West Greene reaches PIAA semis for 1st time in school history
SLIPPERY ROCK — Another day, another historic moment for West Greene softball.
For the first time in school’s history, the Lady Pioneers will be making a trip to the PIAA Class A semifinals after a 4-1 victory over Saegertown Thursday afternoon at the Slippery Rock University Softball Complex.
The state quarterfinal appearance was the first for West Greene since 1983, when the Lady Pioneers fell to Iroquois.
“It’s a historic win for us and these girls deserve all of the credit,” West Greene coach Billy Simms said. “With the PIAA playoffs, you really don’t have a lot of information or scouting reports about your opponent. We were just focused on playing our style of game and doing the things that we do well.”
The Lady Pioneers (25-1) extended their winning streak to 22, and haven’t lost a game since a 4-3 setback to Moore Catholic, New York, on April 1 at the Ripken Experience Tournament.
West Greene will play DuBois Central Catholic, which defeated Conemaugh Valley, on Monday at a time and site to be determined.
The offense pounded out 10 hits and the defense was solid once again, but it was the superb pitching of sophomore Madison Renner that was the winning catalyst.
Renner threw a complete game and allowed one unearned run on four hits with five strikeouts and just one free pass. The sophomore righty is now 18-1 on the season.
“It’s another game for us, and we just take it one step at a time,” Renner said. “It’s awesome to still be playing and we try to treat these games like any other game. We expected a tough game and we knew their pitcher was really good.”
Courtney Hess drew the loss for the Lady Panthers (16-9), tossing six innings and allowed four runs on 10 hits with six strikeouts and one walk.
After a scoreless first, West Greene struck first with two runs in the bottom of the second.
Lexie Mooney led off the frame by reaching first on an infield error and would later score on McKenna Lampe’s two-out RBI single.
“It’s really fun to be in this offense and everyone is capable of hitting,” Lampe said. “As a leadoff hitter, I just try to get on base. It doesn’t matter to me if I get a slap bunt or hit a single or get a walk, I just want to set the table for our offense.”
Lampe had a team-high three hits in the triumph, while her twin sister, Madison, and Renner added two hits apiece.
A couple of pitches later, Mackenzie Carpenter alertly took home on a high, passed ball and scored the second run of the game for the Lady Pioneers.
Saegertown cut the deficit in half with a run in the fourth when Becca Sidle started the inning with a single and crossed home after an infield error.
The Lady Panthers loaded the bases in the fifth, but Renner was able to wiggle out of the jam and induced a grounder to third base for the final out.
“I have a lot of trust in throwing my change-up today and we got a lot of strikes with it,” Renner said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a 2-0 count or a 0-2 count, Coach Simms has a lot of trust in me throwing it over the plate. I was able to get ahead in counts and keep them off-balance with my fastball, too.”
West Greene tallied two runs in the bottom of the fifth when Renner laced a two-run single that scored the Lampe sisters.
“That fifth inning was huge for us,” Simms said. “It was their third time through the line-up and we knew they had some hitters. We wanted to pitch her (three-hole hitter Haley Hess) very carefully with the bases loaded. We mixed up some speeds on her.
“In the bottom of the inning, we got some speed on the bases and Madison was able to get that clutch, two-run hit for us. That gave us some breathing room and going into the last couple of innings with a three-run lead was huge for us.”
After a scoreless sixth inning, Renner recorded a fly out to right and two ground outs to secure the quarterfinal win for the Lady Pioneers.
“Madison hit her spots and she threw a gem,” Simms said. “She had a lot of confidence in her change-up and got some strikes off of it. Offensively, we got hits with runners on base and our first couple of hitters got hits. McKenna gets it going for us, there’s a reason why she is batting .600. I think she’s better at the plate when she’s deep in the count.”