Warren's goal has always been to return to, and this time win, the District 10 Class AAA championship.
First thing's first, the Lady Dragons finish tied for the Region 6 title with Fort LeBoeuf after a 4-0 victory over Corry on Thursday at Hawbaker Field.
"The first goal was to beat Corry to share the region championship (with Fort LeBoeuf)," said Warren coach Mark Bupp, whose Dragons are 17-1 overall and finish 15-1 and tied for first in the region. "Corry is a great opponent. It's a great game to have to prepare for the playoffs."
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Times Observer photo by Jon Sitler
Eaton dirt
Warren’s Jaimie Eaton slides into home during the Lady Dragons’ 4-0 Region 6 win over Corry on Thursday at Hawbaker Field. Warren finishes the regular season at 17-1 overall and 15-1 in the region to share the Region 6 crown with Fort LeBoeuf. Warren begins the District 10 Class AAA playoffs next week.
Corry also made the playoffs, as a District 10 Class AAA play-in game was announced earlier Thursday. Corry (11-7 overall) will play Slippery Rock (8-9) at 10 a.m. Saturday at Allegheny College. Corry finished in fourth place in Warren's Region 6 at 10-6. Slippery Rock finished third in Region 5 (the other Class AAA region) at 6-4.
After that game and the teams are down to four, Warren will likely play Region 5 champion Hickory (11-5) on Thursday at Allegheny College. District 10 Class AAA playoff opponents and sites and times have not been officially announced.
These two playoff teams stayed close in the first few innings with Warren's Sam Bevevino drawing first blood.
In fact, the senior came through with two clutch hits. In typical Warren style, Bevevino had a two-out RBI single in the second inning for a 1-0 lead. Bevevino added a two-out RBI single in the fourth to make it 2-0.
"It's something we've been able to do," said Bupp, of putting together two-out rallies.
Warren was able to put together single runs in the fifth and sixth innings, which was plenty enough for pitcher Alexa Bupp. Bupp improved to 16-1 overall in the circle, striking out eight in the three-hit win. She didn't walk a batter.
The Dragons strung together hits, including Jaimie Eaton scoring after one of her two doubles on an RBI single by Rachel Hasselman. Erica Blair was 2-for-3 and scored twice, including from third on a one-out RBI groundout to the right side by Taylor Mineweaser to make it 4-0 in the sixth.
"Hats off to Jaimie; she had two really good at-bats," said Bupp, "the first slapped down the left-field line."
Coach Bupp said Alexa "did a really good job hitting her spots. And (catcher) Shaley (Williams) did a great job behind the plate."
Fort LeBoeuf shares the region title at 15-1 after a 2-0 win over Central Tech on Thursday. The teams split during the regular season, and played in last year's District 10 championship game.
Meghan Loutzenhiser had two of Warren's four hits in a 3-0 junior varsity loss. Loutzenhiser also pitched well, despite the loss, striking out six in seven innings. Warren committed three errors in the loss. The Dragons' junior varsity team finishes 8-5 overall.
CORRY (0): Lawrence 2b 3-0-1-0, Hansen 3b 3-0-0-0, Linkerhof lf 3-0-0-0, Kondrlik ss 3-0-1-0, Baker c 3-0-1-0, Prody cr 0-0-0-0, Zaczkiewicz rf 3-0-0-0, Woodin cf 2-0-0-0, Zajac 1b 2-0-0-0, Chase dp 1-0-0-0, Pratt ph 1-0-0-0, Williams p 0-0-0-0. Totals 24-0-3-0.
WARREN (4): Ishman 2b 4-0-0-0, Eaton ss 3-1-2-0, Bupp p 3-0-1-0, Hasselman 1b 2-0-1-1, Hultquist rf 3-1-0-0, Blair lf 3-2-2-0, Bevevino 3b 3-0-2-2, Mineweaser dp 2-0-0-1, Walter cf 3-0-1-0, Williams c 0-0-0-0. Totals 26-4-9-4.
Corry 000 000 0 - 0 3 2
Warren 010 111 x - 4 9 1
2b-Eaton (W) 2, Bupp (W), Blair (W). WP-Bupp. LP-Williams.
Junior varsity game
Corry 100 100 1 - 3 6 1
Warren 000 000 0 - 0 4 3
WP-Baker. LP-Loutzenhiser.
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Youngsville 8, Seneca 0
Playoff-bound Youngsville scratched out two runs in the first, added several more late, and Amber Fox took care of the rest, leading the Eagles to a 8-0 victory over Seneca on senior recognition day.
The Eagles took a quick lead when Colleen Rex started the first inning with a leadoff single, advanced to second on a fielder's choice, and came around to score on a base hit from Fox. Shelby Anderson later knocked in Fox with a single of her own to give her team a 2-0 lead.
