Small things work for WG in win over Union
SEWICKLEY – The West Greene High School girls softball team usually beats its opponents with an impressive display of power hitting. The Pioneers entered the WPIAL Class A quarterfinals Tuesday with 82 extra-base hits, including 23 home runs, in only 21 games.
Against Union, however, the top-seeded Pioneers turned the page in their playbook and played small ball, bunting and running to an 8-2 victory at Sewickley Academy.
The win moves West Greene into the WPIAL semifinals for the first time in school history. The Pioneers will play Monessen Wednesday at a site and time to be determined today. West Greene defeated Monessen 10-0 in a non-section game in Rogersville in mid-April.
Against Union, West Greene had 10 hits – six bunt singles and a bunt double, the latter on the initial at-bat of the bottom of the first inning.
“We have options,” West Greene coach Bill Simms said. “We’re well-rounded. We can play small ball and we can play long ball.”
West Greene came out bunting and using some ultra-aggressive baserunning. Union (12-5), the Section 4 runner-up, had all kinds of problems stopping the Pioneers’ short game.
McKenna Lampe led off the bottom of the first inning with a push bunt at the Union second baseman, who was running to cover first base. The ball trickled untouched through the infield and went into right field before a Scotties player could pick it up. Lampe ended up on second base and had set the tone for the inning.
Before it would end, Madison Lampe, Kaitlyn Rizor, Lexie Mooney and Linzee Stover also would have bunt singles off Union pitcher Sarah Seamans. The Scotties committed four errors in the inning, including two on bunts as the Pioneers forged a 4-0 lead.
“We had a good scouting report on (Seamans) about how she likes to work the outside corner,” Simms said. “We wanted to play small ball early and then let the big ball work later in the game.”
That’s the way it played out, though West Greene extended its lead to 5-0 in the second when Madison Lampe tripled into the right-field corner and scored when the relay throw was wide of third base.
“When McKenna and I usually get on base, we usually score because we have good hitters behind us,” Madison Lampe said.
Union pulled to within 5-2 in the third, getting a bunt single of its own and three West Greene errors.
The Pioneers, however, avoided a potential dicey situation by scoring one run in the fourth – McKenna Lampe walked and scored on an error – and two more in the sixth. McKenna Lampe had another bunt single, stole second and scored on a single by her sister. Madison Renner followed with an RBI-single that made it 7-2 and Bailey Bennington ripped a run-scoring double the fence in left centerfield.
“We have speed in our lineup and that helps with our bunting,” McKenna Lampe said. “We work a lot in practice on bunting angles and bunting the top of the ball.”
Eight runs was more than enough offense for pitchers Renner and Bennington, who combined on a three hitter with 10 strikeouts. Union did not have a hit after the third inning.
“West Greene is a very disciplined team. You have to defend everything when you play them,” said Union coach Anthony Conforti. “We made too many mistakes early, too many errors. Our game is keeping it low-scoring.”