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Mikes OK with seeding

4 min read

Carmichaels softball coach Dave Briggs figured his team had a solid chance of landing the No. 2 seed in the WPIAL Class A playoffs.

The Mikes, Briggs figured, reached the championship game a season ago, won another section title this season and dropped only a pair of one-run games to quality teams, one from the WPIAL.

After learning yesterday that Carmichaels was seeded third behind Burgettstown, Briggs won’t be complaining, primarily because the Blue Devils have a first-round bye and won’t play until May 21 – 19 days after their last game.

“We’d like to have the bye, but that’s a lot of time off,” Briggs said. “I think I’d almost rather play, but you have to win, too. I like where we’re at. We just have to play good softball.”

Four baseball and four softball playoff brackets were released Thursday afternoon, and the playoffs begin Monday. Ten baseball and eight local softball squads were seeded as high as first (Canon-McMillan softball) and as low as 15th (Bentworth and Monessen baseball).

Whether Carmichaels did enough or a pair of 2-1 losses to Fairview (District 10) and Frazier cost the Mikes the second seed could be debated.

Or, as Burgettstown coach Mark Deer might tell you, until his team gets to play again.

“I don’t like that at all,” Deer said of the near-three-week layoff. “That’s a lot.”

Carmichaels opens with No. 13 Riverview next Thursday at California University, and Burgettstown will face the Leechburg/South Side Beaver winner May 21.

Deer said he’ll rest some players, hold a couple informal practices and try to nail down a few scrimmages. He might even be able to arrange a vacation or two or take an online course.

“We can use a break,” Deer said. “We have a couple kids who are dinged up. We need to work on our defense, so this is going to give us some time. We’ll keep working on our hitting, tighten up our defense and make sure our pitchers are ready.”

In Class AA, Chartiers-Houston (16-0) was seeded second and will play No. 15 Our Lady of Sacred Heart next Tuesday at West Allegheny. McGuffey was seeded ninth and has Keystone Oaks at Baldwin, while 14th-seeded Bentworth drew Riverside.

Trinity was second in Class AAA, with a first-round game next Thursday against Brownsville at California University. Canon-McMillan, like Burgettstown, faces a long layoff after getting the No. 1 seed. The Big Macs don’t play until May 21.

Peters Township is the No. 7 seed and will play Pine-Richland after the McGuffey/Keystone Oaks game.

Despite winning its section, the Canon-McMillan baseball team wasn’t seeded in the top five, though don’t count on Big Macs coach Frank Zebrasky getting upset.

Not after he watched the Canon-McMillan soccer team parlay a No. 13 seed into a WPIAL title last fall.

“It’s very nice to win a section championship,” Zebrasky said. “But much like we already know that within this school year, at least at our school, you have a soccer team that’s seeded where they were seeded at, it doesn’t matter where you’re seeded.”

Canon-Mac will complete a tripleheader at Burkett Field Monday with a 7 p.m. game against 11th-seeded Moon. No. 14 Trinity/No. 3 Hampton and No. 11 South Fayette/No. 6 West Allegheny will be played beforehand.

Chartiers-Houston got a favorable draw – seeded 11th in Class AA – and will play Steel Valley Monday at Boyce Mayview Park. No. 7 Washington has Laurel at Chippewa Park Monday, and Bentworth plays second-seeded Beaver at Chartiers Valley.

In Class A, Carmichaels is the No. 4 seed and open with Frazier on Monday at Mt. Pleasant. California, the WPIAL runner-up a season ago, will enter the tournament as the No. 6 seed and with a first-round game against Sewickley Academy next Monday at Burgettstown.

Monessen is the No. 15 seed and drew OLSH. No. 12 Jefferson-Morgan will play fifth-seeded Western Beaver Monday before Bentworth’s game at Chartiers Valley.

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