May 15, 2026 By Rob Burchianti 3 min read

Frazier battled its way back to even after an early 3-1 deficit then rode the long ball to victory.

The ninth-seeded Lady Commodores got a tiebreaking two-run homer from Emma Essington in the top of the fifth and a solo home run from Emme Travalena in the seventh on their way to a 6-3 win over No. 8 Seton LaSalle in a WPIAL Class 2A first-round softball playoff game at West Mifflin High School on Thursday.

Frazier (12-9) advances to Monday’s quarterfinals against top-seeded Laurel (14-5). The game will be played at North Allegheny High School with a 5 p.m. start.

Winning pitcher Addison Hiles allowed three runs on four hits with three walks and eight strikeouts.

Morgan Fisher was 3 for 4 and Zoey Zurenski had two hits and an RBI for the Lady Commodores, who fell behind 3-1 on Cheyenne Lamont’s three-run double in the third inning.

Hiles retired 13 of the final 15 batters she faced allowing only Madison McElroy to reach base in that span with a seventh-inning double and a catcher’s interference call in the fourth.

The Lady Commodores tied it with two runs in the fourth. Fisher led off the inning with a triple and scored one out later on Delani Anderson’s bunt single to make it 3-2. Malayna Burton’s sacrifice bunt moved Anderson to second and she scored on Zurenski’s two-out single to tie it at 3-3.

Travalena reached on an error in the fifth and Essington fouled off five pitches in a seven-pitch at bat that ended with her homering over the left field fence.

Travalena’s solo home run also cleared the left field fence with one out in the seventh.

Losing pitcher Layla Chapman surrendered three earned runs on six hits with no walks and five strikeouts for the Lady Rebels (11-5).

SOUTH SIDE 4, BETH-CENTER 3 – Ariel Poelcher’s clutch hit resulted in two runs scoring in the bottom of the seventh inning to spoil the 11th-seeded Lady Bulldogs’ upset bid and give the sixth-seeded Lady Bulldogs a walk-off win in their WPIAL Class A first-round playoff game at North Strabane Intermediate School.

The Lady Rams (10-8) move onto Monday’s quarterfinals where they will face No. 3 West Greene in a 5 p.m. game at Trinity Middle School.

Winning pitcher Raegann Tate gave up five hits and two walks with five strikeouts.

Kendall Welsh pitched well in defeat, surrendering one earned run on seven hits.

Beth-Center took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Welsh hit a one-out single and scored Bella Stepp’s two-out double.

South Side went in front with two runs in the second on Brooke McNary’s RBI single and a double steal.

The Lady Bulldogs surged back into the lead with two runs in the third when Sarah Bader and Welsh both singled and scored on Stepp’s two-out, two-run double.

The score remained that way until the Lady Rams’ winning uprising in the bottom of the seventh. Miladija Pavlovich hit a lead-off double, Allie Kemp walked and Emma Delong singled to load the bases with nobody out. Poelcher singled in Pavlovich to tie it and Kemp also scored on the play due to an outfield error.