Apr 6, 2023 4 min read

High school baseball

Canon-McMillan forced extra innings by scoring four times in the bottom of the seventh and defeated Mt. Lebanon 8-7 with a two-out RBI single by Cam Russell in the bottom of the eighth Thursday.

The win moves Canon-McMillan to 3-0 in Class 6A Section 2 and 5-1 overall. The Big Macs lead Hempfield and Norwin by one game in the standings.

Mt. Lebo (0-3, 0-7), the defending WPIAL champion, led 7-3 after scoring twice in the top of the seventh. Canon-McMillan rallied and tied the score on a two-out single by Dom Obiecunas that drove in Mason Fixx.

In the eighth, the Big Macs loaded the bases with two outs on a single, sacrifice bunt, walk and hit batsman, setting up Russell’s game-winning hit that scored Ben Peterson and gave C-M a sweep of the three-game series.

Nick Hilbert retired one batter in relief and was the winning pitcher.

• Jacob Fordyce and Tyler Richmond each hit a grand slam as undefeated Carmichaels overpowered Bentworth 15-5 in a non-section contest.

The grand slams came in consecutive innings – the third and fourth – and helped Carmichaels (6-0) overcome seven errors that led to five early unearned runs. Bentworth (5-2) led 5-0 in the second inning.

Aydan Adamson had a double for the Mikes. Liam Lohr was the winning pitcher with four innings of shutout relief.

• Ethan Hadsell hit three doubles and drove in six runs, sparking Charleroi to a 20-8 victory over host California in non-section action.

Ben Shields had a double and three RBI, and Kaden Woods doubled and drove in a pair for Charleroi (4-2), which has won three in a row.

California (3-5) had five extra-base hits, including two doubles by Rickey Lawson, and a double and triple by Aiden Louden. Cam Scripp tripled.

• McGuffey scored eight times in the bottom of the sixth inning to beat Fort Cherry 11-8 in a non-section game at Wild Things Park.

McGuffey (5-1) led 3-1 entering the sixth but Fort Cherry (1-5) scored seven times to take an 8-3 lead. McGuffey had its first seven batters reach base in the sixth, with Lincoln Johnson giving the Highlanders the lead with a two-run single. Ross capped the inning with a two-run homer.

McGuffey’s Cameron Dames hit two doubles and Jantezen Durbin also doubled. Luke Sweder had a double for Fort Cherry.

High school softball

Peters Township snapped a five-game losing streak by scoring 10 runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to rally for an 11-6 win over Canon-McMillan in a non-section game Thursday.

Canon-McMillan (1-4) led 6-1 entering the pivotal half inning but seven of PT’s first eight batters in the sixth reached base safely. The Indians tied the score on a run-scoring single by Madison Renda and forged ahead on an RBI groundout by Madelyn Patton. The inning was capped by a three-run homer by Sami Bewick, who went 3-for-3 with a double and the home run.

Emersen Gatten and Makenzie Morgan each doubled for the Indians (2-5).

C-M outhit PT 15-10. The Big Macs’ Samantha Booher homered, Samantha Merkle had three hits that included a double, and Olivia Ford also doubled.

In auto racing

The Hendrick Motorsports teams of points leader Alex Bowman and two-time winner William Byron were penalized by NASCAR for violations found in the Richmond post-race inspections.

NASCAR said Thursday that the teams of Bowman and Byron will lose 60 points and five playoff points apiece.