May 28, 2018 5 min read

The weather has been uncooperative, bullpens have been exhausted and there are only 24 teams that remain in the WPIAL baseball and softball playoffs.

Beginning today, all 24, including six local teams, will be playing for a WPIAL title.

Here’s a look at what the forecast looks like for those six teams with at least two guaranteed to raise a championship trophy:

1. Mirror images: It might be hard to believe but the South Fayette and Ringgold baseball teams haven’t shared a winning season since the turn of the century until this season. They will have the same amount of wins when they square off in the WPIAL Class 4A Championship game at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Wild Things Park.

It’s been a great feel-good story for both teams. Up until the last two seasons when Ringgold has made the playoffs, the Rams would like to forget the span between 2005 and 2017 when they failed to have a winning season. South Fayette didn’t qualify for the WPIAL playoffs a season ago after slumping down the stretch.

The comparisons don’t stop at win totals.

South Fayette will be looking to win its first championship since 1999, when the Lions were in Class A. Ringgold, will make its first appearance in a WPIAL title game since 1999.

The two teams have relied on a production-by-committee approach at the plate and on the mound. Seven of the starters for Ringgold have a batting average above .300. The Lions have nine regulars that hit over .300. They have combined to use 16 different pitchers this season.

2. Silent treatment: Can Monessen ace pitcher Dana Vatakis quiet West Greene again? That’s going to be the main question surrounding a rematch of last year’s Class A title game when the two teams meet at noon Thursday at Seton Hill University.

Vatakis, a Robert Morris recruit, was able to do exactly that when the two teams met April 26. The Greyhounds edged West Greene on a seventh-inning home run from Cara Wheeler to win 2-1. It was the first time Monessen defeated the defending state and two-time WPIAL champions. She has rolled this postseason with 31 strikeouts in two games.

But as unhittable as Vatakis has been, the video-game stats West Greene, specifically its first five hitters, have put up is ridiculous. The first five hitters in the Pioneers’ lineup – McKenna and Madison Lampe, Madison Renner, Jade Renner and Kaitlyn Rizor – all hit over .450. They have combined to drive in 138 runs and score 125 times.

The game in late April was the first time Monessen defeated West Greene since 2014. In their last seven meetings, the Pioneers have outscored the Greyhounds 46-5, including a six-inning, 10-0 victory in last year’s WPIAL title game.

3. C-M seeking history, revenge: The Canon-McMillan High School baseball team cleared its first hurdle by making it past the semifinal round that had tripped up the Big Macs the last two seasons.

Now, to win a WPIAL championship for the first time since its name was Canonsburg High School in 1935 and 1936, the Big Macs will have to clear the second hurdle: North Allegheny.

The two play for the Class 6A title at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night at Wild Things Park.

Canon-McMillan has lost to the Tigers three straight times, including a 4-1 loss in late March and a pair of defeats, one in the semifinals, last year.

“North Allegheny has gotten us three times in a row,” Tim Bruzdewicz, the Big Macs’ coach, said unsolicited after a win against Upper St. Clair, which followed their loss a game before to North Allegheny.

“It doesn’t make (our players) happy. It doesn’t make me happy. We are dying to see them again.”

Well, Canon-McMillan has its wish granted.

4. Untouchable: Two weeks ago, I wrote Belle Vernon star pitcher Bailey Parshall would get back to the semifinals, but her supporting cast would be the determining factor if the Leopards would make it any further.

Instead, Parshall went out and threw a no-hitter and struck out 18 batters to defeat top-seeded Mt. Pleasant, 1-0.

Calling Parshall dominant this postseason would be an understatement.

In Belle Vernon’s three playoff games, she hasn’t allowed a run, or a hit, and struck out 49 batters.

The Leopards play section foe Elizabeth Forward – the two teams split their regular-season matchups – at 2:15 p.m. Wednesday at Seton Hill University.

Elizabeth Forward, the No. 6 seed, has won seven straight games, including a 7-2 upset victory over second-seeded Yough in the semifinals.

5. Not done yet: There will be seven local teams playing in the PIAA tournament.

The only team advancing outside of the six playing for the championships this week is the Chartiers-Houston High School softball team.

The Bucs, despite losing in the semifinals to Laurel, have one of four qualifying spots in Class AA. It is the only classification in softball and baseball to have a fourth qualifying spot.