Oct 27, 2020 4 min read

Soccer playoffs

Springdale defeated Bentworth 3-1 in the first round of the WPIAL Class A soccer playoffs.

The Bentworth goal was scored by Jaxon Selvoski. Landon Urcho made 12 of 15 stops.

Bentworth finished the season with a 7-8 record.

n Sewickley Academy shut out Chartiers-Houston 3-0 in the first round of the WPIAL Boys soccer playoffs.

Chartiers-Houston finishes the season with a 9-6 record.

Wild Things re-sign Meeker

The 2021 Wild Things’ roster has grown by one today as the team announced the return of right-handed pitcher James Meeker, who has been with the organization since 2018.

A Wexford native, Meeker pitched under the Wild Things’ umbrella with the Steel City Slammin’ Sammies in the 2020 summer pod.

Meeker worked 7.2 innings this past summer over eight appearances. He allowed just four hits and walked three, while fanning 12. He was not scored upon.

That work came on the heels of a successful 2019 in his first full season of pro ball. Meeker sported a 3.17 ERA in 40 games out of the bullpen for Washington that season. He accumulated 54 innings, walked 14 and struck out 57 while allowing only 44 hits. Of the 40 appearances, 29 were scoreless for the former Delaware Blue Hen

In 2018, Meeker logged 19 appearances and struck out 26 over 29.2 innings with a 3.94 ERA. He fanned five of the six batters he faced in his fourth professional outing in two perfect innings of work before setting a career high with six punchouts in 3.1 innings at Joliet Aug. 9. He also worked three scoreless innings in game three of the FLCS that season.

“Meeker’s annual development is one of the most impressive I have been around. We hold great value in those ‘bridge relievers’ and he has embraced the role of pitching in big spots,” said president and general manager Tony Buccilli. “He’s a very easy individual to root for, he works extremely hard and loves playing in his home city. The Meeker we saw this past year was dominant and he should be in position to do some special things in 2021.”Meeker said he decided to re-sign for a few reasons.

“First off I feel like I have a lot more in the tank. I feel like I am still discovering new things and getting better so I wanted to see what I could do with one more year,” said Meeker. “Second, last season was so crazy with everything going on and then being shut down abruptly. I didn’t want that to be my last memory of playing baseball.”

Two games canceled

Two Conference USA games scheduled for the weekend, including No. 19 Marshall at Florida International, have been postponed because of COVID-19 issues.

Marshall was scheduled to play Friday night, but FIU had to call off the game because of a lack of available scholarship players.

North Texas at UTEP on Saturday was called off because a surge in COVID-19 cases in El Paso, Texas, has led to a stay-at-home order in the city.

“We send our best wishes to the entire El Paso community as the face the challenge of dealing with the latest outbreak,” North Texas President Neal Smatresk said in a statement.

UTEP President Heather Wilson said the school was disappointed with North Texas’ decision not to come to El Paso.

“We have a safe place to play and no players who are sick or in isolation,” Wilson said in a statement.

UTEP had decided to play the game without fans in attendance.

The four schools said they are working with C-USA to reschedule the games.

The number of games involving FBS teams postponed or canceled since Aug. 26 is up to 36.

For Marshall (5-0), this is the third time this season it has had a game postponed because of an opponent’s struggles with COVID-19. The Thundering Herd did not play a nonconference game against East Carolina and a conference game against Rice in September.

The is the second game FIU (0-3) has had to postpone.

A total of seven Conference USA league games have been postponed.{/div}