Some Mt. Pleasant baseball players went on a school trip and met a celebrity.
Several Vikings attended the Air Force All-Star Leadership Conference, hosted by the PA Air National Guard, in Coraopolis.
A special guest was there to greet them: Pittsburgh Pirates ace pitcher Paul Skenes.
The reigning Cy Young Award winner talked with groups of students and posed for photos.
While the interaction with the big right-hander was brief, it made for a lasting memory.
“We all shook his hand with a, ‘Hey, how are you?,’ got a ‘Good, how are you guys?’ back,” Mt. Pleasant second baseman Dane Firmstone said. “It was a surprise. We were walking up to the hangars where all the planes were, and there were multiple people who said he was there. We weren’t super sure at first, and then we started seeing more and more cameras and then we saw Steely McBeam and the Pirate Parrot.”
Skenes talked about his experience in the Air Force, where he played baseball for two years before transferring to LSU.
On the way out of the conference, Mt. Pleasant had some parting words for Skenes.
“I believe Santino Marne said, ‘Hoist the cone,’ which got a chuckle out of him,” Firmstone said.
Playoff qualifiers
The regular season has less than two weeks to go before the playoffs.
The WPIAL will announce playoff pairings May 8.
Only three local teams had clinched a postseason spot through Thursday’s action: Norwin in Class 6A, Belle Vernon in 4A and Greensburg Central Catholic in A.
The top four teams in each section clinch a berth.
No-no
Jeannette’s Wyatt Schaeffer was in a stingy mood Monday at West Greene.
The 6-foot, 240-pounder tossed a five-inning no-hitter as the Jayhawks won 15-0 in a run-ruled Section 1-A game.
Schaeffer struck out four and walked two, throwing 56 pitches, 35 for strikes.
No-no, part II
Mt. Pleasant sophomore Bobby Smithnosky also pitched a five-inning no-hitter as the Vikings blanked Southmoreland, 10-0.
He struck out 10 and walked one while helping his cause with two RBIs.
Tight race
Section 1-5A is like NFL Draft traffic: bumper-to-bumper.
Plum (13-1, 7-1) has a one-game lead over Latrobe (11-2, 6-2), with Franklin Regional (12-3, 6-2) and Penn-Trafford (10-4, 6-2) within earshot in third.
Kiski Area (3-8, 3-5) is in fourth place.
Rank and file
Four local teams are ranked this week — across four classifications — by TribLive HSSN.
Norwin is No. 5 in Class 6A, Latrobe is No. 3 in 5A, Belle Vernon is No. 5 in 4A and Greensburg Central Catholic jumps to No. 2 in A.
Norwin and Belle Vernon were not ranked last week.
Latrobe fell two spots from No. 1. GCC was No. 4.
Sweepstakes
Several local teams have swept opponents in section series.
Undefeated Greensburg Central Catholic leads the county with four sweeps in Section 1-A. The Centurions twice beat Jefferson-Morgan, Jeannette, Carmichaels and Avella.
In Section 1-5A, Latrobe has a pair of wins against Kiski Area and Penn Hills, and Penn-Trafford swept Armstrong and Penn Hills, and Franklin Regional took two from Penn Hills and Armstrong.
Norwin swept Woodland Hills and Hempfield in three-game series in Section 2-6A.
Hempfield was trying for three in a row Thursday against Canon-McMillan.
Belle Vernon won twice against Uniontown and Laurel Highlands in Section 2-4A.
In Section 3-3A, Mt. Pleasant got out the brooms against Deer Lakes, Burrell and Southmoreland, while Yough swept Southmoreland.
State of the art
A Westmoreland County team has cracked the TribLive HSSN state rankings for the first time this season.
Unbeaten Greensburg Central Catholic (9-0) is now No. 5 in Class A.
By the numbers
32 — Runs for Mt. Pleasant in the Southmoreland series. The Vikings won 22-0 and 10-0.
8 — Total innings in the Mt. Pleasant-Southmoreland series.
30 — Hits for Mt. Pleasant in the two wins.
11 — Runs per game for Mt. Pleasant.
6 — Local teams averaging 8 or more runs: Mt. Pleasant (11.0), GCC (10.4), Belle Vernon (9.3), Yough (9.0), Latrobe (8.3) and Penn-Trafford (8.0).
4 — Extra-base hits for GCC’s Tyler Samide in an 18-5 win over Avella. He had three doubles and a home run.