WPIAL tournaments what to watch: Freeport baseball’s motivation, Seneca Valley softball’s path to states and more
WPIAL spring sports playoff schedules were released Thursday and Friday. Several Butler County teams made it to their respective tournaments, heading into the brackets having walked different paths.
Some are approaching the postseason hot, others hoping to pull it together at the right time. Many of the teams have recent experience chasing championships.
What should fans in the area anticipate as things unfold over the next few weeks? Here are five things to watch the next three weeks.
Five WPIAL Section 3-3A teams finished 8-4 in conference play, including Freeport. The Yellowjackets (13-6) received the short end of the stick in the tiebreaker and were tagged with the 13th seed in the postseason bracket.
Burrell was seeded No. 8, Mt. Pleasant No. 12, Ligonier Valley No. 10 and Deer Lakes No. 6. Ed Carr’s crew, which has won eight of its last nine and six in a row, begins its push against No. 4 Waynesburg Central on Tuesday.
Lexie Hames and the second-seeded Raiders (15-3) have played in the past three WPIAL Class 6A title games, winning two. Seneca Valley has the talent to capture an elusive state crown, but it has to worry about getting through its district first and foremost.
The Raiders will have to win two games, including a championship game that will likely come against No. 1 Hempfield Area, with whom they split their regular-season series.
Beyond Hames, Seneca Valley sports sophomore Liv Herrem and junior Abby Kalkowski, who are tied for the team’s hits lead. Those two also have 25 and 22 RBIs, respectively.
Death, taxes and the Planets winning the district championship. Bob Marcoux’s squad has won eight consecutive WPIAL titles. It’s reached four state championship games in a row, including bringing home a championship in 2022.
Mars (15-2) waits to see if it will play No. 10 Quaker Valley or No. 7 Bethel Park in the quarterfinal. Jack Tirch, Ian Coulter and Henry Saver have been major players for a team that’s relied more on balanced scoring from its roster than in previous seasons.
The top-seeded Planets’ girls lacrosse team has brought home three of the past four WPIAL titles, including back-to-back crowns over the past two seasons.
Abby Latona’s team was dominant this regular season, finishing atop Section 2-2A with a 16-1 mark, including a 10-0 record in conference action. Mars had an astounding plus-222 goal differential over those 17 matchups.
Senior goalie Ella Roach, a Duquesne commit, recently reached 400 career saves and will provide a steady presence in net as the Planets make their push.
The Planets reached the state semifinals after earning the WPIAL Class 2A crown last season. This year, sixth-seeded Mars (8-10) will begin its defense against No. 11 South Park on Tuesday.
How far the Planets can go will depend in part on where senior standout Derek Piatek lines up. Normally an outside hitter, he’s been positioned at libero recently due to an injury.
