May 13, 2026 By Rob Burchianti 3 min read

Connellsville threw a scare into third-seeded Penn-Trafford but the Lady Warriors held on for a 3-2 victory in their WPIAL Class 5A softball battle at Norwin on Tuesday.

Aria Smith’s run-scoring bunt in the bottom of the fifth inning wound up being the difference as Penn-Trafford (18-3) advanced to the quarterfinals on May 19 against No. 11 North Hills.

Winning pitcher Allyson Pauline allowed five hits, including solo home runs by Addison Smith and Cali Leichliter, and two walks with six strikeouts.

Connellsville took a 1-0 lead on Smith’s home run leading off the top of the fourth inning but the Lady Warriors answered with two runs in the bottom of the frame thanks to a sacrifice fly by Torrie DeStefano and an RBI single by Mac Cox.

Penn-Trafford scored once in the fifth to go up 3-1. Gabrielle Rubbe led off with a single, advanced to third on Ella Mains’ bunt single and scored on Aria Smith’s bunt.

Leichliter got the Lady Falcons (12-9) with one with a solo home run leading off the sixth. Connellsville threatened to tie it later in the inning with one-out singles by Kalyn Cole and Kaylee Roadman but Pauline got a strikeout and ground out to end the threat, and closed out the game with a perfect seventh.

Losing pitcher Aliyah Wagner surrendered three runs on four hits in 4 1/3 innings. Halle Parfitt allowed one hit in pitching 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief.

BASEBALL

CHARLEROI 4, MOUNT PLEASANT 2 – Tristyn Woods doubled, singled and drove in two runs to help the No. 9 Cougars knock off the No. 8 Vikings in a WPIAL Class 3A first-round playoff game at Ross Memorial Park.

Jaxson Klinger added three hits for Charleroi which scored single runs in the first, third, sixth and seventh innings in building a 4-0 lead.

Mount Pleasant mounted a two-out rally in the bottom of the seventh and got the tying run to the plate, knocking out starting and winning pitcher Brock Henderson out of the game in the process.

Quinn Painter singled and Dane Firmstone tripled to bring in the Vikings’ first run and Santino Marne followed with a run-scoring single to make it 4-2. Luke Henderson got a game-ending fly out to end the game and earn the save.

Brock Henderson took a one-hitter into the final frame. He was charged with the two runs on three hits and two walks with no strikeouts.

PINE-RICHLAND 15, CONNELLSVILLE 0 – The top-seeded Rams exploded for 10 runs in the first inning in rolling to a three-inning victory over the Falcons in a WPIAL Class 5A first-round playoff game at Gateway High School.

Kyler Bell had three hits, including a double, and four RBIs and Ben Husted doubled, singled and knocked in three runs for Pine-Richland (16-5), which also got two hits and three RBIs from Ty Cownie.

Winning pitcher Logan Plummer struck out six in tossing all three innings.

Caden Matthews had the lone hit for Connellsville (9-12).

The Rams advanced to the quarterfinals will they will face No. 8 Montour next Tuesday.