Apr 18, 2023 7 min read

High school baseball

Avella scored five runs in the bottom of the second inning Tuesday and held on for a 5-4 win over Fort Cherry that moved the Eagles into first place in Class A Section 2.

The Eagles are 6-1 in section and 8-1 overall.

Avella overcame an early 3-0 deficit, then had to hold off a last-inning charge by Fort Cherry (1-4, 3-7). The Rangers scored twice in the seventh and had a runner in scoring position with one out but reliever Bryce Wright got a groundout and strikeout to end the game.

Brian Martos was the winning pitcher, allowing one earned run over 5 1/3 innings.

Avella scored the five runs in the second inning on four singles and two of Fort Cherry’s six errors.

Ryan Steele and Alex Graff hit doubles for Fort Cherry. Martos went 3-for-3 for the Eagles.

• Tyler Johnson was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, forcing home Tyler Hulbert with the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning as Trinity outlasted Upper St. Clair 5-4 in Class 5A Section 2.

Trinity scored two runs in the sixth inning to tie the game at 4-4 and the score remained that way until the 11th, when the Hillers loaded the bases on singles by Jonah Williamson and Luke Lacock and a walk by Logan Daniels.

Lacock, the third pitcher for Trinity (3-2, 4-2), was the winner weith 3 2/3 scoreless innings. Starter Kaden Hathaway struck out seven.

Williamson went 3-for-4 with a double, triple and two RBI. Matthew Robaugh went 4-for-5 with a double.

• Ben Shields and Brock Henderson combined on a two-hit shutout as Charleroi blanked visiting Washington 7-0 in Class 2A Section 1.

Shields pitched six innings, allowing two hits and striking out seven. Henderson pitched the seventh inning with two strikeouts as Charleroi improved to 5-2 in section and 7-3 overall. The Cougars are in third place in the section.

Shields helped the Cougars with a double and two RBI. Joe Campbell also doubled.

Joe Wilson had a double for Wash High (1-4, 3-6).

• John Woodward struck out 10 over six innings and Jefferson-Morgan shut out host West Greene 7-0 in Class A Section 1.

Woodward combined with reliever Brody Ross on the shutout.

J-M (2-5, 3-7) used a pair of three-run innings to forge a 6-0 lead in the third.

Deakyn Dehoet went 3-for-4 and scored three times for the Rockets, Dayten Marion drove in two and Grant Hathaway had a double.

West Greene (2-3, 6-5) was held to four singles.

• Burgettstown remained tied for first place in Class 2A Section 1 with a 17-1 win in four innings at Beth-Center.

The Blue Devils (5-1, 6-1) scored nine runs in the second inning and seven in the fourth.

Winning pitcher Brodie Kuzior drove in three and smacked two doubles. Tristan Roach also drove in three. Eric Kovach and Wyatt Stevenson each tripled.

Beth-Center slipped to 2-6 in section and 3-9 overall.

• Ryan Opfer tossed a complete game, striking out 12 and allowing only two hits, to lead Chartiers-Houston to a 4-2 win over host Bentworth.

The win keeps Chartiers-Houston (5-1, 9-2) tied for first place atop Class 2A Section 1 with Burgettstown.

The Bucs had to come from behind to beat the Bearcats (3-5, 6-6) and sweep the two-game series. Bentworth led 2-1 after five innings. But C-H scored three times in the sixth. Anthony Romano, had an RBI single that made it 2-2, the tiebreaking run scored on a fielder’s choice and a squeeze bunt by Jake Mele scored Romano and made it 4-2.

Keegan Kosek had a double for C-H. Bentworth was held to four singles.

• Ryan Petras scored a bases-loaded fielder’s choice in the bottom of the eighth inning, giving Bethel Park a 5-4 win over Peters Township in Class 5A Section 2.

Petras hit a one-out double and two intentional walks loaded the bases. Coby Goelz then hit a ground ball to shortstop but PT could get only one out on the play as Petras crossed home plate with the winning run.

Bethel Park, the defending state champion, is 5-0 in section and 7-3 overall. Peters Township is 2-3 and 5-5.

PT had an early 4-2 lead but Bethel Park forced extra innings by scoring single runs in the sixth and seventh.

Jack Natili had a double and Joey Bedillion drove in a pair for the Indians.

• Tate Musko pitched six shutout innings and drove in three runs as Uniontown blanked Ringgold 5-0 in Class 4A Section 2.

The game was a scoreless tie until the sixth, when Musko drove in the game’s first run with a single. He added a two-run triple in the seventh.

Musko struck out nine over six innings.

Ringgold starter Lorenzo Glasser had a strong outing, allowing only two earned runs over six innings with six strikeouts. He walked only one batter.

Ringgold (2-3, 4-6) was held to one hit, a single by Gianna Cantini.

Uniontown improved to 4-1 in section and 5-3 overall.

High school softball

Pine-Richland had 15 runs, a nine-run inning and 16 hits Tuesday but the Rams didn’t have a win. That belonged to Canon-McMillan, which won the wild Class 6A Section 1 game by a 20-15 score.

The game featured five home runs, 40 hits and 18 walks.

Canon-McMillan moved to 3-4 in the section and 4-5 overall. The Big Macs have won three of their last four. Pine-Richland fell to 2-6, 2-9.

The Big Macs had to come back from deficits of 11-9 and 15-13. Pine-Richland scored nine run in the third inning and led 15-13 in the fifth. The Big Macs grabbed a 16-15 lead on a two-run single by freshman Harley Tournay.

Canon-McMillan added four runs in the sixth, two on a triple by Morgan Doyle, who went 5-for-6 with four runs and two RBI.

Olivia Ford was 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBI, Tourney finished with four RBI and Kiersten Williams had a home run and four RBI.

A’s to call up Miller

The Oakland Athletics are expected to call up pitcher Mason Miller, a former Waynesburg University standout, for its game Wednesday against the Chicago Cubs. Miller is listed as Oakland’s starting pitcher for the game.

Miller played four seasons at Waynesburg and a fifth at Gardner-Webb, from where he was drafted in the third round by Oakland in 2021.

Miller has advanced rapidly through the Oakland farm system. Last week, he made his debut in Class AAA and pitched five no-hit innings with 11 strikeouts and no walks.

Wild Things to play 2 exhibitions

The Wild Things announced Tuesday that they will play two exhibition games at Wild Things Park. The first will be Wednesday, May 3 against the Florence Y’alls. Game time will be 7:05 p.m. A second game will be played Sunday, May 7 against the Lake Erie Crushers with a 3:05 p.m. start time.

There will be no admission fee for the exhibition games.

Washington opens the Frontier League season May 12 at Evansville. The home opener is May 16 against the New York Boulders.