Teams play Friday for PIAA gold at State College

Monday, June 12
PIAA Class A Semifinals
Williams Valley 9, Meyersdale 5
BELLEFONTE — Williams Valley used seven runs in the first inning to pull away from Meyersdale and punch their ticket for a return to the PIAA Class A State Championship game.
Seven hits and seven runs punctuated the inning when Williams Valley sent 12 batters to the plate, led by Kali Whitcomb having two hits in the frame.
Morgan Updegrove and Autumn Calnon also had two hits in the game. Since the offense took care of itself, the team went on defense for ace Stevie Unger, who bent but didn’t break as she allowed five runs in the game while striking out seven and walking five, winning her 17th game of the season.
Williams Valley will see a familiar foe in State College as they take on the District Seven champion West Greene, the Vikings opponent is last year’s final, with the game on Friday at 11 a.m. at Nittany Lion Softball Park.
Meyersdale — 030 002 0 — 5 11 2
Williams Valley — 710 001 x — 9 15 0
W — Unger. L — Deakins.
Hits: Meyersdale — Cerreta 2, McKenzie, Miller, Leonard 2, K. Kretchman, Deakins 2, Haer. Williams Valley — Whitcomb 2, Pinchorski, Achenbach, Updegrove 2, Calnon 2, K. Ferron 4, Neiman, Bordner, Hoffman.
2B — Calnon, Ferron. HR — Leonard.
PIAA Class AAA Semifinals
Pine Grove 10, Mid-Valley 6
WILKES-BARRE — One year ago, Pine Grove fell one game short of playing in the Class AA championship game. With the new classifications, the Cardinals moved up in class, but kept their game intact.
The challenge in the higher classification paid off as Pine Grove defeated Mid Valley to reach Friday’s state championship game against South Park at 4 p.m. at Nittany Lion Softball Park on the campus of Penn State University.
After spotting Mid Valley a 1-0 lead in the first, Pine Grove broke the game open in the third with five runs. two of them coming on a single from Caitlyn Becher, then Faith Sleva cleared the loaded bases with a double, putting the Cardinals up 5-1.
After Mid Valley closed the gap to 5-3, Pine Grove came up with another five runs, four of them coming on a play that saw Kate Rittenbaugh hit a shot to center field that scored two runners but with the over throw going into the Pine Grove dugout, the umpires cleared the bases and put Pine Grove up 10-3.
Mid Valley added runs in the sixth and seventh but pitcher Liv Lehman was impressive on the mound, striking out eight and walking one to win her 22nd of the season and reach Friday’s championship game.
Mid Valley — 100 201 2 — 6 11 1
Pine Grove — 005 050 x — 10 11 3
W — L. Lehman. L — Mitchko.
Hits: Mid Valley — Jason 2, Mills 3, Pawelski, Harrington 2, Morano, Mitchko, N. Kalinoski. Pine Grove — Rittenbaugh 3, Kaufman 3, Becher, Nagle 3, Sleva.
2B — Harrington, Mitchko, Rittenbaugh, Kaufman, Sleva.
Thursday, June 8
PIAA Class A Quarterfinals
Williams Valley 6, Northeast Bradford 2
TURBOTVILLE — The familiar formula worked for Williams Valley, great pitching plus timely hitting with some good base running means victory
After spotting Northeast Bradford a 1-0 lead in top of the first, Williams Valley took over scoring two in the bottom half of the inning on Autumn Calnon’s two-run double that scored Kali Whitcomb and Mya Achenbach. Whitcomb got an RBI of her own in the second with the safety squeeze bunt scored Maddy Bordner.
Kenna Ferron and Jamie Neiman also had RBIs in the game, giving a nice cushion for pitcher Stevie Unger to work from the mound, striking out six and allowing nine hits, as Northeast Bradford didn’t score again until the seventh inning.
The win put Williams Valley in the June 12 semifinals against the District V champion Meyersdale, who defeated Glendale 15-2.
Northeast Bradford — 100 000 1 — 2 9 1
Williams Valley — 211 020 x — 6 8 0
W — Unger. L — Slater.
Hits: Northeast Bradford — Slater, Brown 2, Williams 2, Wheaton 2, Boardman. Williams Valley — Whitcomb, Pinchorski, Achenbach, Updegrove, Calnon, Ferron, Neiman, Bordner.
2B — Updegrove, Calnon, Bordner.
PIAA Class AAA Quarterfinal
Pine Grove 17, Dock Mennonite 3, 5 inn.
ALLENTOWN — The Lady Cardinals scored in every inning to come away with the victory over Dock Mennonite Academy, reaching the state semifinals for the second straight year.
Pine Grove scored 17 runs on 13 hits, five of them for extra bases including catcher Trish Kopinetz’s two solo home runs in the game.
Kopinetz and pitcher Liv Lehman led the team with three hits each while Faith Sleva added two of her own, a pair of doubles.
Liv Lehman won game 21 of her pitching season, striking out four and walking none in the win. Pine Grove now moves on to take on the District II champion, Mid Valley, in the semifinals.
Pine Grove — 214 54 — 17 13 1
Dock Mennonite — 200 10 — 3 3 3
W — L. Lehman. L — Gordon.
Hits: Pine Grove — Rittenbaugh, Kopinetz 3, Becher, L. Lehman 3, Hasenauer, Sleva 2, M. Lehman, Hindman. Dock Mennonite — Beck, Bolton 2.
2B — Sleva 2, L. Lehman, Beck. 3B — L. Lehman. HR — Kopinetz 2, Bolton.

