Apr 21, 2026 By Jonathan Guth 4 min read

Uniontown softball had several reasons to celebrate on Monday night at Bailey Park: For starters, the Red Raiders clinched a playoff spot for the fourth consecutive season due to Elizabeth Forward defeating Belle Vernon. In addition, Uniontown honored seniors Lyric McLee, Emmaleigh Noah and Graci Rodeheaver prior to the Section 2-4A contest against Oakland Catholic. The coup de grâce for head coach Jason White’s team was a 14-2 victory over the Eagles.

McLee, Noah and Rodeheaver all contributed in the Raiders’ triumph, as Noah earned the win in the pitching circle and had three hits and four RBIs; Rodeheaver had a pair of hits and RBIs; and McLee had two singles and an RBI.

Lauren White had two hits and two RBIs for Uniontown (6-4, 8-4).

“What I really liked about tonight was that my bottom of the lineup picked it up because the top of our lineup was struggling a little bit,” Jason White said. “Our top can’t carry us all year. Our five-through-nine hitters did a fantastic job today of putting up some runs and getting in position to score, and that was really good for us.”

Rodeheaver has played multiple sports during her high school career, but has relished her time on the softball team, and looks forward to putting on her uniform to play with her teammates, especially McLee and Noah.

“It has been good playing these past four years with Emmaleigh (Noah) and Lyric (McLee),” Rodeheaver said. “They are good friends of mine and we have gotten close.”

While the senior trio has fallen short in the playoffs the past three years, Rodeheaver believes this year’s team has what it takes to win in the postseason.

“I think playing in this section has really helped us as a team,” Rodeheaver said. “There are a lot of good teams in our section, and that prepares us for the playoffs. We hope that we can make a run in the postseason.”

Noah didn’t allow an earned run on five hits over five innings. She had two strikeouts and no walks.

The Red Raiders scored three runs on four hits in the bottom of the second inning for a 3-0 lead.

Rodeheaver singled to lead off the frame, and with one out, stole second before advancing to third on McLee’s infield single. Rodeheaver sprinted home on Tessa Livingood’s bunt single for a 1-0 advantage. McLee and Livingood scored on Noah’s base hit to left field for a three-run lead.

Oakland Catholic cut the deficit to one in the top of the fourth with two unearned runs before the home team erupted for 11 runs in the bottom of the frame for a 14-2 lead. Uniontown benefited from the Eagles committing four errors in the inning, including three in a row that accounted for four runs.

“My girls put the hammer down all the time, take the extra base, and when you are playing this game at a high level, you have to take advantage of errors and take that extra base,” Jason White said. “Running from station to station doesn’t get it done at this level.”

Oakland Catholic’s Lyla Fischer and Stella Fontana opened the fifth with back-to-back singles, but Noah was able to record a strikeout and catcher Juliet White threw a strike to Lauren White to tag out Fischer, who was attempting to steal third base, before Noah forced a groundout to close out the inning and game due to the 10-run rule.

The Red Raiders visit cross-town rival Laurel Highlands (6-4, 6-4) this afternoon at 4.

“I just told my girls in my postgame address, ‘If they can’t get up for Wednesday, they can’t get up for anything,'” Jason White said. “The higher we can get (in the playoffs), the better off we will be. We are really working hard to get through the first round, which has stymied us for the last three seasons where we have been one-and-done. I always felt like we were better than that.”