May 19, 2017 3 min read

Freshman Kaci Alderson hit a solo home run on a 2-2 pitch with no outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Chartiers-Houston a thrilling 7-6 victory over Mohawk in the WPIAL Class AA quarterfinals Thursday at West Allegheny High School.

The win clinches a berth in the state tournament for fourth-seeded Chartiers-Houston (16-3) and advances the Bucs to the semifinals Tuesday against top-seeded South Side Beaver (16-2) at a site and time to be determined.

Chartiers-Houston seemed to be in control against Mohawk (13-4) as the Bucs led 3-0 in the fourth inning and 5-0 in the fifth, scoring all the runs on home runs. Kasey Scears hit a three-run homer in the third inning and Lauren Lober smacked a two-run shot in the fourth.

But Mohawk rallied and scored two runs in the top of the seventh, one on a groundout and the other on an error, to force extra innings.

Maddie Shiderly had a home run for Mohawk.

Winning pitcher Kaitlyn Dittrich threw a complete game, scattering 10 hits over nine innings. She struck out six. Dittrich retired all six batters she faced in the extra innings.

Losing pitcher Tristen Voss gave up 10 hits, including two to Kayla Alderson. Jessica Ford scored two runs for the Bucs.

Carmichaels 12, St. Joseph 0: Kylie Sinn pitched a three-hit shutout and second-seeded Carmichaels scored six runs in the first inning en route to a 12-0 five-inning victory over St. Joseph in a Class A quarterfinal game at Peterswood Park.

Carmichaels (16-5), advances to the quarterfinals Tuesday against Section 2 rival Monessen (15-5). The Mikes have won nine of their last 10 games.

Megan Walker drove in three runs for Carmichaels and Maddi Ewart smacked a two-run double in Carmichaels’ big first inning. Eight of the nine sports in the Mikes’ batting order scored a run.

“We swung the bats well and hit some balls hard,” Carmichaels coach Dave Briggs said. “It was good to get the first-game jitters out of the way.”

Walker had a two-run double in Carmichaels’ six-run third inning. Kaitlyn Wilson was 2-for-2.

Sinn allowed only three singles and struck out two. She did not issue a walk.

Leechburg 15, California 2: California finally ran out of hits and comebacks as the Trojans fell to fourth-seeded Leechburg 15-2 in a five-inning Class A quarterfinal game at Hampton High School.

California (6-12), which overcame an 11-run deficit and rallied to beat Union 19-15 in an epic 11-inning game in the opening round, was held in check by Leechburg (14-2), the Section 3 champion. Each of Leechburg’s last seven wins have come via the 10-run rule.