Teams reach state quarterfinals

Thursday, June 8
PIAA Class A quarterfinals
Meyersdale 9, Millersburg 0
DILLSBURG — Millersburg was held to just three hits as Meyersdale advanced in the PIAA Class A baseball tournament, ending the Indians season.
Colton Zimmerman, Logan Troutman, and Tyler Shultz hit safely for Millersburg, which finishes the season with a 16-17 record.
Christian Wingard took the loss for the Indians, striking out four while walking seven and six earned runs on six hits.
Millersburg — 000 000 0 — 0 3 2
Meyersdale — 201 240 0 — 9 10 4
W — Christner. L — Wingard.
Hits: Millersburg — Zimmerman, Troutman, Shultz. Meyersdale — D. Kretchman, B. Kretchman, Eberly, McKenzie 2, Christner 2, Gnagey, Hotchkiss 2.
2B — Eberly. 3B — D. Kretchman, Christner.
PIAA Class A Quarterfinal
High Point Baptist 4, Tri-Valley 3, 11 innings
FREDERICKSBURG — In a back-and-forth affair that brought high drama to the fans of both teams, a simple high flyball provided all the difference in bringing a winner to advance to the state semifinals.
Steven Mattia hit a sacrifice fly to score Zak Kauffman to give the District III champions the extra-inning win and end Tri-Valley’s season with an 18-6 record.
Tri-Valley was first on the board after Peyton Poletti, standing on second, moved to third when a pickoff throw went to centerfield, and then the throwback was misplayed and the ball went by the second baseman and all the way to the High Point dugout, enabling Poletti to score.
After High Point went up 3-1, Tri-Valley tied it up after sacrifice fly balls by Logan Yoder in the sixth and Ike Lucas in the seventh. The two teams had their chances in later innings before High Point went for an unsuccessful suicide squeeze in the 11th before hitting the deep pop-up and being a half a step faster than the throw to come up with the win.
Dawson Schwalm, the Bulldogs’ starting pitcher, led the team with two hits, including a double. Bubba Smith took the loss on the mound in relief
Tri-Valley — 001 001 100 00 — 3 7 3
High Point — 001 020 000 01 — 4 7 6
W — Kauffman. L — Smith.
Hits: Tri-Valley — Schwalm 2, Kimmel, Yoder, Buchanan, Poletti. High Point Baptist — Kauffman, R. Howe, Stoltzfus, Morgan, Martin 3.
2B — Schwalm, Kauffman, R. Howe.
Wednesday, June 7
PIAA Class A First Round
Tri-Valley 2, Sayre 0
MANSFIELD — It took three days, but Tri-Valley finally got the win in the 2017 state baseball tournament.
After the game was rained out on June 5, and suspended in the third inning on June 6, Tri-Valley and District IV champion Sayre finished their ball game with the Bulldogs moving on to the state quarterfinals.
Tri-Valley first scored in the fifth inning when Ike Lucas first singled, then moved to second on a hit by Dawson Schwalm, before Will Kimmel hit a single that bounced over the glove of the Sayre third baseman that brought Lucas home.
Logan Yoder had the other RBI in the game, driving home Schwalm with a line drive to right field. Schwalm finished the game with three hits to lead Tri-Valley.
Willy Kimmel got the complete game victory, striking out two and allowing one walk and four hits.
With the delays, Tri-Valley would play in the quarterfinal less than 24 hours later, taking on the District III champion High Point Baptist in Fredericksburg.
Tri-Valley — 000 010 1 — 2 10 1
Sayre — 000 000 0 — 0 4 2
W — Kimmel. L — Rockwell.
Hits: Tri-Valley — Schwalm 3, Kimmel 2, Yoder, Buchanan, Masser, Lucas. Sayre — Williams, Rockwell, C. Hanifan, Q. Hanifan.
2B — Buchanan.

