Seneca Valley’s Hames strikes out 18 in win over C-M
WEXFORD – The Canon-McMillan softball team pulled off one impressive upset of a higher seed in the opening round of the WPIAL Class 6A playoffs last week when the Big Macs eliminated No. 3 North Allegheny.
A second victory over a higher seed didn’t happen Wednesday evening because Seneca Valley had too much Lexie Hames.
Hames fired a one-hitter and struck out 18 batters as second-seeded Seneca Valley defeated sixth-seeded Canon-McMillan 7-1 in the semifinals at North Allegheny.
The win sends Seneca Valley (20-1) into the championship game next week at Penn West California’s Lilley Field. Canon-McMillan (7-12) had its season end one win shy of both the WPIAL finals and the PIAA tournament. There is no third-place consolation game in Class 6A because only one team from the WPIAL advances to the state tournament.
Seneca Valley scored two runs in the bottom of the first and that was all the support Hames, a righthander, needed. The only hit for Canon-McMillan was a single by Morgan Doyle in the fourth inning. It came after a dropped third strike put Olivia Ford on base. Ford and Doyle advanced on a bunt and Hailey’s Swope’s bunt scored Ford and cut the Seneca Valley lead to 2-1.
The Raiders scored one run in the fifth and added four more in the sixth.
Kara Pasquale went 3-for-4 and scored three times to lead Seneca Valley at the plate.