D-10 Playoffs: Sailors, Reds, Hounds, Devils advance to 2A semis; Hickory tops Girard; Sharpsville, Reynolds softball teams roll

May 24—The District 10 playoffs got underway on Monday with 10 quarterfinal games.

In Class 2A baseball, Lakeview beat Cambridge Springs, 7-0; West Middlesex edged Mercer, 8-7; Wilmington routed Union City, 10-0, and Sharpsville defeated Iroquois, 10-0.

In the 3A baseball quarterfinals, Hickory advanced to the semifinals with a 7-2 victory over Girard while Sharon lost to Fairview, 8-6.

In Class 2A softball, Reynolds rolled past Maplewood, 10-0; Sharpsville routed Iroquois, 15-0, while Mercer and Wilmington lost. Union City defeated Mercer, 7-0, and the Hounds dropped a tough 7-6 loss to Seneca in eight innings.

Following are staff reports from Monday's games:

BASEBALL

Class 3A Quarterfinals

— Hickory 7, Girard 2 — At Slippery Rock University, the Hornet offense wasn't firing on all cylinders, but it did enough to propel the Region 2 champions into Thursday's District 10 Class 3A semifinals.

"We didn't hit as well as we should," Hickory coach Chris Manzo said. "I'm just going to take it as that wasn't the caliber of pitching that they're used to seeing and they were probably a little over anxious for this first playoff game. They were out in front of things, but we'll get it settled in with a good day of practice tomorrow."

With the win, Hickory (15-2) is one win away from their second straight appearance in the finals and will meet Franklin (13-6) — who beat North East 12-2 — at a site and time to be determined.

"Franklin is always tough," Manzo said. "They're a well-coached team. We'll have to come with our 'A' game, because they have great pitching. We have to come out ready to play. That's all there is to it. We have to execute and not make any mistakes, because they're a fundamental team. They're going to play their game and we're going to play ours. We'll see what happens."

Against Girard pitchers Anthony and Dominic Ferretti, the Hornets managed just seven hits and accepted two walks, but was efficient with their opportunities, stranding just two runners over the final five innings.

"The bottom of our lineup did really well here today," Manzo said. "We got a safety squeeze in. We moved guys over, a base-hit bunt ... the things you have to win ballgames at this time of year."

Girard (7-14) wasn't able to generate much offense off Hickory senior Joey Fazzone, who yielded two earned runs on nine hits while striking out seven.

"He kept the ball on the ground for the most part," Manzo said. "There weren't too many hard-hit balls, but we got the big double play when we needed it."

The Hornets grabbed an early 3-0 lead on Tyson Djakovich's RBI single in the first and back-to-back sacrifice flys from Luca Bertolasio and Clay Wiesen.

After the Yellow Jackets scored a solo run in the top of the third, Hickory countered with a three-run outburst in the bottom half of the inning after Fazzone and Djakovich opened the inning with two-baggers.

The Hornets got their final run in the fourth when Wiesen reached on a dropped third strike, stole second and third, and scored on Johnny Leedham's single.

"We have a very fast team, so when we get someone on, we're going to run," Manzo said. "I want to challenge catchers. There's going to be a time when we're going to need to score one run at a time, so we're going to keep doing what we're doing."

Fazzone and Djakovich each singled and doubled to lead the seven-hit parade for the Hornets.

Notes: Girard starting third baseman Carson Stevens injured his left leg after a play in the third inning and did not return. ... Tanner Tramontano ripped three singles, while Gunner Bax and J.J. Lehman each had two base hits for the Yellow Jackets. ... The Ferretts split duties on the mound for Girard, striking out three and walking a pair. ... Djakovich (two), Luca Bertolasio, Clay Wiesen, Johnny Leedham and Noah Jordan were all credited with RBIs for Hickory. Fazzone didn't issue a walk in his seven-inning outing — Information submitted by Herald Sports Correspondent Corey J. Corbin.

— Fairview 8, Sharon 6 — At Mercyhurst University, the season came to an end for Sharon (9-10) with the loss to Region 4 champ Fairview (14-3).

Sharon took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but Fairview tied the game with a run in the bottom of the 1st and a run in the second.

Sharon plated two runs in the top of the fifth, but Fairview tied it 4-all with a pair of its own runs in the bottom half of the inning.

Fairview pulled away with four runs in the sixth. Sharon scored two in the top of the seventh, but that's as close as it would get.

Aiden Rubilotta doubled, singled, and drove in two runs for Fairview, Aari Fox doubled and singled, Preston King drove in a pair of runs, and Eddie Dolansky ripped two singles.

