South Fayette ready to roar in WPIAL AA softball playoffs
After capturing its first section title in school history, the South Fayette girls’ softball team sets out to etch its name farther into the record books. The Lady Lions embark on their journey in the WPIAL tournament with the hopes of claiming their first Class AAA title.
Under Vic Iagnemma, the Lady Lions have compiled an 11-1 record in Section 2. They are 13-1 overall heading into their contest against Ambridge (5-6). The game will be played at 2 p.m. May 15 at Fairhaven Park in Kennedy Township.
The Lady Lions are seeded No. 2 in the tournament behind Greensburg Salem, which won the Section 4 crown with a 12-0 slate. The Golden Lions are 13-1 overall as well.
Ashley Iagnemma has led South Park on the mound. In 83 innings of work, she has struck out 137, walked 26 and scattered 51 hits. She owns a 1.50 ERA while opposing hitters bat .168 against her and reach base only 26 percent of the time.
Iagnemma is one of four players toting a .400+ average to the plate. She leads the squad with 27 RBI and is tied with nine walks.
Sara Jubas leads the offensive attack with a .660 average. She has smacked 31 hits. She’s tops in doubles with eight and triples with four. Emily Bryan and Coutney Blocher follow with .457 and .447 batting averages. Both have three doubles but Bryan is tied with Iagnemmas with three home runs. She has 24 RBI.
Gwen Iagnemma, Marissa France, Eden Bower, Taylor Coyne and Bailey Kormick are also batting over .300 for the Lady Lions, who are fielding .945 as a team.
Three other local softball clubs earned top seeds for the WPIAL playoffs.
Two-time defending champion, Canon-McMillan, received the No. 1 and a first-round bye in the Quad-A tournament. The Lady Macs, who have smacked 49 homers and average 11 runs a game, won the Section 4 title with a 12-2 slate. They are 16-3 overall.
Olivia Lorusso leads Canon-Mac with 15 roundtrippers. She is batting .562 with 40 RBI and 30 runs scored. Abby McCartney follows with 11 homers. She and Linda Rush lead the team with .613 and .629 batting averages. They have driven in 39 and 35 runs while scoring 32 and 38.
Bethel Park, which finished tied for second place with Baldwin behind the Lady Macs with 10-4 records, was to play Norwin (12-3) in its playoff opener May 13 at California.
Seton-La Salle and Keystone Oaks entered the Class AA playoffs as the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds behind top-ranked Beaver and Deer Lakes. The Rebels and Golden Eagles shared the Section 1 title with 9-1 slates. Chartiers-Houston also qualified for the AA playoffs as the No. 3 team out of Section 2. All teams were to start playoff action May 13, weather permitting.
Chartiers Valley crushed South Park, 11-1, while Keystone Oaks succumbed to Hampton, 4-1, in opening action in the WPIAL Class AAA baseball playoffs.
Josh Lapiana led the Colts, who are seeded No. 2 in the tournament. At the plate, the Akron recruit smacked two hits and drove in three runs. On the mound, the senior southpaw limited the Eagles to two hits. Lapiana struck out six.
Jake Ritson also tagged two hits with three RBIs for the Colts, who improved to 16-3 overall.
Meanwhile, KO ended the year at 9-8.
Taylor Lehman took the loss. He allowed four hits and struck out 12 but walked six. The Golden Eagles scored their lone run when Kevin Tunney singled, Ryan Roell followed with a double and a pick-off throw sailed into the outfield.
Weather wreaked havoc on other first-round playoff action at the top of the week.
While South Fayette was to play last night (May 13) against West Mifflin at Washington & Jefferson College, Canon-McMillan, Peters Township, Mt. Lebanon and Seton-La Salle all saw their first-round games postponed.