May 17, 2022 4 min read

Tied 3-3 going into the bottom of the third inning, Waynesburg erupted for 11 runs to take control of its WPIAL Class 3A first-round softball playoff game against South Park Tuesday, and the Raiders cruised to a 16-3 win at the Trinity field.

“I am happy with how the team hit the ball,” said Waynesburg coach Jim Armstrong. “We started out slow, but we usually do against slower pitchers. Then we pounded the ball. Hitting is contagious and that is what we did.”

The sixth-seeded Raiders (13-4) sent 15 hitters to the plate in the decisive third, had seven hits in the inning and was aided by four South Park errors.

Junior Kendall Lemley drilled a home run to lead off the third, and junior Riley Hixenbaugh added a two-run inside-the-park homer later in the inning.

Junior Kayleigh Varner finished with three singles for Waynesburg (13-4) while senior Kylee Goodman had a double and triple and senior Morgan Stephenson had a pair of singles.

Waynesburg scored a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the first to take a 2-0 lead, but South Park (3-9) countered with three runs in the second to take a one-run lead. The Raiders tied the game in the bottom of the second before blowing it open in the third and closed its scoring with two runs in the fourth.

Lemley went the distance in the circle for Waynesburg, and Armstrong was pleased with her performance.

“After a little bit of a slow start, she got stronger and hit her spots,” he said. “She kept us in the game early, and she has done that all season.”

Armstrong would like to see his team start out faster.

“I wasn’t happy we even let them get three runs,” he said. “They are rebuilding, and we can’t play to their level. We have to play at our level, and we can’t let them hold us back.”

The Raiders play third-seeded Deer Lakes Thursday at a time and location to be determined. Armstrong quipped when asked if he knew anything about them.

“I don’t know anything about them today, but I will tomorrow after doing some research,” he said with a smile.

Deer Lakes (11-4) had a first-round bye.

Jefferson-Morgan, 8-1

During the 2019 WPIAL softball playoffs, Jefferson-Morgan played three games on Trinity’s home field.

The Rockets (7-7) returned to their “home away from home” and came away with an 8-1 WPIAL Class A first-round win over St. Joseph in the second game of the playoff doubleheader.

“It was good to be back here,” J-M head coach Rich Rush said with a smile. “We won two games here and I was excited to come back.

“We finally played a solid game. It has been a long season for us trying to put pieces piece together. We had four starters from last year not return so we have been trying to find a lineup that works well. It paid off today.”

Senior Jasmine Demaske led J-M offensively as she had three hits (triple and two singles), reached base four times, drove in four runs, scored four more and stole two bases for the Rockets. Add in a dominant performance in the circle by sophomore Kayla Larkin and it was smooth sailing into the quarterfinals.

After Demaske singled to lead off the bottom of the first, she stole second and scored on an RBI double by junior Payton Farabee.

Then with two outs in the second, Demaske singled in a pair and scored on an error. Her two-run triple in the fourth highlighted a three-run fourth when she also scored on a single by Larkin.