Collin Bolla (four innings) and Logan Fiolek split time on the mound for Fairview. The duo struck out 11 batters, walked two, and gave up seven hits.

Jason Stanek (4 1/3 innings) and Cole Voytik pitched for Sharon. They combined on six strikeouts, issued four walks, and gave up eight hits.

At the dish for Sharon, Santino Piccirilli belted a home run, singled, and drove in three runs, Mikey Rodrigues doubled and singled, and Dante Currie singled and drove in a pair of runs.

Fairview advances to play Mercyhurst Prep (14-6) in Thursday's semifinals. Mercyhurst Prep defeated Titusville (13-7) on Monday, 7-4, at Mercyhurst University.

Class 2A Quarterfinals

— West Middlesex 8, Mercer 7 — At Westminster College, the Big Reds (14-6) advanced to Thursday's semifinals by hanging on beat the Mustangs (8-10).

West Middlesex led 5-3 after two innings of play and went up 7-3 after five innings. Mercer scored a pair of runs in the top of the sixth to cut the lead to 7-5, but the Reds tacked on a run in the bottom half of the inning for an 8-5 advantage. Mercer plated two runs in the top of the seventh but couldn't force extra innings.

Richie Preston led WM at the plate with a double, single, and two RBIs, Hunter Hoffman tripled and drove in a run, Blaise Fox and Kyle Hurley had two singles each, and Gio Rococi had an RBI.

Fox (5 1/3 innings), Richie Preston (1 1/3), and Devin Gruver pitched for the Big Reds. They combined on seven strikeouts, three walks, and gave up 10 hits.

Troy Bachman (five innings) and Julian Lawrence pitched for the Mercer. The duo fanned five batters, issued five walks, and gave up seven hits.

Offensively for the Mustangs, Tristan Barr ripped a pair of singles and drove in three runs and Lawrence posted three singles and an RBI.

West Middlesex advances to Thursday's semifinals to play Wilmington.

— Wilmington 10, Union City 0 (5 inn.) — At Westminster College, the Hounds (16-5) routed Union City (6-11) on Monday.

Issac Schleich (6-1) and Rocky Serafino combined to throw a one-hitter for Wilmington. Schleich had seven strikeouts, issued no walks and gave up a single to Union City's Garrett Lowther. Serafino fanned two batters.

Tyler Mikulin went 3-for-4 with three RBIs for Wilmington. His last hit, an RBI single, was the game-winner. Ben Miller went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and Dylan Batley was 2-for-3 with an RBI.

Wyatt Post pitched for the Bears. He struck out one batter, issued two walks, and gave up eight earned runs on 11 hits.

"It was all-around a good game," said Wilmington coach James Geramita. "We had 11 hits and seven of our nine starters got on base. Plus we were able to keep the pitch counts low, so they are ready to go Thursday against West Middlesex."

The Hounds and Big Reds square off in the district semifinals Thursday. The Region 1 rivals split the regular season matchups. The Hounds won, 6-1, on April 5 at West Middlesex while the Reds won, 9-7, in HoundsTown on April 29.

— Sharpsville 10, Iroquois 0 (5 inn.) — Jack Leipheimer was nearly perfect Monday. The Sharpsville junior hurler yielded a hit, a walk and struck out 11 over 5 innings in the nightcap of the District 10 playoff tripleheader at SRU's Jack Critchfield Park.

"Jack's been consistent for us all year," first-year Blue Devils coach Ryan Morris said. "He's been showing up and doing his job. We get the same effort out of him every single time and today was nothing different.

"He has a good set of pitches and keeps them low in the zone. He keeps filling up the count. He's not too wild, but he gives our defense chances to make plays."

With the win, Sharpsville (16-4) advances to the 2A semifinals and will face Region 1 foe Lakeview — who downed Cambridge Springs 7-0 in the day's opening game — on Thursday at a site and time to be determined.

The Blue Devils swept the home-and-home season series from the Sailors (10-9), winning 13-3 in Stoneboro and and holding on for a 7-5 victory in Sharpsville.

"They have a good team over there at Lakeview," Morris said. "They have a bunch of good kids, who can play pretty well. We have to come correct and we can't make any mistakes. Whatever they give us, we'll try to take advantage of it."

Through two plus innings, the teams had combined for more strikeouts (nine) than hits (zero). Sharpsville didn't record its first hit — a Leipheimer single — until there were 2 outs in the third, while the Braves got their only hit off Leipheimer in the top of the fourth.

For the game, the Blue Devils managed just 6 hits — 5 singles and a double — off Iroquis pitchers Ben Burkhardt and Reilly Brown.

