Congratulations, Lady Pioneers

from July 2019 GreeneScene

by GreeneScene Community Magazine / Direct Results

Congratulations, Carmichaels Envirothon Team!

WEST GREENE SOFTBALL CLASS OF 2019: WHAT A RIDE!

by Jason Tennant

When the West Greene softball team took the field at North Strabane Intermediate School in Canonsburg on May 16, 2016, even with their record of 19-1, nobody could’ve predicted that what was to come over the course of four seasons, would be a level of success never seen before in Greene County High School sports.

A 15-0 four-inning win over Greensburg Central Catholic that day was postseason win #1 of a run that would total 26 postseason victories, including four WPI- AL titles and 2 State Titles. Remarkably, the Pioneers played a total of 28 postseason games in four seasons, which by the way is just one short of the maximum games they could’ve possibly played in that span (having earned WPIAL first round byes the last three seasons).

The run came to a close on June 11, 2019 with a 3-2 loss in the state semifinals to DuBois Central Catholic and though there will be a new season next year and the Pioneers look to still have a very competitive squad, it seems only fitting to reflect now on what has to be considered the end of an era. That era being the Class of ’19 era. There were 5 seniors who graduated this year that played softball all four years of their time spent in high school. Those five finished with an overall record of 96- 12. Their postseason record (both WPIAL & PIAA) was a combined 26-2. Ten of those losses, including both postseason losses, were by just 1 run.

Hats off to McKenna Lampe, Madison Lampe, Kaitlyn Rizor, Mackenzie Carpenter, and Brianna Goodwin.

“Just a special group,” said Head Coach Billy Simms. “We knew they were going to be special. We didn’t know where the road was going to lead us, but we know we had a nice team.”

Remarkably, four of those five seniors started every game and played in every inning throughout all 28 postseason games. Every postseason inning without fail featured Madison Lampe at third base, McKenna Lampe in center field, Carpenter in right field and Rizor, who played the first three seasons at second base before moving to shortstop.

Immediately after they claimed their fourth WPIAL title, Rizor talked about meeting goals set in the very beginning.

“It’s so exciting,” Rizor said. “When we came in as freshmen we sat down in (coach) Simms’ room and we talked about our goals. And one of our goals was to win the section four times in a row, which we did. And then win the WPIAL four times in a row which we just completed today.”

Go back to June 14, 2018. The West Greene Pioneers claimed the State title that day with an 11-7 win over Williams Valley at Penn State’s Beard Field. It was their second title in as many years and the Pioneers ended last season on a 14-game postseason winning streak.

Starting pitcher Jade Renner, who started as a freshman in 2017, was the winning pitcher in all 14 games and was undefeated in postseason play heading into the 2019 season.

But the team would look different entering the 2019 season with three key losses to graduation: left fielder Linzee Stover, first baseman Lexie Mooney, and their biggest bat, shortstop/pitcher Madison Renner.

“The biggest thing we were concerned with was the offensive output,” said Simms, noting particularly the loss of Renner’s power numbers.

From a defensive standpoint, Simms noted the need in replacing “rock solid” defenders Stover, Mooney, and Madison Renner and praised the new starters: Jersey Wise in left field, Brianna Amos at second base (with Rizor moving to shortstop), and Goodwin at first base. “We thought we could replace (those that graduated) defensively,” said Simms. “And I think the (new starters) have proven that.”

The 2019 season got off to a bit of a rough start as the Pioneers traveled to Myrtle Beach and lost three of four games at the Ripken Experience. Once they returned home though, the Pioneers settled right in and rolled off 13 straight wins by a combined score of 174-16.

They would drop a tough 2-0 loss to the eventual 2A State Champion Frazier before closing out the regular season with wins over Waynesburg and Bentworth.

The 2019 postseason started with a somewhat surprisingly low scoring output in a 6-2 win over Bishop Canevin in the WPIAL Quarterfinals, but the Pioneers regained their usual form in dominating wins over Jefferson-Morgan (15-0) in the Semifinals and Union (11-0) in the WPIAL Championship Game.

However as the PIAA playoffs began, the West Greene offense started to find some struggles. In the first round, the Pioneers advanced easily enough, with an 8-1 win over Rockwood who committed 6 errors in the contest.

Then it was Clarion with standout pitcher Kait Constantino, who held the Pioneers to just 5 hits. West Greene scored all of their runs that game in the fifth inning on just one hit and then had to survive a 4-run ninth inning from Clarion to win, 5-4.

In the first two state playoff games, the Pioneers, known for their offensive rallies, had only registered back-to-back hits one time when Renner and Amos hit back-toback singles in the 6th inning against Rockwood.

They also only had two extra base hits: a Carpenter double against Rockwood and a bases-clearing double from Renner against Clarion.

The bats seemed to come alive though in the first inning of the semifinals against DuBois Central Catholic, a team that West Greene had beaten in the state semifinals back-to-back in 2016 and 2017.

After the Cardinals put up two first inning runs, West Greene answered with back-to-back singles from the Lampe twins, who both came around to score to tie the game. From that point on, the Pioneers had no problem getting runners on base, but bringing them around was a different story.

The Pioneers left the bases loaded in the second inning and again in the fourth. Meanwhile DuBois Central Catholic had taken a lead with a leadoff homerun by Shay Gulvas in the top of the third, to lead 3-2.

It looked as if the Pioneers would take control in the sixth though when designated

player Kiley Meek led off with a single and catcher Kylie Simms walked. West Greene would have the top of the order up with two runners on and nobody out.

“I want that every time,” said Simms. “If we could rescript this game and you tell me we can have that, We’re gonna take that every time. I’ll take my kids over anybody in those situations.”

But on that day, it was not meant to be. The Lampe twins both popped out and Rizor grounded out to end the inning.

“We just didn’t get the one run we were looking for today,” said Simms.

With two outs in the seventh inning, the Pioneers had one last chance after a Wise walk and a Carpenter single, but with the tying run at third base, the game ended on a groundout by Meek to shortstop Gulvas who made a fine play on the ball.

The Pioneers had stranded 12 runners in the game and had fallen one win short of reaching the State Championship game for the fourth year in a row.

The postseason winning streak ended at 19 games, and Jade Renner suffered her first ever postseason loss.

Let that sink in for a moment…. Renner pitched in 20 postseason games before she experienced the bitter taste of a loss.

Next year the team will look very different, but will have the luxury of a senior pitcher who is a 2-time state champion with a 19-1 postseason record. They will also return starters like Wise, Amos, and Simms.

And make no mistake, there is a winning culture now established with West Greene Softball that will look to continue for years to come.

So much of that can be traced to that amazing Class of 2019. What a ride it has been!