to left.
Bob Saddler started for the Vulcans and pitched three innings, giving up five runs (four earned). Justin Taylor threw the final three innings and took the loss.
Anthony Rebyanski pitched the seventh inning for IUP and picked up the win.
Women’s softball
California (Pa.) 7, IUP 0; IUP 9, California (Pa.) 4 – The Vulcans traveled to IUP looking to clinch a PSAC-West title, but a split keeps IUP alive in the race for the PSAC-West title with four games left.
In the first game, California (20-4, 13-3) scored one run in its first at-bat, and that was enough to get the 20th win of the season. Cal topped the Indians 7-0 to give head coach Rick Bertagnolli his 400th win at California and his 663rd career victory.
Bertagnolli passed Chuck Gismondi (393 wins) last week to become Cal’s all-time winningest coach.
Amber Riegel (9-2) pitched a complete-game shutout, allowing IUP (20-14, 11-5) just four hits.
Debbie Tedesco and Kerri Heckman each homered for Cal while Maggie Fricko had a double.
The Vulcans’ winning run in the first inning was unearned as Gabrielle Rendon scored on an error.
In the second game, IUP was ready for Cal as the Indians outscored Cal 9-4.
The Vulcans scored a single run in the top of the second, and IUP countered with three runs in the bottom of the inning.
California took the lead in the fifth with three runs, but IUP got two back in the bottom of the inning and then scored four runs in the sixth to put the game away.
Becky Mezyk pitched for Cal and recorded her first loss of the season (10-1), while Sarah Knill had a complete game for IUP (8-4).
California had nine singles in the game.