WPIAL hopes dashed
Bethel Park, Peters Township regroup for PIAA tournament
There will be no South Hills teams vying for WPIAL baseball championships this week at EQT Park. However, there is a state title for which to compete as PIAA tournament action commences on June 2.
After winning two games in the District 7 tournament, Bethel Park (18-5) and Peters Township (15-8) qualified for the PIAA Class 5A tournament, but both lost one-run decisions to Pine-Richland, 5-4, and Shaler, 2-1, respectively in the semifinals to prevent further pursuit of a WPIAL crown.
The Black Hawks and Indians will now play each other for state seeding purposes in the WPIAL third-place consolation match.
“The season’s not over,” BP skipper Patrick Zehnder said. “So we still have that. Our number one goal is still within our grasp.
“We’re going for the state title. We earned the right to the big tournament and now, we are going to get ready for it. We’ll forget this game and move on.”
Bethel Park moved into the semifinals with wins against Franklin Regional, 11-1, and Thomas Jefferson, 5-4.
Against the Panthers, Joey Levis smacked three hits, including a double, out of the No. 9 slot. He also drove in five runs. Noah LeJeune drove in a run and drilled a double. Nick Rillo doubled and reached base twice after being hit by pitches. Eric Miehl tagged a 3-run single.
Dylan Schumacher earned the win on the mound. In five frames, he struck out eight, walked none and scattered five hits. Rillo pitched an inning of relief.
Against the Jaguars, Petras scored the decisive run in the eighth inning. He was hit by a pitch, then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt single by Ethan Stanhoff. After LeJeune was intentionally walked, Petras raced home on a wild pitch for BP’s walk-off win.
Petras scored BP’s first run of the game. After he walked and stole second, he moved to third on Stanhoff’s sacrifice then scored on LeJeune’s double.
Also in the win, Rillo smashed three hits, Stanhoff added two singles and Levis doubled. Petras, Miehl and Owen White also had hits in the game.
White, Matthew Hughes and Bruckner combined for the win on the mound. Bruckner struck out seven batters in the final four frames. White had four Ks and Hughes had two.
Against the Rams, BP struck first. Petras reached base on an error, moved to second when Stanhoff was hit by a pitch, advanced to third on LeJeune’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Bruckner’s ground out.
The Hawks tacked on three runs to tie the game, 4-4, in the top of the fourth. After back-to-back base hits by Bruckner and Rillo, Miehl walked and Jack Bruckner was hit by a pitch for an RBI. Levis drove in a run on a fielder’s choice and Petras tagged an RBI base hit.
Pine-Richland scored twice in the first on a two-run single by Jake Waddell and in the third after back-to-back RBI doubles by Sam Heckert and Waddell. The Rams scored the decisive run in the bottom of the fifth on two walks, a hit batsman and a ground ball.
“The team that plays the cleaner game of baseball is going to win, and they’ve played slightly one run cleaner than we did,” Zehnder said.
“I was proud of the performance my players put in throughout the playoffs. They came out and put together a great performance against Pine but they were a little sharper than us. They are a great team with a great arm and a great coaching staff.”
While Zach Miner displayed a strong arm, striking out five and scattering seven hits, he was matched by Dante Deleonibus. In hurling Shaler to a 2-1 win over the Indians in a semifinal game played at Plum, Deleonibus struck out eight and scattered six hits.
Reese Clarke doubled and scored on a single by Colin Stofik for Peters Township’s one run. The Titans scored twice in the fourth frame on back-to-back doubles by Colby McGuire and Troy Leas and a fielder’s choice. McGuire and Leas each had two hits in the game.
The Indians advanced to the semifinals with wins against Mars, 7-6, in the quarterfinals and Baldwin, 5-4, in the first round.
Against the Fighting Planets, Jackson Stocker drove in the winning run with a bases-loaded walk in the 10th inning. Stocker also smashed a solo home run in the game. Nathan Skroupa tagged a two-run triple for the Indians.
Jason Tygard fueled the win over the Highlanders.
Defensively, Tygard made a diving save on a ball hit to second base. He then flipped the ball to shortstop Colin Stofik to end a Highlander scoring threat in the fourth. After a brief celebration, Tygard then came to the plate and led off PT’s half of the inning with what turned out to be the game-winning hit, a home run.
CLASS 6A
Mt. Lebanon was eliminated in the Class 6A tournament by Seneca Valley, 4-3.
Ben Kraemer slugged a solo home run in the fifth frame. He and Chase Smith tagged RBI singles in a two-run sixth stanza.
Despite an 8-13 overall showing, the season had its bright spots for the Blue Devils. Manager Patt McCloskey said he “thoroughly enjoyed” 2025.
“We got better as individual players and as a team, and came a long way from where we started,” he said. “We played well enough to win against Seneca Valley. It was a great game, and we lost by one run in the last inning to a great team.”