Softball, baseball finalists were hits
It was another season of big hits and strong runs for the Coach of the Year finalists in baseball and softball.
Tim Bruzdewicz of Canon-McMillan, Scott DeBerry of Laurel Highlands and Joe Maize of Peters Township in baseball and Mark Deer of Burgettstown, Tricia Alderson of Chartiers-Houston and Bill Simms of West Greene in softball are the finalists in their respective sports for the Tri-County Athletic Directors Coach of the Year Banquet, 5 p.m. Sunday, April 23 at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Meadow Lands.
Tickets for the banquet are $35 each and are on sale at Washington High School, 201 Allison Avenue, Washington, Pa., 15301. Reservations can be made by calling Washington athletic director Mike Bosnic at 724-223-5085, ext. 2091.
All proceeds from the banquet benefit Special Olympics.
Winners also will be revealed in girls and boys basketball, wrestling and football.
Bruzdewicz did a wonderful job turning Canon-McMillan’s fortunes around midseason. After a 5-6 start, the Big Macs won seven of their last eight regular season games, allowing just 16 runs combined in that span, to secure a playoff berth from Section 5-AAAA.
The Big Macs won their first two playoff games before falling to Norwin in the WPIAL semifinals. A loss to Hempfield in the third-place consolation game ended C-M’s season at 14-9.
DeBerry led Laurel Highlands to the Section 4-AAA, beating all seven opponents twice. The Mustangs won 18 straight games, including playoffs, and entered the WPIAL postseason as the top seed in Triple-A.
Laurel Highlands stopped Ambridge in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs but was upended by eventual WPIAL champion Chartiers Valley by a run in the second round. LH finished with a 19-2 record.
A strong run at the end of the season – six wins in seven games – sent Peters Township into the WPIAL playoffs as one of the second-place teams in Section 5-AAAA.
The Indians knocked off Fox Chapel in the first round but fell to top-seeded Plum in a second-round game. The Indians concluded the season with a 13-8 record.
What was to be a rebuilding season turned into a special one for Alderson and the Bucs. A 1-3 start was followed by eight wins over the next 10 games. The reward was a playoff berth out of Section 1-A.
Chartiers-Houston gained momentum in the postseason, winning three times to reach the WPIAL Class A finals, where West Greene stopped the Bucs. A first-round loss in the state tournament left the Bucs with a 14-9 record.
Deer turned the Blue Devils around at midseason, countering a three-game losing streak that threaten to keep them out of the playoffs and sparking a six-game winning streak that put them in as the second-place team in Section 1-AA.
Backed by the stellar pitching of Kate Tarr, Burgettstown won its first first-round game in the WPIAL Class AA playoffs before falling to Ellwood City. The Blue Devils finished the season with a 15-7 record.
Simms managed the Pioneers to a historic season, culminating with a WPIAL Class A title and a spot in the PIAA final. The Pioneers lost to Williams Valley in the final, snapping a 23-game winning streak.
The Pioneers made their first appearance in a WPIAL softball final in 33 years, defeating Chartiers-Houston, and second venture into the state tournament in program history. West Greene finished with a 26-2 record.