Lady Pioneers pull away from Mapletown
West Greene’s London Whipkey connects for a home run against Mapletown during Thursday’s WPIAL playoff game at Waynesburg University. (Photo by Mark Marietta)
Mark Marietta
West Greene third baseman Lexi Six holds the softball after making a tag on Mapletown’s Krista Wilson during Thursday’s WPIAL playoff game at Waynesburg University.
Mark Marietta
West Greene pitcher Kiley Meek goes into her windup during Thursday’s WPIAL playoff game against Mapletown at Waynesburg University.
Mark Marietta
West Greene’s Lexi Six arrives safely at second base just ahead of the throw to Mapletown’s Taylor Dusenberry in the fifth inning of Thursday’s WPIAL Class A playoff game.
WAYNESBURG — For the sixth consecutive time, West Greene will be in the WPIAL Class A softball semifinals following a 7-0 win over Section 2 foe Mapletown on Thursday.
The top-seeded Lady Pioneers were led by senior pitcher Kiley Meek, who dominated the game. Meek only allowed four hits over seven innings, recording 12 strikeouts and walking three batters.
“She is a workhorse for us,” West Greene coach Bill Simms said. “She had a wow-type of performance in this one. She had great confidence starting from her warmup and it showed throughout the game.”
London Whipkey had two hits, including a solo home run, and two RBIs for the Lady Pioneers (13-3) who have won 13 in a row. Meek helped her own cause with a 3-for-4 performance with four RBIs.
The quarterfinal game was played at Waynesburg University but felt more like a Lady Pioneers home game as there was a large turnout of fans in blue and yellow.
The game was much tighter than the 7-0 final might suggest. Mapletown (11-8) kept the score at 2-0 until the Lady Pioneers scored twice in the fifth and three times in the sixth to pull away.
Part of the ninth-seeded Lady Maples’ success through the first four innings was the rotation of senior Macee Cree and sophomore Devan Clark, who split time at third base and pitcher.
“Jeff (Cree) did a tremendous job with Clark and Cree keeping us off balance,” Simms said. “They never gave us the same look twice in a row, which is where we’ve had success against them in the past.”
Cree was the starting pitcher and took the loss. She struck out two in 2 1/3 innings. Clark struck out one in 3 2/3 innings. The two combined to give up 10 hits but neither issued a walk.
West Greene freshman Payton Gilbert tallied two singles and a double in going 3-for-3.
“She had an impact day for us,” Simms said about Gilbert. “She really has done well for us down the stretch, even helping us with pitching. We’re looking forward to her continuing her career, but she did have a banner day.”
West Greene also got two hits and two runs from Katie Lampe.
The Lady Pioneers are set to return to action next Tuesday when they play the winner of fourth-seeded Springdale and fifth-seeded South Side Beaver, which was scheduled for Friday.
“We’ve won a little bit in this run, but we never want a team to be hungrier than us,” Simms said. “As long as we stay hungry and don’t let teams want it more than us, we’ll be OK.”