"That's baseball," Morris said. "Sometimes, you get hits and other times, you don't. Sometimes, you win and sometimes, you don't. You have to take these games as they are. Today was a long day and we're not used to those. There was maybe a bit too long of a wait before the game. They started clicking towards the game, so hopefully that gives a nice boost heading into our next game. Obviously, I expect more out of my team, but I'm not mad with this victory."

Sharpsville took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Stephen Tarnoci walked and eventually scored on a two-base error on a James Thomas grounder to short.

The Blue Devils erupted for five runs in the third inning on RBI singles from Leipheimer, Braden Scarvel and Carter DeJulia to take a 6-0 lead.

In the fourth, Sharpsville extended its lead to 8-0 with Luke Distler and Tarnoci coming around to score and closed out the scoring with an RBI double from DeJulia and a run-scoring single from Josh Divens.

"Our kids are focused and their eyes are on the goal, which is to win every single game," Morris said. "If teams are going to give us extra bases, we're going to take every single one. We're going to try to put as many runs on the board as we can. If you're going to try to catch up, good luck to you."

Notes: DeJulia was the lone Sharpsville player with more than one hit (single, double). ... The Blue Devils scored three times off wild pitches or passed balls and a single run off a Brave error. ... Burkhardt had the only hit for Iroquois and Joe Doverspeak (walk) was the only other Brave to reach safely. ... Moyer threw Doverspeak out at second on a first-inning steal attempt. ... The Blue Devils did not have an error, while the Braves had four. ... Sharpsville batters struck out four times, while accepting seven walks. ... The win was Morris' first as a head coach in the playoffs — Information submitted by Herald Sports Correspondent Corey J. Corbin.

— Lakeview 7, Cambridge Springs 0 — At Slippery Rock University, Lakeview senior Ted Shillito was nearly untouchable and Chase Hostetler drove in 3 runs to send the Sailors to the District 10 semifinals for the first time in 3 years.

"We had the goal to get to 10 wins and today was our 10th win," veteran coach Bill Beith said. "Another goal was to make the playoffs and win a playoff game. Ultimately, we want to play for a District 10 championship and we have a chance now. We took the first step to get there and we know the next step isn't going to be easy. We know who we have in front of us."

With the win, the Sailors (10-9) will meet Region 1 champion Sharpsville in Thursday's Class 2A semifinals at a site and time to be determined.

The Blue Devils (16-4) swept the home-and-home season series from Lakeview, winning 13-3 in Stoneboro and and holding on for a 7-5 victory in Sharpsville.

"There's some bad blood between (Lakeview and Sharpsville), but don't get me wrong, Sharpsville is really good," Beith said. "We'll have to bring our 'A plus plus' game and not make any mistakes to give ourselves a chance."

With Shillito having faced one batter above the minimum through six complete innings, Brock Cunningham broke up Shillito's no-hit bid by legging out an infield single with one away in the seventh.

For the game, the Lakeview senior surrendered just one hit, one walk and struck out seven for the complete-game victory.

"Ted is just so even-keeled," Beith said. "He doesn't get too excited whether it's good or bad. He's pitched really well for us this year. That's his third complete-game shutout this year. Not too many people can say they had a 1-hit shutout in a playoff game. That's something you can always hang your hat on. He stepped up and led by example.

"There were a couple times in the later innings where he was down 3-0 and came back to get outs. A couple times he struck people out. That was something we anticipated we'd get from him when he was a freshman and he's really stepped up."

Lakeview scored single runs in each of the first three innings to give Shillito an early cushion to work with.

In the first, Jackson Gadsby picked up the first of his three singles and scored on a sacrifice fly to center and contributed to the Sailors' second run by getting into a second-inning rundown to allow Owen Dye to score from third.

Hostetler tripled with one away in the third and scored on Mason Bevan's RBI single.Lakeview scored twice in the fifth — one on a Garet Guthrie single and another on a balk — to take a 5-0 lead.

Hostetler picked up RBIs two and three with a sixth-inning single with two outs to hand the Sailors a 7-0 lead after six innings.

"One of the things we like to do when we have guys on base is run," Beith said. "We don't have a ton of team speed, but they execute well. We've spent a lot of time in the gym on base running. I think we left a lot of runs out there, because we didn't get the big hit."

Hostetler led the 13-hit attack with a triple and two singles, while Grady Harbaugh singled and tripled. Bevan also singled twice for the Sailors.

"I thought we hit the ball really well today," Beith said. "I told one of my assistant coaches if we hit line drives we're going to put up a pile of runs. We had very good approaches at the plate and hit the ball hard.

