Jun 3, 2016 4 min read

The times are a changin’ in WPIAL Class A girls softball.

The balance of power has shifted, to of all places, Greene County.

Who saw that coming?

West Greene’s impressive 12-3 victory over Chartiers-Houston in the Class A championship game Friday morning at California University’s Lilley Field marked the second consecutive year the WPIAL’s gold trophy went to a Greene County school.

And neither of the two champions are named Carmichaels, a longtime softball power.

Who saw that coming?

Two of the few people who did are West Greene head coach Bill Simms and Scot Moore, the athletic director at Jefferson-Morgan, which defeated Chartiers-Houston in last year’s WPIAL final.

Simms and Moore believe girls softball in Greene County has benefitted greatly in recent years from two relatively new ideas: travel teams and seventh-and-eighth grade teams.

When Carmichaels won consecutive WPIAL championships in 1997 and ’98, and a state title in the latter year, girls in Greene County who wanted to play softball beyond the high school season had limited opportunities. Carmichaels ran an in-house summer league that served as a feeder system for its varsity program, but girls who lived in one of the other four school districts in the county usually didn’t play softball – fastpitch or slowpitch – during the summer.

“When I was in school, most girls, if they wanted to play, had to play baseball in the summer,” said Simms, a West Greene graduate.

Travel softball, and an expanding rec league in Greene County, have been game changers.

“It’s nothing like it used to be,” Moore said.

While travel teams are not new to the area, they are finally reaping the benefits in Greene County. With the two titles in the last two years, and Waynesburg’s Class AA title in 2005, four of the five schools in Greene County have won WPIAL championships in the last 18 years.

“I equate travel ball to AAU basketball – it gets the better players much better,” Simms said. “But we also stress the importance of playing in our rec league. These same girls who play travel ball, also play rec with us. They go the extra mile. For example, they might play Tuesday and Thursday in games at Jefferson and Beth-Center and they go play 12 games over the weekend in Erie. The parents are committed to helping their kids get better and the dividends from that show up at the high school level.”

Now, coaches of travel teams are recruiting players from Greene County. Bailey Bennington, the lone senior on West Greene’s team, said the Pioneers’ roster includes players from four different summer travel teams.

“The travel coaches, now they’re recruiting our kids all the time,” Simms said.

Moore believes high school softball throughout southwestern Pennsylvania has benefitted from the Tri-County Athletic Directors’ Association implementing a program for seventh- and eighth-graders less than 10 years ago.

“Since we started the seventh-and-eighth grade programs, we’ve noticed more schools from Washington and Greene counties are making it here,” Moore said minutes after West Greene’s victory.

“It’s nothing like it used to be. The seventh- and eighth-grade program has really helped our kids. In Class A, you’re always going to be struggling for numbers at that level, but we’re getting girls playing. Those are girls who might not have started playing until ninth grade.”

West Greene had four freshmen in its starting lineup against Chartiers-Houston, so the future is indeed bright for the Pioneers. And with C-H likely headed for Class AA next year when PIAA softball is expanded to six classifications, the WPIAL’s Class A trophy might find a home in Greene County for several more years.

“I don’t know if the balance of power has shifted to Greene County,” Simms said, “but I hope this is not a one-and-done thing. The competition will dictate that.”

“It’s nice,” Moore said, “to keep the title in Greene County. We’re a little selfish.”

Sports editor Chris Dugan can be reached at dugan@observer-reporter.com.