Grabowski ‘special’ for Warriors

Penn-Trafford pitcher delivers winning homer

Penn-Trafford coach Dan Miller said pitcher Dylan Grabowski had been “special” in his previous two outings — and classified his performance against Hampton Tuesday as special again.

But Grabowski also had one special hit.

Grabowski hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning to give PennTrafford a 4-3 victory against Hampton in a WPIAL Class 5A first-round playoff game at West Mifflin.

“I’ll tell you, he’s been struggling at the plate most of the season,” Miller said. “But in order for us to win, we need him to get hot at the plate, too, and he came through in this game. That was a big hit, but probably the most emotional part of the game was the way it ended.”

With Penn-Trafford (14-6) clinging to the one-run lead, Hampton (10-10) put runners on first and second with one out in the top of the seventh. Hampton hit a fly ball to center fielder Jason Sabol, who made the catch and immediately threw to shortstop Jake Otto while the Hampton runner took off for third. Second baseman Brody Hoffman called for the ball because he believed the Hampton runner left early while tagging up at second. Otto threw to Hoffman, the runner was called out and No. 8 seed Penn-Trafford found itself with a date in the quarterfinals Thursday against No. 1 seed Peters Township.

Grabowski gave up six hits, struck out nine and threw only 82 pitches.

“This was his third time out in the last two weeks,” Miller said. “Each time he continued to be special. He was special against Montour and against Latrobe before that. He was pretty special against a very good Hampton team.”

Other 5A

Bethel Park 6, Gateway 5 (11 innings): No. 2 seed Bethel Park (14-4), the defending PIAA champion, needed 11 innings before edging Gateway (8-11) at Burkett Park. David Kessler, who was 3 for 5, doubled and scored on Cody Geddes’ double in the 11th. Floyd McKenna hit two home runs for Gateway.

South Fayette 10, Franklin Regional 0: South Fayette’s Tyler Pitzer pitched a five-inning perfect game as the Lions (15-4) blanked the defending WPIAL champion Panthers (11-6) at Burkett Park. South Fayette scored its 10 runs on only six hits.

Thomas Jefferson 14, Latrobe 7: No. 5 seed Latrobe (12-8) jumped out to a 6-0 lead after two innings, but No. 12 Thomas Jefferson (14-6) came back for the win at Hempfield. McClain Flinn pitched the final 5⅓ innings for Thomas Jefferson. Angelo Volomino had three hits and three RBIs for Thomas Jefferson.

Chartiers Valley 8, Mars 6: No. 4 seed Mars (14-6) trailed by only 5-4 after six innings, but No. 11 Chartiers Valley (10-11) scored three unearned runs in the top of the seventh to knock off the Planets at North Allegheny.

Shaler 4, Plum 2: Derek Leas struck out 11 to lift Shaler (15-6) to the win at North Allegheny against Plum (12-7).

Class 3A

New Brighton 2, Derry 1: Bobby Budacki pitched a three-hitter to lift New Brighton (10-9) to the win against Derry (11-7) at Highlands. New Brighton had only five hits off Derry pitcher Ryan Hood.

Hopewell 13, South Allegheny 2: No. 1 seed Hopewell (14-6) scored seven runs in the third inning en route to a 13- 2 victory against South Allegheny (811) at Washington & Jefferson.

Yough 7, Mount Pleasant 6: Allen Novacek’s RBI single in the seventh inning gave Yough (11-7) the win against the Vikings (9-8) at Hempfield. Mount Pleasant had taken a 6-0 lead after the top of the third, but didn’t score again. James Shoman pitched five scoreless innings of relief for Yough.

Avonworth 10, Southmoreland 0: Jordan Kolenda had two hits and three RBIs as Avonworth (14-7) rolled over the Scotties (7-9) at Highlands.

Mohawk 7, Keystone Oaks 1: Keystone Oaks (512) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but that was all the Golden Eagles would get in the loss to No. 4 seed Mohawk (14-4) at Seneca Valley. Cooper Vance pitched a four-hitter, struck out 13 and did not walk a batter in lifting his record to 4-0.

Class 2A

Riverside 5, ChartiersHouston 4: No. 5 seed Riverside (14-5) led by 5-0 after three innings, but had to hang on for the win against Chartiers-Houston (11-8) at Plum. Evan Burry and Mitch Garvin both had two hits for Riverside. Christian Lucarelli and Madden Boehm combined on a fourhitter for Riverside.

Shenango 10, Fort Cherry 0: Defending WPIAL champion Shenango (15-4) ran its winning streak to 10 with the easy win against Fort Cherry ( 8- 6) at Chippewa Park.

Laurel 13, Shady Side Academy 4: Laurel (10-6) walked 13 batters, but the Spartans still breezed to the win against Shady Side (9-6) at North Allegheny. Connor Pontzloff, Ryan Telesz and Hunter Kobialka all had two hits for Laurel.

Serra 9, Beth-Center 4: Zach Black hit a two-run homer to help No. 1 seed Serra (20-0) keep its record perfect with the win against Beth- Center ( 7- 11) at Latrobe.

Neshannock 12, Bentworth 5: Colton Shaffer, Grant Melder and Nate Rynd all hit home runs as Neshannock ( 15- 6) bested Bentworth ( 10- 6) at Chippewa Park.

Seton LaSalle 10, Northgate 0: Northgate (4-10) managed only one hit as No. 2 Seton LaSalle (15-1) strolled to the win at Shaler in five innings.

Class 1A

Riverview 13, Bishop Canevin 7: Luke Migely went 3 for 4 and Riverview (7-10) had 11 hits in upending No. 7 seed Bishop Canevin (7-6) at Shaler.

Sewickley Academy 7, Avella 4: Avella (5-11) outhit No. 6 seed Sewickley Academy by 7-5, but Adin Zorn’s home run helped Sewickley Academy (9-5) to the win at Beaver.

Greensburg C. C. 9, Leechburg 4: Zach David had two doubles and pitched five innings of fourhit ball to lead the Centurions (9-7) to the win against Leechburg (7-6) at Plum.