Lady Pioneers power to 14-0 quarterfinal win
CANONSBURG — West Greene’s first five hitters entered the Lady Pioneers’ 14-0 WPIAL Class A softball quarterfinal win over St. Joseph on Monday hitting a combined .515 with 160 hits in 311 at-bats.
The first inning was the perfect example of how powerful the quintet of McKenna Lampe, Madison Lampe, Madison Renner, Jade Renner and Kaitlyn Rizor is.
McKenna Lampe opened up the home half of the inning with a single and she scored when her twin sister Madison doubled her in.
Madison Renner followed with an RBI triple and scored when her sister Jade doubled her in.
Rizor followed with a towering home run to center field and just five batters into the inning, West Greene (17-4) had five runs on five hits.
“We couldn’t have scripted that any better and I was nervous after our 12- or 13-day layoff,” said West Greene coach Bill Simms. “We have been in this position before, but I think you are always uneasy when you haven’t played in a while.
“Our girls did a good job and we set the tone in the first inning, and with us being the top seed, we wanted to come out and show we are the top seed and we did.”
McKenna Lampe, who finished with two singles and her fifth home run of the season, spoke about the offensive explosion.
“The top of our lineup is pretty solid, but our whole lineup hits,” she said of the team who was hitting a collective .433 entering the game. “We were aggressive and that helped with my nerves.
“We just have to keep working on defense because it wins games, and on our offense.”
The Renners and Rizor added an RBI in the second inning, with both Renners adding another RBI in the third to give the Lady Pioneers an 11-0 lead after three innings.
McKenna Lampe closed out the scoring with an opposite field blast to left-center in the fourth.
Jade Renner was solid in the pitching circle and limited St. Joseph (11-5) to three hits. She had seven strikeouts.
“I think Jade was a little rusty with her change-up today, but she was still effective,” said Simms. “We will work on a few things as there are several things we can clean up.”
West Greene, the two-time defending WPIAL champions and defending PIAA champions, faces Union in the semifinals.