Neshannock freshman leading the way
Avonworth in top form for final
Before taking on Bald Eagle Area for a trip to the PIAA Class 3A championship game, Avonworth coach Jenna Muncie and her players arrived at Saint Francis University a bit early on Monday to watch the end of Beaver’s PIAA Class 4A semifinal vs. Clearfield.
Muncie didn’t like what she saw.
“I didn’t expect it,” Muncie said of Beaver’s stunning 2-1 loss that ended the Bobcats’ 42-game winning streak. “When they went out, my heart broke for them, and I said, ‘Uh-oh. I don’t like that kind of juju.’”
As for what she saw from her own team in a convincing 9-2 win against Bald Eagle, Muncie couldn’t have been more thrilled.
The Antelopes (19-5) utilized a pair of home runs from Leah Kuban and Rylee Gray and another stellar pitching performance from sophomore Alivia Lantzy to stifle Bald Eagle, clinching the team’s first PIAA championship appearance in program history. Avonworth will face District 4 champion Lewisburg (19-3) for the state title at Penn State’s Beard Field at 1:30 p.m. Thursday. Lewisburg, which defeated District 11 champion Palmerton, 12-1, in the other Class 3A semifinal, is also making its PIAA championship debut.
Even Muncie admitted that if only one WPIAL team was going to advance from Monday’s doubleheader at Saint Francis, she wouldn’t have expected it to be her Antelopes. With such a young team, not many would have picked Avonworth to be in this position going into the season — except for the Antelopes’ coaches.
“I know for a fact nobody picked us to be the team standing here,” Muncie said. “But I also know for a fact that my coaches in there, Rich Schmidt and Dave Bibey, they picked us to be here in this exact moment. I said, ‘I don’t know, guys.’ And they were like, ‘Nope. I see it, I feel it, I know it.’
“They picked it, so that’s all that matters.”
Avonworth is led by a trio of standout sophomores in Lantzy, Kuban and Gray, and all three
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have played a pivotal role during the Antelopes’ playoff run. Lantzy has allowed two runs or less in four of six playoff starts, and Kuban and Gray have brought the lumber in a big way. But despite its youth, Avonworth also has a handful of reliable senior leaders, including third baseman Meghan Fissore — the only player on the team who started for both of the Antelopes’ WPIALchampionship wins in 2019 and 2022.
“That group makes me a little emotional,” Muncie said. “They truly are such a special group of seniors to me. … They can’t be replaced, and they won’t be.”
Although Avonworth doesn’t have one star player who generates a ton of headlines, the Antelopes have a balanced offensive attack to go with a solid and fundamentally sound defense. Most importantly, they have an extremely tight-knit group, and everybody on the team is committed to their role.
“I think it’s just kind of a whole team effort,” Kuban said after the semifinal win. “I think if we stay relaxed and are able to come out like we did at the end of this game, we’ll be fine.”
Seneca Valley
It has been 30 years since Seneca Valley made its first and only PIAA championship appearance in a 1-0 defeat vs. Williamsport in eight innings.
The Raiders’ ace pitcher that season was a senior by the name of Marlesse Hames, who would go on to enjoy a tremendous college career in both basketball and softball at Penn State-Behrend before eventually returning home and starting a family. Hames is now in her first year as head coach at Seneca Valley — and the Raiders’ ace pitcher is her daughter, freshman phenom Lexie Hames.
One of the WPIAL’s biggest breakout stars this season, Lexie Hames burst onto the scene during Seneca’s postseason tear that has seen the Raiders win 12 consecutive games after a 5-6 start to the season. After leading the WPIAL with 12 home runs during the regular season, she has done most of her best work in the circle lately, pitching back-to-back shutouts to lead Seneca (17-6) back to the state championship game, where the Raiders will face District 1 fourthplace finisher Spring-Ford (23-2) at 4 p.m. Friday.
“Going into these bigger games, Lexie kind of thrives on that competitiveness,” Marlesse Hames said. “We try to really look at the batters and watch some film and try to scout the best we can there.”
Lexie Hames pitched a one-hit shutout with 12 strikeouts in Seneca’s commanding 9-0 win vs. Pennsbury on Monday in the PIAA semifinals, following up another masterpiece in a 1-0 PIAA quarterfinal win against Quakertown last Thursday. Now, she will have the chance to help her mother erase the memories of that heartbreaking 1992 PIAA championship game if she can lead the Raiders to one more win on Friday.
“I want to come home with a win this time,” Marlesse Hames said. “It’s pretty ironic that I pitched in states and my daughter is pitching in states. It’s just surreal.”
Armstrong
After coming up short in last year’s WPIAL and PIAA Class 5A championship games, Armstrong has played with a target on its back all year long.
