Going for gold: Results from the first round of the PIAA baseball, softball playoffs

The PIAA baseball and softball championships opened Monday with first-round games in six classes.

The baseball championship games are set for Thursday, June 16 and Friday, June 17 at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park at Penn State. The softball title games will be played Thursday, June 16 and Friday, June 17 at Beard Field at Nittany Lion Softball Park at Penn State.

Photos: Area teams open the PIAA baseball, softball championships

Follow our coverage team below for live updates from Monday's games. Check back as games end for results and photos.

PIAA baseball championships

Photos: Holy Ghost Prep vs. Littlestown in the PIAA baseball playoffs

Monday's first-round

Class 6A

12-1 LA SALLE 9, 1-4 PENNSBURY 6

La Salle College High School knows what it takes to win at this point of the season. It's the PIAA 6A playoffs where everything counts. Last year at this time, the Explorers got hot and won a championship.

That's not saying it's going to happen again but LaSalle got its 2022 team off to a roaring start by defeating Pennsbury 9-6 at Abraham Lincoln High School in Philadelphia. The win moved the District 12 titlists into Thursday's second round game against Liberty. The District 11 champion defeated Manheim Township 1-0.

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"I'm still trying to figure these guys out but we came in here, battled hard, and got the win," said La Salle head coach Kyle Werman. "I like what I saw from us. We did what we had to do."

The Explorers (16-8) used the strong pitching of senior right hander Kevin Kell to secure their next round appearance. The Fairfield University signee overcame a two-run rally in the second, fourth and sixth innings to earn the victory. Cole Kochanowicz, a promising sophomore, hurled the seventh inning to get the save.

"We know what we have to do out here at this time of year," said Kell. "We go out and make plays and give ourselves a chance. We were down [2-0 in the second before tying it in the bottom of the inning] but we went out and did what we had to do. We tied it and then we went ahead [with a five-run rally in the third].

"We know what we have to do. We did it last year. Right now we want to keep playing. I though my fastball was working very well for me and got me going pretty good."

In the third, with the score tied at 2-2, Kell may have done his best work, striking out the side of a strong hitting Pennsbury team.

"Kevin pitched extremely well," said Werman. "It was the type of outting that we needed."

Pennsbury ended its season at 15-6.

"It was a loss," said Pennsbury baseball head coach Joe Pesci. "It wasn't that we got got smacked around, that didn't happen. Our kids went out there and gave it their best shot. They just got beat."

-Daryl Bell

3-1 WARWICK 8, 1-5 HATBORO-HORSHAM 7

It was nearly a comeback for the ages.

Trailing since the fourth inning, when Warwick scored the first two runs of the game, the Hatters scored five runs in the top of the seventh to take their first lead of the game. Unbelievably, Nick Slogik hit a three-run homerun in the bottom of the seventh to give Warwick a walkoff win. Logan Fischer was the catalyst for the Hatters’ big inning, launching a two-run home run that scored Will Bruner, who had singled. With two more batters reaching base, Zach Greenberg’s bunt single drove in another run, and Jack Elwell’s hit sent another two runs across the plate.

The loss ends an incredibly successful season for the Hatters, who went 19-5 overall and won the SOL Liberty title.

Class 5A

12-1 ARCHBISHOP WOOD 5, 1-2 STRATH HAVEN 4

Aiden Myers doubled to drive in two runs and give the Vikings their first lead of the game against Strath Haven. Brian Klumpp singled in a much-needed insurance run in the sixth to give the Vikings a 5-2 lead, but Strath Haven scored twice in the top of the seventh. Vikings’ closer Connor Woodson worked out of a two-on, one-out jam, getting the next two batters out to secure the victory. Michael Trommer pitchted six innings, giving up two runs while striking out 10, to pick up the win.

The Vikings will play District 3 champion Manheim Central in the quarterfinal round.

