Carmichaels baseball, softball teams both reach WPIAL final
Carmichaels’ baseball and softball teams have both been highly successful over the years but did something for the first time in school history Friday.
The Mikes and Lady Mikes will both be playing for a WPIAL championship this week in the same season for the first time.
Both will have a difficult task against a top-seeded team.
“When you get to this level it’s a battle and it’s tough,” Mikes head coach Richard Krause said of the challenge both teams face.
The Mikes take on Serra Catholic in an 11 a.m. game today at EQT Park in the Class A baseball final. Carmichaels will go against Union on Thursday in a 4:30 p.m. game at PennWest California’s Lilley Field for the Class A softball championship.
“Not sure how many times a school district has had both softball and baseball in the WPIAL championship games in the same season, however this is a first for our school.” Carmichaels athletic director Tom Ricco said. “I’m very proud of all the hard work our student-athletes have put in to get to this point. We want to keep it going and bring home two championships.”
Softball
Carmichaels (16-0), coached by Dave Briggs, is the lone undefeated Class A team in the WPIAL while No. 1 Union’s (18-2) only losses are to Class 2A finalists Neshannock and Chartiers-Houston.
The Scotties are led by Mia Preuhs, who was the winning pitcher when Union defeated Carmichaels in what turned out to be a controversial 2023 final, 10-8. The Mikes are led by pitcher Bailey Barnyak who started in the circle as a freshman in that game and was called for seven illegal pitches, the only such calls against her the entire season.
The Mikes have won two WPIAL titles, in 1997 and 1998, both with pitcher Nikki Gasti, who is Barnyak’s mother.
Carmichaels’ path to the final after a first-round bye included victories over No. 7 Serra Catholic, 9-0, and No. 3 West Greene, 10-0, in six innings. Union, which also received a first-round bye, defeated No. 8 Jeannette, 10-0, in five innings, and No. 5 Jefferson-Morgan, 15-0, in three innings.
The Scotties are in the final for the third year in a row, having won the program’s first two titles in 2022 and 2023, before being upended by Chartiers-Houston last year.
Baseball
The sixth-seeded Mikes are (15-4) and going for their fourth WPIAL crown while No. 1 Serra Catholic is 19-3. Carmichaels was last in the district final in 2014 when it fell to California in a game that was suspended by lightning and completed two days later.
Krause will earn a trifecta of sorts with today’s game. He will now have been in a WPIAL final as a player (starting catcher in 1980), an assistant coach (under Scott VanSickle in 2014) and now as a head coach.
Krause didn’t realize it was the first time the baseball and softball teams were in the district final the same year.
“I was surprised when I heard that,” Krause said. “With the success of our programs I would’ve thought at some point that would’ve happened before. We share some facilities with softball and I have a lot of respect for Dave Briggs. We’ve always worked together well.”
The teams are well aware of each other and pull for each other.
“We’re driving to our playoff game against Eden Christian and our kids on the bus are following the softball team on their phones,” Krause said. “We’re rooting hard for them, they’re rooting hard for us.
“It’s just been a great spring and a real exciting time at Carmichaels.”
Serra Catholic has knocked off No. 8 Jefferson-Morgan, 11-1 in six innings, and No. 5 Greensburg Central Catholic, 3-2, to get to the final. The Mikes have beaten No. 11 Union, 9-1, No. 3 Leechburg, 6-3, and No. 2 Eden Christian, 4-3, to reach the championship game.
“Our section didn’t get a lot of respect across the board but when you look at it we’re now 7-3 in the playoffs and every one of us (Carmichaels, Avella, J-M and GCC) won in the first round,” Krause said. “That says something.”
Krause hasn’t decided if his starting pitcher will be Colin Andrews, who earned the win over Union and Eden Christian, or Jase Zdravecky, who notched the win against Leechburg.
“It’s remarkable how consistent they’ve both been,” Krause said. “We know we have two talented kids. We’ll have a coaches meeting and we’ll figure out what we want to do.”
Krause is wary of Serra, which will be shooting for its fifth WPIAL crown with the last coming in 2022.
“They’ll be well-prepared, they’re well-coached and very talented,” Krause said. “We’re going to get as much information as we can and try to prepare our team as well. We know a decent bit about them. We’ve been following them. You work with that information you have, you try to prepare the kids accordingly and you hope for the best.”