Class 5A
Penn-Trafford (23-3) vs. Greencastle-Antrim (22-3)
4 p.m. Friday at Beard Field at Nittany Lion Softball Park, Penn State
District-place: Penn-Trafford 7-2; Greencastle-Antrim 3-3
PIAA titles: Penn-Trafford 1 (2019); Greencastle-Antrim 1 (2009)
Road to State College: Penn-Trafford — Defeated 6-1 Central Mountain, (3-2), 3-1 Red Land (6-5) and 7-3 West Allegheny (8-2); Greencastle-Antrim — Defeated 1-1 Marple Newton (9-1), 2-1 North Pocono (3-0) and 1-2 West Chester East (13-0)
Coaches: Denny Little, Penn-Trafford; Mark DeCarli, Greencastle-Antrim
Players to watch: Rilie Moors, Penn-Trafford; Meadow Gambacurta, Greencastle-Antrim
Extra bases: Penn-Trafford returns to the state finals after winning its only PIAA softball title in 2019. The Warriors won a pair of tight games in the first two rounds before thumping West Allegheny in the semifinals. The WPIAL runner-up Warriors pounded out 13 hits and took advantage of four errors. Kylie Anthony went 3 for 4 while Moors, Bella Rubbe and Giuliana Youngo each had two hits in the win. Lorryn Sepe and Cam Ponko each knocked in two runs. Pitcher Allyson Paulone improved to 19-3. She scattered seven hits and relied on the defense. Anthony went 4 for 4 in the quarterfinals. Ponko and Rubbe are IUP commits, while Moors is headed to Seton Hill. The Warriors are in the state playoffs for just the fifth time — four since 2019. When the Warriors won in ‘19, they were WPIAL semifinalists. … Greencastle-Antrim is back in the state finals for the first time in 16 years after winning its only title in 2009. In a 13-0 win over West Chester East in the semfinals, Kaidyn Zimmerman, Kinda Rice and Kylie Kerns homered for the Blue Devils. Gamacurta, a Bucknell commit who plays shortstop, bats .464 with four homers and 35 RBIs. Table-setter Caroline Logsdon has a team-high 34 hits to go with 23 RBIs and 36 runs scored. Kiersten Swain is the staff ace — the team has used five pitchers — and is 10-1 with a sub-1.60 ERA and 100 strikeouts in 61 1/3 innings. The Blue Devils did not make the state tournament last season. This is their ninth appearance overall in the PIAA tournament. The teams have never played each other before. Penn-Trafford and Greencastle-Antrim are about 160 miles apart via the Turnpike. District 3 includes Lebanon, Dauphin, Lancaster, Cumberland, Franklin and other counties. Greencastle-Antrim is about 11 miles from the Maryland border. … Four other Westmoreland County programs have won state softball titles. They are Hempfield (1999, 2016, ‘17, ‘18), Mt. Pleasant (2017, ‘21), Yough (2016) and Valley (2011).