"I think the top two or three batters got on every inning, which is (how) you want to start the inning off. I thought all our guys — no matter what part of the lineup they were in — did a nice job of getting on base to start things off. That's all you can ask for as a coach."

Notes: Brady Jardina reached on a Lakeview fielding error in the second but was erased on an inning-ending double play and Bryce Kania was hit by a pitch in the fourth for the Blue Devils' only other base runners against Shillito. ... Lakeview stranded five runners, including four in scoring position. ... Spa pitchers Nathan Held and Jardina combined to strike out six and walk two. ... Each team had just one error — Information submitted by Herald Sports Correspondent Corey J. Corbin.

SOFTBALL

Class 2A Quarterfinals

— Reynolds 10, Maplewood 0 (5 inn.) — At Mercyhurst University in Erie, the Raiders (17-3) rolled past the Tigers (7-8).

The game was scoreless after two innings before Reynolds scored seven runs in the bottom of the third inning and then scored three more in the fifth.

Mackenzie Herman fired a no-hitter for Reynolds with 12 strikeouts.

Chloe McLaughlin belted a home run, double, and drove in two runs for the Raiders, Herman collected a pair of hits and drove in a run, Rylee Gearhart ripped two hits, including a triple, and Marissa Hillyer drove in a pair of runs.

Rhinn Post went the distance in the circle for Maplewood. She struck out two batters.

Reynolds advances to Wednesday's semifinals to play Union City.

— Union City 7, Mercer 0 — At Penn State Behrend, the season came to an end for coach Jack Trott's Mustangs (8-10) with a loss to Region 2 champ Union City (15-2).

Abby Tingley led Union City at the plate with a pair of RBI singles, Lucy Higley ripped a triple and drove in two runs, Grace Chapman had an RBI single, Cathryn Reynolds had two hits and an RBI, and Kam Gates-Bowersox doubled.

Tingley fired a three-hit shutout for the Bears. She struck out 11 hitters and issued no walks.

Pressley Washil hit a double for Mercer while Lily Erwin and Rhiannon Sines both singled.

Sines (four innings) and Washil pitched for the Mustangs. They combined on two strikeouts, four walks, and surrendered nine hits.

— Sharpsville 15, Iroquois 0 (4 inn.) ­--- At Mercyhurst University, Breanna Hanley tossed a no-hitter with 11 strikeouts and no walks as defending District 10 champion Sharpsville (15-2) opened the playoffs by routing Iroquois (8-12).

Sharpsville scored 12 runs in the first inning en route to the win.

Alli Davis and Izzie Candiotti led the Devils at the dish. Davis doubled, ripped two singles, and drove in four runs while Candiotti hit a pair of doubles, two singles, and drove in four.

Also for Sharpsville, Ericka Grandy and Bella Ritenour both singles and had two RBIs, Hanley doubled and drove in a run, Keeley Whitaker singled and had an RBI, and Paige Yarian drove in a run.

Sharpsville faces Seneca in Wednesday's District 10 semifinals.

— Seneca 7, Wilmington 6 (8 inn.) — At Penn State Behrend in Erie, Lauren Konkol belted a walkoff solo home run to lift Seneca (16-4) past the Hounds (11-7).

Wilmington led 3-0 before Seneca battled back to take the lead and then won it in extra innings.

Wilmington had two runners on base with two outs in the seventh inning with the game tied at 6. However, the Lady Greyhounds weren't able to plate the runners.

"This team battled. It was a heartbreaking loss for them, especially the three seniors," Greyhounds coach John Frank said. "It was a good game. Somebody had to win and we were on the losing end of it. The girls never gave up.

"We had 12 hits to their 10 and we only had two strikeouts and they had 12. It tells you the team was putting the bat on the ball and doing everything right. The chips didn't fall our way. We learned a lot as a team today, we wanted another crack at Sharpsville, but that fell short. It's a strong promise for next year for 2023."

Konkol pitched for Seneca and finished the game with the game-winning home run and an RBI double. Meghan Konkol and Alara Ben both hit RBI doubles.

Ava Williamson got the start in the circle for the Hounds before being relieved by Jadyn Flick. Williamson worked four innings, allowing six hits and six runs — three earned — with six walks and eight strikeouts. Flick threw 3 2/3 innings, surrendering four hits and one run — earned — with four strikeouts.

Offensively for the Hounds, Karah Deal and Graeson Grubbs both hit RBI doubles, Flick ripped an RBI single, Faith Jones had a sacrifice fly, and Malia Baney was credited with an RBI.

"I got a young squad and I got some new freshmen coming up next year hungry also," Frank said. "It's going to make for some good competition."