The way Fox was pitching, two runs would have been enough.
Fox went the distance, baffling the Bobcats hitters while allowing only four hits and striking out four.
"She pitched one hell of a game," Eagles coach Mark Nyquist said.
The Eagles offense made sure to tack on some extra runs, just in case. After adding one run in the third, the Eagles blew the game wide open in the sixth with five more. Cierra Ohl knocked in the first with a pinch-hit single before Kelsi Anderson pushed home another with a fielder's choice groundout. Jessica Jameson and Kennedy Cratty each added an RBI single. Cratty finished 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored. Fox, Rex and Anderson also each had two-hit games.
"That was about as good as we can play," Nyquist said. "We were almost perfect in every aspect. We got key hits and key bunts, and it seemed every time we had a runner in scoring position, we got them in. It's a nice way to end the season, especially for the seniors."
The Eagles finished the regular season with a record of 10-9, including an even 9-9 record in Region 4 play, and is the top Class A team in the region.
SENECA (0): ab-r-h-rbi: Snarski, lf, 2-0-0-0, Heverly, cf, 3-0-0-0, Cavarretta, 1b, 3-0-2-0, McChesney, p, 3-0-1-0, Babe, 3b, 2-0-0-0, Bender, ss, 2-0-1-0, Wright, 2b, 3-0-0-0, Biebel, c, 3-0-0-0, White, rf, 2-0-0-0, Totals: 23-0-4-0.
YOUNGSVILLE (8): ab-r-h-rbi: Rex, c, 4-2-2-0, Ke. Cratty, ss, 4-1-2-2, Fox, p, 4-1-2-1, Gustafson, 3b, 3-0-0-1, S. Anderson, dp, 3-1-2-1, Dunn, 1b, 3-1-1-0, Lewis, lf, 2-0-0-0, Ohl, ph, 1-1-1-1, Sveda, rf, 2-0-0-0, K. Anderson, ph, 0-0-0-1, Jameson, cf, 3-1-1-1, Ka. Cratty, 2b, 0-0-0-0, Totals: 29-8-11-8.
Seneca 000 000 0 0 4 0
Youngsville 201 005 x 8 11 0
WP-Fox. LP-McChesney.
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Northwestern 11, Eisenhower 1
Softball season ended for the Eisenhower Knights on Thursday with an 11-1 loss to Northwestern.
"When you have half-a-dozen errors in a game, it doesn't help you very much," said Eisenhower coach R.J. Williams.
After a pair of scoreless innings to start the game, Northwestern opened the floodgates, scoring four runs in the third inning and a lone run in the fourth.
Eisenhower wouldn't be able to answer until the bottom of the fourth inning, when Kearsten Maine batted Dakota Williams in from third with an RBI-single. The 5-1 score would be the closest of the ball game as Northwestern ran away with it.
"They want to play. They aren't quitters. We just can't give up the runs we did this year and we have to be more aggressive at the plate," said Williams.
Doubles from Brooke Stanton, Natasha Morrison, and Lindsay Schwanke weren't enough to get another run on the board.
"We hit the ball against them a lot better today, compared to what we did last time we played them," said Williams. "Jess (Byrd) had a nice diving catch at shortstop today, it was nice to see her play well in her last game. In four years, I haven't had a girl that dove as much as her," said Williams of his senior's gritty effort.
With only one player graduating, Eisenhower (2-17) will have plenty of experienced players to look forward to next season.
"We started the season with 12 girls and we ended with 12 girls - that says a lot about how tough they were to stick it out," said Williams.
NORTHWESTERN (11): ab-r-h-rbi. Taylor, cf, 2-1-1-0, Alward, 2b, 3-1-1-0, Shaffer, 1b, 4-3-2-2, Miniaci, 3b, 3-2-1-0, Iskula, p, 4-2-1-0, Campbell, c, 5-0-3-2, Humphreys, dp, 4-0-1-0, Biby, rf, 4-1-1-0, Griffey, ss, 3-1-0-0. Totals: 32-11-11-4.
EISENHOWER(1): Birt, p, 4-0-1-0, Byrd, ss, 3-0-0-0, D. Williams, 1b, 3-1-1-0, Stanton, c, 3-0-1-0, Maine, cf, 3-0-1-1, Barnett, 2b, 3-0-0-0, Schutt, dp, 3-0-0-0, Morrison, 3b, 2-0-1-0, Schwanke, rf, 3-0-1-0, Lange, flex, 0-0-0-0. Totals: 27-1-6-1.
Northwestern 004 130 3 - 11 11 2
Eisenhower 000 100 0 - 1 6 7
2b- Stanton (E), Morrison (E), Schwanke (E), Campbell (N). WP-Iskula. LP-Birt.