Jun 5, 2016 3 min read

No matter the outcome of Friday’s WPIAL Class A softball finals, there was precious little time to celebrate victory or dwell on defeat.

The PIAA tournament is starting, with first-round games scheduled for Monday if weather permits, and the hangover from West Greene’s 12-3 victory over Chartiers-Houston can only last a short time. The WPIAL title games in softball were delayed a day to Friday because of expected inclement weather, and the other districts finished Thursday.

West Greene, which won its first WPIAL softball title in school history and stretched its winning streak to 20 games, jumps into the state playoffs with a 2 p.m. game against District 9 runner-up Clarion at California University’s Lilley field.

Chartiers-Houston, which suffered its second consecutive loss in the WPIAL finals, travels to Penn State where the Bucs will play District 6 champion Conemaugh Valley.

And the common thread among nearly all the teams in the state playoffs is the derth of knowledge about their respective opponents.

“The only thing we know about Clarion … is that they lost in the District 6 finals,” said West Greene head coach Bill Simms. “I couldn’t even tell you their record because I’m getting conflicting reports.”

So coaches scour the internet for information, but that can be a frustrating and sometime misleading endeavor. They call other coaches for a possible scouting report and might even debrief players who might have useful information from their experience in playing in summer leagues or on a travel team.

“We have a girl who plays travel ball with a girl that played against them,” said Simms, “so we have an informal scouting report. We know their pitching is pretty good and they like to play a low-scoring defensive type game.”

What is known about Clarion is the Bobcats have a 15-8 record and have strong pitching with an average defense. Clarion lost to undefeated Dubois Central Catholic for the District 9 title, 2-1. The Bobcats led 1-0 in the game before Dubois Central Catholic scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth to win it.

In West Greene, Clarion will face a team that is batting .422 collectively and has 29 home runs this season. McKenna and Madison Lampe spark the top of the lineup with .613 and .481 averages, respectively, with pitcher Madison Renner and shortstop Bailey Bennington adding the power from the Nos. 3 and 4 position.

Renner leads the team with eight home runs and 60 RBI and Bennington has seven home runs and 35 RBI.

“We are hoping we can attack the strike zone and get the first four or five in the lineup and the last (part) feeding off that,” said Simms. “

Conemaugh Valley is a team similar to West Greene: strong pitching, good defense and a potent offense. The Blue Jays were the District 6 runner-up last year but captured the title this season with a 10-1 drubbing of Southern Huntingdon. Conemaugh Valley blasted 13 hits and starter Melanie Lint struck out 11, including eight over the first three innings. Conemaugh Valley is 20-0 and lost only two games last season.

Chartiers-Houston has played some of its best softball in the postseason, upending two higher seeds to make it to the finals for the eighth time in 12 seasons under head coach Tricia Alderson.

“I think we’ll be fine,” said Alderson about the Bucs refocusing after losing to West Greene. “I think once we have a practice, they’ll be OK. It’s disappointing (losing in the finals) two years in a row, but they’ll bounce back.”