Category Archives: Local Sports

The Ellwood City Wolverines were flawless in their opening matchup of the WPIAL playoffs on Wednesday as they cruised past Brownsville, 13-0.  Ellwood City advances to the semifinal round to take on number-4 seed South Fayette (date/site to be determined).

Ellwood City, behind pitcher Christian Kerns, was nearly perfect in their matchup against Brownsville.  The Wolverines blanked their opponent on both the run and hit column on Wednesday.

Riverside
The Riverside Panthers baseball team had to play comeback ball late in their quarterfinal matchup Wednesday against lower seed Deer Lakes to secure a victory.

Trailing by one-run going into the seventh inning, the Panthers scored four quick runs in the seventh inning for a 6-3 victory at Chippewa Park.  The Panthers advance to the semifinals to play No. 2 seed Shady Side Academy at a site/time to be determined.

NOTE:
All the WPIAL top seeds have advanced into the semifinal round of the Class AA playoffs.  If both Ellwood City and Riverside win their next game, they will compete for the WPIAL Class AA title on May 29 or 30.

ANOTHER NOTE:
The Ellwood City softball team was eliminated from the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs Wednesday after they fell to the top seed Ambridge, 9-0.

All three local teams won their respective matchups on Tuesday, so each move on to the next round of their playoffs.

The Riverside baseball team was determined to start the playoffs off on the right foot, and that’s definitely what they did on Tuesday as they crushed Greensburg Central Catholic, 11-4, in their first round WPIAL playoff matchup.

Both teams were quiet through the first two innings, but it was in the third inning when Riverside turned on the offense.  The Panthers scored five runs in that inning, more than enough to beat their first round opponent – they went on to score three more in the fourth inning and another three in the sixth.

The winning pitcher for the Panthers was Rob Hardy, who pitched all seven innings and struck out eight Greensburg batters. Hardy also contributed offensively, adding two hits including a double.

Riverside will now play Deer Lakes at Chippewa Park at 4:30 p.m. this afternoon (Wednesday).

SOFTBALL
The Riverside Lady Panthers won in their first round matchup of the WPIAL Class AA playoffs, 4-1, over their opponent OLSH (Our Lady of the Sacred Heart High School).

Winning pitcher Kristen Wilson had 18 strikeouts in the victory and she also added a home run to add to her offensive statistics.

The Panthers will take on the winner of the Wayneburg/Mt. Pleasant game in the quarterfinal round of the Class AA playoffs.

As for the Lady Wolverines, their victory in the preliminary round of the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs, 12-7 over Highlands High School, secures them a spot in the first round against top seed Ambridge (16-2).

The winning pitcher for the Wolverines softball team was Kara Sainato, who pitched seven strong innings and struck out three Highlands’ batters.  Sainato also added two doubles and two singles in the victory.

Also contributing to the Wolverines offense was Francesca Nardone, Amanda Stiles, Asia Borders, and Susie Blyth, who each had a hit in the win.

As stated earlier, the Ellwood City softball team (now 8-10) will take on Ambridge, who is the Section 1-AAA champion and top seed in the playoffs, at 2 p.m. today (Wednesday) at Seneca Valley’s field.

The Riverside boys track and field team fell short in defending their title Thursday at the WPIAL Championship meet at Baldwin High School.  Taking the 2012 title was Washington, who was just points away from the championship last year.

WPIAL Class AA boys track and field results show Washington defeating all three schools in fairly simple fashion: Washington 107, Quaker Valley 43; Washington 119, Riverside 31; Washington 113, Riverview 37.

Also coming up short in the championship was the Riverside girls team, who watched Freeport take the 2012 championship.

The scores in the Class AA girls championship were:  Freeport 95, Mohawk 55; Freeport 92.3, Mt. Pleasant 57.7; Freeport 96, Riverside 54.

In most Ellwood City versus Riverside matchups, the games are typically nail-biters, with one team getting that late run in the seventh inning to top the other team in dramatic fashion.

But, in Monday’s final regular season game for the two teams, the game was anything but a nail-biter, yet could have been considered dramatic. Ellwood City defeated Riverside 13-3 in 5 innings to share the section title with the Panthers.

Ellwood City and Riverside are sporting 12-2 section records, giving them each a section championship title.  The Wolverines have an overall record of 18-2 and the Panthers 16-4.

After the first inning, no one could have expected what was to come, as both teams were scoreless.  In the second and third innings, Ellwood City put up five runs and seven runs, respectively.

Greg Lynn for Ellwood City led the way. He had four hits, four RBIs, and scored three runs.

The Wolverines captured their first section crown since 2002 and snapped a 22-inning scoreless streak to Riverside, the defending WPIAL and PIAA Class AA champion.

The two teams await their seeding for the WPIAL playoffs.

The Riverside boys and girls track and field teams won on Wednesday as they took on Freedom and South Side. The victory advances them to the WPIAL Class AA team finals on Thursday, May 10 at Baldwin High School.

Just two weeks ago, the Riverside boys took first place in this year’s Beaver County Track and Field Championships. In that meet, Riverside’s Bobby Gould was integral in each of the team’s three first-place finishes. Gould took first place in his individual 400-meter race, and was part of the first place 4×100 meter and 4×400 meter team.

The Ellwood City baseball team showed that their playoff berth is warranted after a 12-2 ‘mercy rule’ defeat of Beaver Falls on Monday.  The Wolverines clinched a playoff spot with three section games remaining.

Matt Morella had four RBIs and Matt Germanoski had a home run and three RBIs as Ellwood City cruised to a 5-inning home victory.

With the victory, the Wolverines (15-2 overall, 9-2 Section 5-AA) secured a playoff berth.

Ellwood City was one victory away from the postseason last year, yet because of a head-to-head tiebreaker with rival Riverside, the Wolverines failed to make the playoffs.

The game Monday was also a celebration of the Wolverines’ seniors.  Seniors included Jared Vetica, Greg Lynn, Christian Kerns, Matt Germanoski, Matt Morella, Joey Wilson, Vince Magnifico, Anthony Carusone, and Logan McDonald

The Riverside boys took first place in this year’s Beaver County Track and Field Championships over the weekend with a score of 95. The next closest team was South Side with 79 points.

Riverside’s Bobby Gould was integral in each of the team’s three first-place finishes.  Gould took first place in his individual 400-meter race, and was part of the first place 4×100 meter and 4×400 meter team.

The 4×100 meter team consisted of Gould, Ricco Venezie, Aaron Tedys, and Matt Tedys.  They finished with a time of 45.47.

The 4×400 meter team consisted of Gould, Aaron Tedys, Matt Tedys, and Marcel Cleckley.  They finished with a time of 3:41.83.

Other notable finishes for Riverside were:

• Zach Wehman – third place – 110 hurdle – 15.65
• Austin Sheridan – third place – discus – 115’ 8’’
• Shane Fisher – third place – javelin – 154’ 2’’
• Ryan Schuster – third place – triple jump – 38’ 6’’
• Bobby Gould – third place – 200 meter – 23.26

The Riverside girls came in sixth place at the Beaver County championships.  They had one first place finish in the 1600 meter race to earn 10 points.

Taking first place in the 1600 meter was Molly Duffy with a time of 5:42.93.

Also for Riverside, Brittany Moser took third place in the Discus and Lindsey Gallagher came in third place in the Triple Jump.