PG’s Lally, UDA’s Miller earn bronze medals

LARRY DEKLINSKI/STAFF PHOTO Pine Grove’s Christina DiFalco leads the pack into turn one during the girls AA 3200-meter run Saturday at the PIAA State Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University.

SHIPPENSBURG — Pine Grove’s Christina DiFalco brought home Gold for Pine Grove at the PIAA Class AA State Track and Field Championship.
DiFalco ran a career-best time of 10:47.61, shaving eight seconds off her time when she earned the District XI crown a week earlier to claim the gold at the meet May 27 at Seth Grove Stadium on the campus of Shippensburg University.
The sophomore runner is no stranger to state medals, earning a silver at the PIAA Class A Cross Country Championships in the fall, and setting the best time in the state earlier this season.
Cardinal teammate McKayla Lally also came home with a bit of hardware, earning a bronze medal in the 800-meter run. Lally qualified for the finals on Friday, taking second place in her heat with a time of 2:18.18.
In Saturday’s finals, Lally was a bit faster, earning the third place medal with a time of 2:15.37. It was a drop as Lally came into the event ranked first in the state.
The area’s other bronze medalist was Upper Dauphin’s Brenden Miller, who brought home third in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 9:28.50, shaving off a good two seconds off his time in the District III race, which he finished second in. (more…)

Rebecca Zemencik/Citizen-Standard Photo A group of seventh grade boys bounce on exercise balls while throwing smaller balls to each other as part of the health and wellness grant that the district received.

By Rebecca Zemencik, Managing Editor • rebecca-z@citizenstandard.com

HEGINS – The Pennsylvania Department of Health is partnering with Penn State PRO Wellness to provide 15 districts in Pennsylvania with funding and resources necessary to create and implement supportive nutrition environments, quality physical education and physical activity in schools.
The Tri-Valley High School Physical Education Department received one-on-one support and up to $11,000 over a two-year period to make sustainable changes to nutrition and physical activity policies and practices as a part of a statewide Building Healthy Schools grant program. (more…)

Six area wrestlers bring home medals from PIAA tournament

MIKE LEITER/For The Citizen-Standard Tri-Valley’s Danny Scheib rides out Reynolds’ Cole Rickert in the 285-pound Class AA Semifinal at the PIAA State Class AA Wrestling Championships Friday, March 10 at the Giant Center, Hershey. Scheib would win this match en route to a second-place finish in the tournament.

HERSHEY – For Tri-Valley’s Danny Scheib, it was a journey that came full circle, but ever so close.
Scheib came to the PIAA Class AA state wrestling championships on a mission. Return to the form he was at before an injury took him out of the sport the previous year before.
He accomplished that and more as he was the area’s highest placewinner out of six area wrestlers that brought home medals from the tournament held last weekend at the Giant Center, Hershey.
Schend period or that reached the 285-pound finals, won three decisions throughout the tournament before running into his finals opponent, Toby Cahill of Berlin-BrothersValley.
As the two squared off in the final match of the tournament, Cahill worked a significant weight and power advantage, taking him down after the first minute of the bout, leading 2-0 after the first period.

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TV’s Scheib and Hepler, UDA’s Garber and LM’s Kieffer win district titles

