No stopping West Greene’s drive to WPIAL Class A title
Pitcher Jade Renner, shortstop Madison Renner, Marissa Rode (11) and second baseman Kaitlyn Rizor (2) of West Greene celebrate after beating Monessen in the WPIAL Class A Softball Championship at California University’s Lilley Field Thursday.
West Greene’s Madison Lampe prepares to make a tag on Monessen’s Kelsey Bachinski during the WPIAL Class A Softball Championship at California University’s Lilley Field Thursday.
West Greene’s pitcher Jade Renner raises her arms in victory after striking out Monessen for the win during a WPIAL Class A Softball Championship at California University’s Lilley Field Thursday.
West Greene’s Kaitlyn Rizor makes the tag on Monessen’s Madison Guzzie as she throws to first for a double play during a WPIAL Class A Softball Championship at California University’s Lilley Field Thursday.
Observer-Reporter
Softball players West Greene hold up the championship trophy after winning the 2017 WPIAL Class A title. The Pioneers have won four straight district championships.
CALIFORNIA – There haven’t been many questions West Greene softball coach Bill Simms has had about the Pioneers’ lineup.
One Simms has pondered through the sleepless nights leading up to Thursday’s WPIAL Class A Championship game was this: If he were to win a coin toss, would he choose to bat first as the visiting team.
The luck of winning the toss allowed Monessen head coach Bo Teets to take that pressure off Simms. Teets leaned on the traditional thinking of taking the last at-bat and making the Pioneers’ McKenna Lampe the first batter to see a pitch from starter Dana Vatakis in this game.
Everything went downhill from there for the Greyhounds when Lampe opened the game with a bunt single that set off a barrage of 13 hits for West Greene that helped the Pioneers defeat Monessen for the third time this year, 10-0 in six innings, at California University’s Lilley Field.
The victory gave the Pioneers their second WPIAL title in as many years, setting a school record.
West Greene (22-1), which finished last season as the state runner-up, heads into the PIAA tournament Monday against District 5 runner-up Shanksville (17-5). Monessen will play District 10 champion Commodore Perry. The sites and times for both games are expected to be determined today by the PIAA.
“The biggest weight off of my chest was when Bo won the coin flip,” Simms said. “He took (the pressure) off of me. To have the last at-bat if (Vatakis) was able to keep it close was the right move. She is a stud, but we felt confident coming in.”
Simms’ confidence only grew when Lampe’s bunt single sparked a three-run first inning, thanks to Madison Renner’s RBI single up the middle, a run-scoring double from Marissa Rode and two errors had the Pioneers up before Monessen (16-6) could even come to bat.
“We prepared and put them in pressure situations,” Teets said of practice leading to the first championship appearance in program history.
“All of our girls come out to make plays and wanting to do their best. When we don’t get a couple of plays to go our way, it can definitely bring you down. Against a team that is now a two-time WPIAL champion, they are going to make you pay if you give them an extra chance.”
West Greene pounced on every chance the Greyhounds gave, including an error to put Renner aboard to lead off the third inning before being driven in on a sacrifice fly by her sister, Jade, two batters later. The Pioneers padded their lead on a Lexie Mooney bloop single to score Kaitlyn Rizor to extend Monessen’s deficit to five runs after the third inning.
“We pulled aside Jade and told her to just throw strikes,” Simms said after taking that commanding lead.
Jade Renner did exactly that, allowing those behind her to make the plays as she picked up the win in the circle.
She was able to keep the shutout after Linzee Stover ended Monessen’s best scoring opportunity by throwing out Kelsey Bachinski at home plate on a line drive from Carly Rock in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Monessen’s failure to keep runners off the bases culminated in the sixth inning after Madison Renner sent the second pitch of her at-bat over the left-field fence for a two-run home run. Rizor then tripled and Jade Renner singled, each eventually scoring, to give the Pioneers a 10-0 lead.
“I think as a team, we didn’t play our best game,” Teets said. “We needed to do that to win. Those two girls at the top of the order are as good as you’re going to see. If either of them get on, they are eventually standing on third every single time. Going in, our game plan was to keep them off the bases. We weren’t effective with that.”
The Lampe sisters, who came into the championship game with a combined 88 hits and 99 runs scored, added to those totals with McKenna going 2-for-3 and scoring two runs, and Madison came around to score on her single in the sixth inning.
“We’re really competitive,” McKenna Lampe said. “So, if I get on base, she wants to do the same. If I don’t, she usually picks me up. When we start it off, it helps the team relax as a whole. It just flows from there. It’s magic.”
It kept flowing as the Nos. 3, 4 and 5 hitters for West Greene scored seven of the Pioneers’ runs, including a 3-for-4 day from Madison Renner.