Vikings lock up playoffs

Hopewell 8-0 since 0-5 start

The Hopewell Vikings began the baseball season 0-5. Since then, they’ve been unbeatable.

Zeph Kraus hit a two-run home run with two outs in the sixth and Class AAA No. 3 Hopewell held on to win at Blackhawk, 7-5, Friday in Section 1.

The Vikings (8-5, 8-0) clinched a playoff berth with the win. They went 4-15 a year ago.

Blackhawk (7-4, 5-3), which fell behind, 4-0, in the first, held a 5-4 lead before Hopewell scored three runs in the sixth.

Top baseball games

Hempfield (9-5, 6-0) needed only nine hits to earn a 16-5 five-inning win at Norwin (6-3, 4-2) in Class AAAA Section 2. Norwin pitchers issued eight walks and hit five batters.

Spencer Carlson fired a one-hitter and Jake Ritson singled in the winning run in the seventh to lift Class AAA No. 1 Chartiers Valley (10-3, 6-1) to a 2-1 home win against McGuffey (0-9, 0-7) in Section 3.

Liam Sweeney had three triples among his four hits, scored five runs and had five RBIs to lead host Seton-LaSalle (6-2, 4-2) to a 20-10 win against South Allegheny (7-4, 3-4) in Class AA Section 4.

Top softball games

Tawnya Holben’s RBI single in the seventh gave host Fox Chapel (9-2, 8-1) a 5-4 win against Gateway (7-4, 7-2) in Class AAAA Section 2.

Lauren Zola tossed a one-hitter and struck out 19 in leading Class AA No. 2 Seton-LaSalle (8-0, 8-0) to a 6-0 home win against Brentwood (3-8, 3-6) in Section 4.

Maddie Ludrosky fired a no-hitter and Camryn Dugan had an RBI single in the sixth to give Class A No. 3 Jefferson-Morgan (8-2, 6-1) a 1-0 home win against No. 2 Chartiers-Houston (12-2, 7-1) in Section 1.

Boys basketball

Josh Bears will be the new coach at Bethel Park, pending school board approval Tuesday. Bears formerly coached at Blackhawk and West Allegheny.

Boys track

Knoch sophomore Jordan Geist won the shot put at the Penn Relays with a career-best throw of 67 feet, 11⁄ inches.