South Park in title game
Rallies past Hopewell in 4A semifinals
South Park was shut down and shut out.
Not only were the Eagles trailing Hopewell by two in the bottom of the sixth, but they also were down to their final six outs in the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals.
It turns out the Eagles only needed three.
South Park (20-2) scored nine runs in the bottom of the sixth en route a 9-2 victory against No. 7-seeded Hopewell (13-10) at Burkett Park in Robinson. The Eagles will play in a WPIAL championship for the first time since defeating the Vikings for the Class 3A title in 2013.
Josh Wagner and Bryce Groff drove in three runs in the sixth. Tyler Bywalski, who went 2 for 4, surrendered only four hits and five strikeouts in 62⁄ 3 innings to pick up the win.
More Class 4A
Blackhawk 7, Deer Lakes 3: Andy McClymonds improved his record to 8-0 as he struck out eight in 41⁄ innings, and Mark Engel closed it out with 22⁄ shutout innings as the top-seeded Cougars (20-2) moved into the final for the third time in the past four years and eighth since 2002.
Class 6A
North Allegheny 5, Canon-McMillan 3: The No. 2 Big Macs had a 3-1 lead heading into the top of the seventh, but the sixth-seeded Tigers rallied with four runs on just two hits to earn a spot in a championship for the first time since 2013.
Pine-Richland 6, Mt. Lebanon 1: Rams starter Tom Zbezinski was staked to an early 4-0 lead and made it stand with a stellar performance which helped the No. 1 seed advance to the title game.
Class 5A
Latrobe 2, Chartiers Valley 1: The Colts pulled off an upset to get into the semifinals, but couldn’t pull off another as the No. 2 Wildcats broke up Ross Wilkerson’s perfect game with a walk that led to two runs in the sixth inning
Roundup
to help Latrobe (19-2) move on to its first championship since losing to Bethel Park in 1985.
Class 3A
Mount Pleasant 2, Ellwood City 1: Cody Reese and Jason Beranek each had two hits and drove in an unearned run in the third inning to help the Vikings (13-5) lock up a spot in a WPIAL championship for the first time since losing to Connellsville in 1989.
Riverside 5, Brownsville 4: The top-seeded Panthers (171) gave up their first run in the WPIAL playoffs in their past six games as they fell behind, 4-0, after the top of the first, but the Falcons couldn’t hold on to keep Riverside from extending its winning streak to 16.
Class 2A
Freedom 6, Serra Catholic 2: The reigning Class 1A champion Eagles had a 2-0 lead after thee innings, but the Bulldogs (16-4) came back behind Zach Greene’s two hits and three RBIs while Christian Kraus drove in two runs to help Freedom earn the chance for its first WPIAL championship in school history.
California 4, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart 3: The Trojans scored on a walk-off in the 11th to make it into the WPIAL championship for the fourth time in six years.
Class 1A
Jeannette 7, Union 3: Tyler Elliott drove in three runs and Blaze Tran made it stand up with four strikeouts in seven innings as the Jayhawks (146) earned their first berth in a WPIAL baseball championship with a victory against the Scotties.
Greensburg Central Catholic 7, Jefferson-Morgan 1: A year after losing to Serra Catholic in the championship, the Centurions (12-4) earned their way back to the final for the third consecutive year as Jason Hoover singled four times and drove in three to lead the attack.