District XI
BETHLEHEM – Nine area wrestlers from District XI earned the right to continue on their quest for a PIAA state wrestling championship, heading into this weekend’s Southeastern Regional tournament at Wilson High School, West Lawn.
Tri-Valley was the most successful out of the area teams, crowning two District XI champions in Sammy Hepler at 138 pounds and Dan Scheib at 285 pounds. Scheib was named the tournament’s outstanding wrestler as the Bulldogs finished third in the team standings, behind champion Saucon Valley and Wilson.
The Bulldogs will send five to the regional tournament. In addition to Scheib and Hepler, Bulldog wrestlers Cal Schoffstall (113), Dawson Schwalm (170) and Kolt Schaeffer (183) finished second in the tournament.
Tri-Valley was the only team to send wrestlers to the championship finals as the rest of the qualifiers made their way through the consolation brackets. Earning third place finishes in the District XI tournament were Dillon Kintzel and Carson Rittenbaugh of Pine Grove. Joining them is fellow Cardinal Zach Leffler, who finished fourth.
Also qualifying for regionals are Williams Valley’s Mikey Myers at 106 pounds and Ian Minnich at 285.
District III
Eight area wrestlers earned their spots in the PIAA Class AA Southeast Regional this weekend, joining the District XI qualifiers at Wilson High School, West Lawn.
Seven of those wrestlers will be representing Upper Dauphin, led by the school’s lone district champion, Bronson Garber, beating his opponent 5-0 in the 120-pound finals.
With the top seven earning their place in the regional tournament, Garber is joined by third-place finishers Jackson Kennerly and Donny Gelnett, fourth-place winners Ethan Paul and Zach Rupp, fifth place finisher Mason Wiest, and seventh-place finisher Evan Hoffman and Hayden McAllister.
Jakob Paul is Halifax’s lone representative at the regional tournament. Paul earned a second-place finish, losing in the finals to Bishop McDevitt’s Cole Nye by a 13-3 major decision.
District IV
Line Mountain finished in third place in the team standings at last weekend’s District IV Class AA wrestling Championship, held at Williamsport High School.
Wrestlers advancing for Line Mountain include two-time champion Garrett Kieffer (285), runnerups Matt Coller (106), and Caleb Shaffer (138); third-place finishers Cole Hauck (120), and Collin Klinger (132) and fifth-place finishers Brian Earlston (126) and Kenny Boyer (145).
Kieffer will be the only top-seeded wrestler for Line Mountain heading into the fast approaching PIAA Northeast Regional Class AA Tournament scheduled for Friday and Saturday back at Williamsport.
Three District Two wrestlers will join five wrestlers from District Four to form eight-man brackets in each of the 14 weight classes, ranging from 106 pounds to 285.
The top four wrestlers in each bracket will earn a trip to Hershey for state competition set for Thursday, March 9 through Saturday, March 11.
At 106 pounds, Coller (35-9) enters competition as a three-seed and will face Lackawanna Trail’s Cullen Ratchford (27-10), a six seed, in the quarterfinals.
Sixth-seeded Hauck, of Line Mountain, is set to meet No. 3 wrestler Fred Lewis (28-5), of Blue Ridge, in the opening round of 120-pound competition.
Earlston (28-7) will face top-seeded Brandon Judge (30-2), of Valley View.
Klinger (38-11) enters the 132-pound bracket in the fifth position and is scheduled to wrestle R.J. Driscoll (25-12) of Lake-Lehman in the quarterfinals.
Shaffer (29-17), Line Mountain’s 138-pounder, will face No. 5 Alec Talanca (16-6), of Berwick in his opening round.
An all-District IV quarterfinal matchup at 145 pounds will consist of top-seeded Southern Columbia wrestler Todd Lane (39-4) taking on No. 8 Kenny Boyer (27-12), of Line Mountain.
Line Mountain heavyweight Garrett Kieffer (34-5) will face No. 8 Sam Rishel (32-7), of Mifflinburg.

Lady Wildcats, Pine Grove, Line Mountain open post-season play this week

MIKE LEITER/For The Citizen-Standard The Halifax Lady Wildcats pose for a picture after winning the 2016-2017 Tri-Valley League Girls Championship, defeating Juniata 44-29 in the title game Feb. 17 at Line Mountain High School. Team members and coaches are, from left, front row, Maddie Flinkinger, Ella Starr, Hollie Long, Jordan Ashberry, Taylor Lenker, Kylie Egli, Lauren Shumber; back row, head coach Dean Kerstetter, Melody Davis, Amanda Acri, Lucy Spicher, Brynn Miller, Brianna Turner, Mallori Bingaman, and assistant coach Erin Kerstetter.

Halifax started their postseason off with a big win, defeating both East Juniata and Juniata to win the Tri-Valley League Championship, heading into District III that will begin on Friday, Feb. 24.
Pine Grove, the lone area qualifier in District XI, had a rough start to their second season, dropping out of the Schuylkill League playoffs with a 68-39 to eventual champion Minersville on Friday, Feb. 14. The Lady Cardinals will open up play in the District XI Class AAA tournament as the fourth seed with a game on Friday, Feb. 24 at Martz Hall, Pottsville against Collegium Charter School.
Line Mountain earned the fourth seed in the District IV Class AA tournament, earning a home game against fifth-seeded Muncy, which was played Tuesday, Feb. 21 after this issue went to press.

