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Nothing left but ‘execution’ in West Greene-Monessen semifinal

3 min read
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There is no greater sports cliché than coaches talking about “execution.”

Obviously, the team that executes the best usually wins. It’s the other factors of the game – the preparation, the in-game tactics, the unexpected – that are the story.

But in the PIAA Class A softball semifinal between West Greene and Monessen at Peterswood Park today, “execution” is all that’s left for the rematch of the WPIAL championship game.

For what will be the fourth meeting between the teams this season and the ninth in three years, there’s no preparation that hasn’t already been done. No more in-game tactics that haven’t been tried. Nothing more to be unexpected.

“I don’t know how much more there is to study on each other,” said West Greene coach Bill Simms. “They know what we’re going to try to do, and we know what they’re going to try to do. It’s a matter of who is going to make the play when the play is there to be made versus who is going to fumble one.”

Monessen coach Bo Teets joked that the two teams should practice together since there’s nothing left to keep secret.

“There are going to be some things we talk about in terms of strategy, but no one is going to surprise anybody,” Teets said. “The familiarity is nice. I just think again as cliché as it sounds, it comes down to who plays better.”

West Greene (21-4) is 2-1 against the Greyhounds (17-4) this season. The teams split the regular-season series and the Pioneers won the matchup in the WPIAL title game.

In any softball game, the two girls in the pitching circle are crucial to their team’s success, and that’s no different for Monessen’s senior Dana Vatakis, a Robert Morris University commit, and West Greene’s Jade Renner, a sophomore.

“Dana is going to be Dana. I fully expect her to come out and be a force in the circle. Hopefully, it’s just a matter of all of us doing our parts,” Teets said. “For Jade, she’s a great pitcher. She changes speeds and changes locations. You have to find some open space, because they make so many plays behind her.”

Simms said his team’s biggest goal against Vatakis is to limit striking out. The Pioneers only struck out six times in the WPIAL title game.

With West Greene hoping to reach its third straight state title game and Monessen playing in its first state semifinal, Simms hopes his players have the same motivation level as Monessen.

“We don’t want our girls to be satisfied,” Simms said. “We want our girls to be as hungry as they were when they were all freshmen. We want to give our three seniors one more bus ride.”

Notes

First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. … The top five hitters in West Greene’s lineup – McKenna and Madison Lampe, Madison Renner, Jade Renner and Kaitlyn Rizor – all hit better than .450 in the regular season. … In the last eight meetings, the Pioneers have outscored the Greyhounds 51-9. … Both Jade Renner and Vatakis are coming off scoreless outings in the quarterfinals. Vatakis shut out Union while Jade Renner threw five scoreless innings against McConnellsburg.

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