West Greene baseball finally gets its due
ROGERSVILLE – For the past 10 years, West Greene’s baseball team has watched while other programs stepped to the front.
First, there is the football program, which challenges each year for the Tri-County South title, won it a few times, and is a constant participant in the WPIAL playoffs.
Then there is the softball program, which won two state titles and made the finals five times.
The cross country team sent a runner to the state tournament a few years ago.
It wasn’t as if the baseball program was stuck in the mud. They had made the WPIAL Class A playoffs but that was the extent of it.
Until Friday afternoon.
That’s when West Greene defeated Jefferson-Morgan, 6-2, to assure no worse than a tie for first place in Class A Section 2. A win in one of their final two games of the regular season for the Pioneers (8-0), both against Greensburg Central Catholic (6-2), and the title is theirs outright.
“At the beginning of the year, I knew we were a playoff team,” said West Greene head coach Lenny Lohr. “We made the playoffs the last three years but we haven’t been able to win a playoff game. Last year, we got over the hump. I know we have never won a section championship. And we still have two games left. Something has to shake out.”
Even if things don’t go their way in those matchups with Greensburg Central Catholic and the teams tie, then both programs will be declared co-champions and receive a plaque.
Four players are remaining who started as freshmen for the Pioneers: shortstop and center fielder Hunter Hamilton; pitcher Dalton Lucey; third baseman Corey Wise and first baseman Casey Miller.
Wise hit a mammoth shot over the left-field fence for a two-run home run in the three-run first; Hamilton scored the first run of the game on an error; Miller drove in a run with a sacrifice fly; and Lucey allowed two runs, two hits and struck out six over seven innings.
“We’ve really worked hard, especially in the offseason,” said Hamilton. “It just feels good since I’ve been here.”
The Pioneers are 10-3 after their ninth straight victory. Two of the three losses came against Class 5A Mars and Class 4A Highlands on a trip south to the Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
“This trip went a long way in helping this team gel,” said Lucey. “The strength of this team is that everyone puts their heart in it.”
“We’ve been chasing the girls (softball team),” Wise said with a chuckle. “They’ve been section champs for what seems like every year. It’s about time baseball gets some recognition around here.”
To its credit, Jefferson-Morgan made the Pioneers earn the win. J-M (4-4, 4-5) threatened to take the lead in the first inning, then cut a 4-0 lead in half with two runs in the top of the fourth.
“We made some mistakes today but we definitely played a better game than (Thursday),” said J-M coach John Curtis. “We didn’t hit the ball like we could.”