Class 4A

1-1 HOLY GHOST 9, 3-2 LITTLESTOWN 0

The visiting District Three runner-up Thunderbolts (14-8) loaded the bases with nobody out to start the game, but senior hurler Nick Henn came back and struck out the side and District One champion Holy Ghost eased into the PIAA Class 4A quarterfinals. The Firebirds (16-5) will meet District 11 champion Saucon Valley on Thursday at a time and place to be determined.

After loading the bases, Henn retired nine of the next 10 batter he faced, striking out seven. Justin Lucas came on to pitch the final four innings to earn the win. Holy Ghost junior first baseman Isaac Acosta paced the offense with a single, two doubles, three runs batted in and a stolen base.

"Isaac's a great story," Firebirds coach Greg Olenski said. "He went down midseason with an injury, worked his way back. Great to see him have success in the nine hole. He's been a sparkplug for us all season long."

-Joe Fite

Class 2A

3-1 DELONE CATHOLIC 9, 1-1 DOCK MENNONITE 3

The Pioneers trailed by just a single run in the sixth inning, but a big inning by District 3 champion Delone Catholic was all it took to put the game out of reach. The loss ended a highly accomplished season for the Pioneers, who won a BAL and District One title. Logan Hinnershitz and Sam Laux each drove in a run in the third inning to give the Pioneers a 2-1 lead. While Delone scored three runs in the fourth, Zack Frederick made a huge defensive play, catching a flyout and then throwing out a runner at home plate for an inning-ending double play.

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PIAA softball championships

Monday's first-round

Class 6A

1-1 NORTH PENN 5, 11-2 WHITEHALL 0

North Penn put a pair of runs on the board in the top of the first, and that was more than enough for Julia Shearer, who allowed just two hits while striking out 13 and walking none in another complete game shutout.

“Starting off strong – we haven’t been doing that recently, getting ahead in the first inning,” Shearer said. “So being able to do that, coming out with a bang, it really (gave us) momentum going forward.”

Shearer also was a catalyst at the plate, finishing 3-for-3 with a triple and three runs scored. Her third hit – a single to right in the fifth inning – was the 100th of a career that’s far from over. The junior standout, whose freshman year was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic – reached the milestone in less than two years. Just six hits separate Shearer from the program record of 106 hits that was set in four years.

Shearer was a catalyst in the two-run first, lining a single to center to lead off the inning, stealing second and then third and then scoring on Annabelle Smink’s groundout. With two outs, Gianna Cimino singled to right to plate Sarah Sabocsik, who walked. It was the first of three hits on the day for the Cimino – who along with Shearer combined for six of the Knights’ seven hits.

“If it’s slower (pitching) like today, you just have to wait on it,” Cimino said of the varying pitching speeds the Knights are seeing in the postseason. “Not think at the plate, have a plan, and that’s really all you need.”

The Knights added a run in the third when Shearer, who tripled, scored on Sabocsik’s groundout. In the fifth, the Knights benefitted from a pair of errors as well as an RBI single by Smink to plate two runs.

North Penn (23-1, , 15-1 SOL) will face Williamsport in a PIAA 6A quarterfinal game on Thursday at a site and time to be determined. Williamsport defeated Haverford, District One’s third place team, 7-1

-Mary Jane Souder

1-2 PENNSBURY 10, 3-2 MANHEIM TOWNSHIP 2

If Pennsbury felt any kind of a letdown after losing in the district title game last week it surely didn't show Monday as the Falcons jumped on visiting Manheim Township early and never let up in a convincing victory.

"We just went out and played hard," said Pennsbury third baseman Sam Raub, who had a pair of hits and knocked in two runs.

"Our goal is to win the state title and we need to keep looking forward and play as well as we can."

The win moved Pennsbury (23-2) into Thursday's quarterfinals against District Seven-runner-up North Allegheny at a site and time to be determined. Pennsbury has its graduation on Thursday, so the start time for the game will likely be noon or even earlier.

North Allegheny defeated District Six-champion Mifflin County 4-2 in its first-round game Monday.

The Falcons (23-2) scored runs in five of their six at-bats and held a 7-0 cushion after two innings and were never threatened.

