Difficult paths set for local baseball playoff teams
If any local baseball team is going to win a WPIAL championship this season, then it likely will require knocking off a few higher-seeded teams.
No local team was given higher than a No. 3 seed for the playoffs that begin Wednesday. Seedings and pairings were released Friday by the WPIAL.
In Class 2A, Section 1 winner Carmichaels (15-1) is seeded third. The Mikes have only one loss – to sixth-seeded Chartiers-Houston (14-3) – by one run.
South Fayette (15-3), one of the tri-champions in Section 3, is the No. 4 seed in Class 5A. In Class 3A, Section 4, champion McGuffey (12-4) will go into the postseason as the No. 4 seed. It is the first time the Highlanders have won a baseball section title.
In the opening round of the playoffs, Carmichaels will begin play Wednesday with a game against Apollo-Ridge (7-5) at Mount Pleasant (4:30 p.m.).
South Fayette will be in action Wednesday (4:30 p.m.) against Peters Township (8-10) at Washington & Jefferson’s Ross Memorial Park. It is the only first-round game matching two local teams.
McGuffey will wait until Thursday (4 p.m.) to make its postseason debut. The Highlanders will face South Allegheny (8-10) at Ross Memorial Park.
Like Chartiers-Houston, Jefferson-Morgan (11-5) was given a No. 6 seed. The Rockets will play Leechburg (7-8) in a Class A first-round game Wednesday (2 p.m.) at Mount Pleasant. Chartiers-Houston begins Class 2A play against Riverside (9-8) on Wednesday (4:30 p.m.) at Peterswood Park. That game will be part of a tripleheader involving area teams.
Fifteen local baseball teams qualified for the postseason. Complete playoffs pairings can be found in the scoreboard section on Page C2.