With all but one starter returning from last year’s loaded lineup, the powerful River Hawks have been viewed as the WPIAL’s team to beat in Class 5A for much of the season — and they proved worthy of the praise with a walk-off 6-5 win vs. Penn-Trafford to win their first WPIAL title. Now, after a 3-2 win vs. the Warriors in Monday’s PIAA semifinals, Armstrong (23-4) is heading back to the state title game to face District 2 champion Pittston (24-0), an undefeated team making its PIAA championship debut.
All year long, River Hawks coach Doug Flanders and his players have reiterated the team’s motto of “turning silver into gold.” So far, Armstrong has been successful every step of the way, and now the team’s ultimate goal is finally within reach.
“That’s been our driving force all year — get the section, get the WPIAL, and only one left. So that’s what we’re trying to get,” Flanders said. “I’ll take my lineup against anybody in the state.”
As the youngest of seven siblings, Addy Frye was always around sports growing up — but her family didn’t expect her to be much of an athlete early on.
“They text me all the time and tell me how proud they are of me,” Frye said about her older brothers and sisters. “They always thought I wasn’t going to be athletic, because when I was younger I used to just pick flowers when I played soccer.”
For Frye’s sake and the sake of the undefeated Neshannock Lancers, it’s a good thing she decided to play softball instead.
One of the WPIAL’s biggest breakout stars in 2022 and already one of the top two-way players in the area as a freshman, Frye has emerged as Neshannock’s No. 1 pitcher and the No. 3 hitter in the Lancers’ loaded lineup. Nobody has played a more pivotal role in Neshannock’s run to the PIAA Class 2A championship game vs. District 12 champion Conwell-Egan (16-5) at 11 a.m. Friday at Penn State’s Beard Field.
“She really goes above and beyond,” said Lancers coach Jackie Lash. “She studies this game. She works hard at this game. Never have I seen a pitcher or a player go this far into making sure they’re prepared for a game.”
During the regular season, Frye hit .558 with a team-leading eight home runs and led the entire WPIAL with 44 RBIs. She also notched the biggest hit of her career with a walk-off three-run home run in the eighth inning of a back-and-forth 8-5 win vs. archrival Laurel on May 4. Including playoffs, she is now 20-0 in the circle with an 0.82 ERA, 172 strikeouts and 15 walks in 103 innings.
Frye has always had the physical tools to be one of the top players in her age group, but her success is also a result of her recent shift toward embracing the mental aspect of the game.
“Before the Frazier game, I had study hall and a couple classes that we weren’t doing anything in, so I just watched the Frazier lineup No. 1-9 and I wrote everything down on a Google doc, and sent it to coach Jackie the night before we played,” Frye said.
Frye’s studying paid off, as she held a previously undefeated Frazier team to one run on four hits with 10 strikeouts and two walks in a complete-game victory. The win gave the Lancers their third WPIAL title in program history and first since winning back-to-back crowns in 2013 and 2014.
Now, Frye has Neshannock back in the state title game for the third time, and the Lancers are looking to add a second PIAA championship banner to go with the Class 2A state title they won in 2012. That year, Neshannock also went undefeated in the regular season, but they suffered their only loss in a 2-0 shutout against Deer Lakes in the WPIAL semifinals.
One more win, and the Lancers will become only the sixth WPIAL team ever to win a state title with a perfect record.
“I think it would be very special,” Frye said. “Because a lot of people doubted us this year.”
Believe it or not, Frye isn’t the only member of her family who hopes to bring home a state championship this week. Her older brother, Andrew, is a junior at Neshannock who shined during the regular season with a .500 batting average, 5 doubles, 5 home runs, 23 RBIs and 20 runs. But because he transferred after his sophomore season — both Fryes transferred from Sharpsville to Neshannock last summer — he was ruled ineligible to compete in the playoffs.
Andrew Frye will still be allowed in the dugout to cheer on his teammates as the Lancers attempt to win the Class 2A baseball title at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, and he will join the rest of his family in the stands on Friday to watch as his little sister takes center stage for Neshannock.
Frye said she and her brother motivate each other to work harder and are constantly throwing in the backyard or training together. They even had a friendly competition to see who could hit more home runs during the regular season (Addy won, 8 to 5).
For someone so young to face so much pressure to perform and preserve the Lancers’ undefeated record, Frye has played with a poise beyond her years all season. Of course, the stakes don’t get any higher than they will on Friday morning — and Lash is confident the moment won’t be too big for her freshman ace.
“I have a lot of confidence in her. I think we all do,” Lash said. “But again, she knows how hard her team has been working, both offensively and defensively. I think that can give her a calming feeling, just knowing she isn’t the only one who has to be prepared. We all have to be prepared. That’s going to put her at ease and let her go out and perform and do what she loves.”