Raub, Quinn McGonigle, Rowan Mulholland and Laney Freiband each scored a pair of runs in the win.

And while the offense was clicking, so was the Pennsbury defense led by senior standout pitcher Ainsley McClure.

McClure yielded five hits, but did not walk a batter while striking out a dozen, including the side in the third inning.

"Ainsley did a great job and we did enough with the bats," Pennsbury head coach Frank McSherry said. "We talk about playing from the first pitch to the last pitch and we did a pretty good job of that today."

-Drew Markol

1-5 QUAKERTOWN 2, 11-1 NORTHAMPTON 0

The first-round game between Northampton and Quakertown was quite the pitchers’ duel. Luckily for the Panthers, they had Syd Andrews in the circle. The Panthers’ ace allowed just two hits and one walk in a complete-game shutout while striking out 13. Maya Heller drove in both of the Panthers’ runs, one in the second and the other in the fourth inning. Quakertown will play District 7 champion Seneca Valley in Thursday’s quarterfinal game.

Class 4A

1-1 VILLA JOSEPH MARIE 11, 12-2 SCIENCE LEADERSHIP 0

12-1 ARCHBISHOP WOOD 5, 3-2 BIG SPRING 2

Dakota Fanelli had another outstanding pitching performance, and the Vikings found novel ways to put runs across the plate in the Class 4A opener. The win marks the first PIAA state tournament win for Archbishop Wood softball in school history.

The Vikings scored their first run on Elizabeth James’ bases-loaded walk, and Alyssa Miller’s grounder scored another run. Parker Kraus and Maggie Devlin both had RBI-singles, and a double-steal gave the Vikings their fifth and final run of the game. That was more than enough for Fanelli, who held Big Spring to eight hits while striking out seven. The Vikings will face District 2 champion Tunkhannock in the quarterfinals

Class 3A

4-1 LEWISBURG 14, 11-1 PALISADES 0

Class 2A

12-1 CONWELL-EGAN 10, 11-1 WILLIAMS VALLEY 4

Katey Brennan made a game-saving catch in the top of the sixth inning, and Molly Milewski doubled to drive in three runs in the bottom of the inning to give Conwell-Egan a 10-4 win against Williams Valley, and send the Eagles to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2013.

After trailing 3-1, the Eagles scored three runs to tie the game in the fifth, but Williams Valley’s Jade Groff launched a would-be two-run home run in the sixth. Brennan made a diving catch, crashing into the outfield fence, but holding onto the ball to rob Groff of the go-ahead bomb.

Ang Bresnen had an RBI triple in the win, while Katey Brennan drove in a pair of runs. Ahlana Sesar earned the win and also had an RBI.

Class 1A

1-1 FAITH CHRISTIAN 2, 3-1 HALIFAX 1 (8 innings)

Olivia Michalski’s ground ball scored Kam Pepkowski with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning to close out a 2-1 win for Faith Christian over Halifax in the opening round of the PIAA Class A softball tournament on Monday at Faith Christian.

Faith Christian, the District One champion, put up the first run of the day in the bottom of the first, when Salma Lampeck’s base hit scored Pepkowski. That lead held until the top of the fourth, when the Wildcats (14-7), the champions of District Three, capitalized on a leadoff double by Mackenzie Sawdey, who later scored on a base hit by Brooke Barcavage.

Winning pitcher Pepkowski gave up three hits, fanned 11 and didn’t issue a walk in the game, while going 4-for-4 at the plate. Autumn Landis doubled for the Lions, while Jocelyn Heverly had a base hit.

Faith Christian (16-6) advances to Thursday’s quarterfinals and will play the winner of the game between District Four titlist Montgomery and District 11 champ Tri Valley.

This is the first time the Lions have reached this level.

“We’ve made history,” Michalski said. “It’s really exciting. I can’t wait for the next game. Winning this game gave us a lot of confidence.”

-Karen Sangillo

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This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: PIAA championships: Baseball, softball tournament first-round results