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Vatakis nearly unhittable in Monessen victory

3 min read

Dana Vatakis allowed only one hit and did not allow a ball to get out of the infield in a 3-2 victory over Cambridge Springs in a PIAA Class A first-round softball playoff game at Penn State Behrend in Erie.

Monessen (16-4) will play Union in the quarterfinals Thursday at a site and time to be determined.

All the scoring came in the fourth inning. Monessen took a 3-0 lead when Cara Wheeler cracked a two-run triple, then scored on a sacrifice fly by Carly Rock.

Cambridge Springs cut the lead to one run by scoring twice off throwing errors by the Greyhounds.

Vatakis got out of the jam and wasn’t threatened again. She finished with 11 strikeouts and two walks. Tessa Deets, who took the loss, struck out 4 and walked 3.

Saegertown 4, Chartiers-Houston 1: Courtney Hess limited a typically powerful Chartiers-Houston lineup to only four hits, Haley Hess hit a pair of doubles and District 10 champion Saegertown scored all of its runs in the first inning to defeat the Bucs 4-1 in a PIAA Class 2A first-round softball playoff game at Penn State Behrend.

The lone run for Chartiers-Houston (16-4) came from an Ella Brookman solo homer in the fifth inning. Brookman went 2-for-3 and was the lone player for the Bucs to have a multi-hit game.

The first run for Saegertown (20-4) came on the first double from Haley Hess to score Carlie Schlosser. Beka McClymonds, Sarah Swartout and Lauren Haylett each had run-scoring singles to give the Panthers a 4-0 lead after one.

That was enough cushion for Courtney Hess, who pitched all seven innings and struck out seven.

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Ringgold 4, St. Mary’s 3: The pitch count instituted two seasons ago played a key part in deciding this game.

Ringgold was trailing by a run when St. Mary’s starter Nate Beimel hit 100 pitches. Tim Beimel came in and the Rams scored twice in the top of the six and two more in the seventh to defeat St. Mary’s 4-3 in a PIAA Class 4A first-round playoff game in Punxsutawney.

Ringgold (17-4) advances to Thursday’s quarterfinals against Hopewell at a site and time to be determined.

Bobby Boyer hit a two-run double for the Rams in the sixth and Koby Bubash and Ryan Varley, who went 3-for-4, each drove in a run in the seventh.

Nate Beimel, whose uncle his former Pirates pitcher Joe Beimel, struck out 11 and walked three. He allowed two hits in five innings.

Varley finished with 9 strikeouts and a walk in six innings. Chase Angotti pitched the seventh inning and gave up 2 runs.

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