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TIM ZYLA/For The Citizen-Standard Line Mountain’s Kenny Boyer controls Burrell’s Shaun Gates during a 160-pound bout at the PIAA Class AA Team Wrestling Championships Feb. 9 at the Giant Center in Hershey.

PIAA Class AA Team wrestling tournament
Consolation round
Southern Columbia 37, Line Mountain 25
HERSHEY — Southern Columbia jumped out to an early 16-0 lead and never looked back, knocking Line Mountain out of the tournament en route to the Tigers finishing the tournament in third place.
“Against Southern, we needed everything to go right to have a chance,” said Line Mountain coach Mike Martz.
That didn’t happen almost at the start, when Ethan Long and Jaron Renn dropped 7-5 and 4-3 decisions, respectively

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By Chuck Souders, For The Citizen-Standard • chuck_s@newsitem.com

LARRY DEKLINSKI/For The Citizen-Standard Line Mountain’s Gary Laudenslager takes Lewisburg’s Zane Yoder to the ground in a 160-pound quarterfinal bout during the District 4 Duals Tournament at Milton High School.

MILTON — Most followers of District Four wrestling figured Saturday’s district dual championships at Milton Area High School might come down to the top two seeds, unbeatens Line Mountain and Southern Columbia, in the final, which it did.
Probably not as many saw that match coming down to the final bout, with the Tigers’ unbeaten Jaret Lane (29-0) pinning Cameron Hauck in 44 seconds to give Southern its first team duals championship, 37-28.
Southern (17-0) advance to the state tournament in Hershey for the second straight year, and Line Mountain (19-1) will host District Nine runnerup Coudersport in a pigtail bracket match Monday at 6 p.m. Wyalusing (20-2), which beat Athens 40-34 for third place, will travel to the home of the District Three runnerup Monday in another pigtail match.
Southern, which beat Towanda 55-18 in the quarterfinals and Wyalusing 35-30 in the semifinals, had a seemingly insurmountable 31-10 lead in the final after freshman Lear Quinton (14-10) knocked off Ethan Long 6-3 at 195. Long, 25-10 entering the day, had a rough 0-3 afternoon.

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MIKE LEITER/For The Citizen-Standard Tri-Valley’s Sammy Hepler works on turning over Tamaqua’s Tanner McHugh during the 138-pound final at the Comprehensive Women’s Health Services Schuylkill League Wrestling Championship Jan. 21 at Jim Thorpe Area High School. Hepler won the bout by major decision 11-3 to become a four-time Schuylkill League wrestling champion and was named the tournament’s outstanding wrestler.

JIM THORPE — Tri-Valley’s Sammy Hepler became the 14th wrestler since 1985 to become a four-time Schuylkill League Champion.
Hepler, who was named the outstanding wrestler at this past weekend’s Comprehensive Women’s Health Services Schuylkill League Wrestling Championships at Jim Thorpe Area High School, won the 138-pound title with an 11-3 major decision over Tamaqua’s Tanner McHugh, raising his record to 21-1.
His win, along with titles from Kolt Schaeffer and Dan Scheib, helped Tri-Valley to a third-place finish in the standings. Upper Dauphin, who crowned two champions in Brandon Garber and Jackson Kennerly, finished second in the standings with 173. Pottsville was named team champions.
The area’s other Schuylkill League Champion was Halifax’s Jakob Paul, winning the 220-pound title while remaining undefeated on the season.
Championship finals
106: Wi. Kahler (PO) dec. Paul (UDA), 4-2 SV; 113: Onea (PO) dec. Schoffstall (TV), 7-5 SV; 120: Garber (UDA) dec. Green (PO), 7-3; 126: Mason (BM) pinned Rupp (UDA), :27; 132: Madden-Edwards (NS) tech. fall L. Bruner (HAL), 19-4 5:42; 138: Hepler (TV) maj. dec. McHugh (TAM), 11-3; 145: Bentz (PO) pinned Gehring (SH), 2:25; 152: T. Kennedy (PV) dec. Scherer (LEH), 4-3; 160: Kennerly (UDA) dec. Fegley (MAH), 7-6; 170: Painter (PO) dec. Lewandowski (MAH), 9-3; 182:

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