May 6, 2025 12:01 am
WPIAL baseball & softball section play is set to wrap up this week, though Mother Nature may have something more to say on that subject. Most Monday games that would impact playoff status for Washington & Greene County teams either were never started or weren’t able to be completed. Here’s a rundown of the playoff status for the 19 Washington & Greene County schools.
Softball:
6A Canon-McMillan will be 4th in the six-team playoff bracket.
5A Trinity has clinched, can share the Section 4 title but will need some help.
3A McGuffey and Charleroi have clinched, finishing 2-3 in Section 3.
2A Section 3 Chartiers-Houston wins the title. Burgettstown is 4th.
2A Section 4 Waynesburg is 2nd, Bentworth 4th.
1A Carmichaels has clinched a share of the Section 2 title. West Greene clinches a share with a win against the Mikes on Tuesday. Jeff-Morgan is 3rd, Avella 4th.
Eliminated: 5A Peters Township, 4A Ringgold, 2A California, Fort Cherry, Wash High, 1A Beth-Center, Mapletown.
Baseball:
6A Canon-McMillan is the Section 2 champion.
5A Peters Township has clinched. Trinity is alive, needing to make up one game vs. South Fayette or two games on Upper St. Clair.
4A Ringgold has clinched as the 4th place team in Section 2
3A Waynesburg is the Section 4 champion. Charleroi has clinched, currently in 2nd place. McGuffey clinches with one win vs. Seton-La Salle or with a Keystone Oaks loss.
2A Burgettstown and Fort Cherry have clinched and play each other for the Section 1 title Tuesday/Wednesday California clinches with one win, or via a multi-team tie-breaker. Chartiers-Houston clinches with a win.
1A Jeff-Morgan and Carmichaels have clinched. Carmichaels is in 2nd place in Section 1, a half-game ahead of Jeff-Morgan, two games behind Greensburg Central Catholic. Avella has completed section play and clinches 4th with a Jeff-Morgan win over Jeannette. The Eagles are out if Jeannette sweeps the Rockets.
Eliminated: 3A Wash High, 2A Bentworth, 2A Beth-Center, 1A Mapletown, West Greene
May 6, 2025 4:33 am
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Willson Contreras hit a go-ahead home run in a four-run sixth inning and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-3 on Monday night for their third straight victory. Contreras’ fifth home run came off Pirates reliever Chase Shugart, who walked Nolan Arenado after coming in with the bases empty, one out and a 3-2 lead. Jose Barrero, who hit his first homer as a Cardinal earlier, added a bases-loaded ground-rule double off Shugart for a 6-3 lead. Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas allowed three runs on four hits in five innings. Gordon Graceffo (2-0) pitched the sixth for the win. Ryan Helsley notched his sixth save.
May 6, 2025 4:36 am
The Baltimore Ravens say they are releasing kicker Justin Tucker, months after reports that he was accused of inappropriate sexual behavior by massage therapists. The Baltimore Banner has reported that over a dozen massage therapists have accused Tucker of inappropriate sexual behavior. The NFL said it would investigate, and the Ravens drafted kicker Tyler Loop late last month. Last weekend, coach John Harbaugh suggested a decision on Tucker might come before the NFL completed its inquiry.
May 6, 2025 3:32 pm
(AP) – Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty won’t run in the Preakness Stakes. That means there will not be a Triple Crown winner for a seventh consecutive year. Trainer Bill Mott told Preakness officials that the plan will be to enter Sovereignty in the Belmont Stakes on June 7. This is the fourth time since Justify won all three races in 2018 that the Preakness will go on without a true shot at a Triple Crown. The short, two-week turnaround from the Kentucky Derby to the Preakness and changes in modern racing have sparked debate around the sport about spacing out the races.
May 6, 2025 4:34 am
The New York Islanders won the NHL draft lottery on Monday and vaulted nine teams, including the last-place San Jose Sharks, in winning the opportunity to have the No. 1 pick. The Islanders, who finished 10th in the standings and are in the midst of a front-office change, overcame having just a 3.5% chance to winning the lottery. Utah won the second lottery drawing and made the jump from 14th to fourth. The Sharks will pick second after entering the day with the best odds, 18.5%, to win the lottery and a 25.5% chance of landing the No. 1 choice. The Penguins will have the 11th selection in the first round.
May 5, 2025 12:01 am
Softball and baseball section play is set to wrap up by the end of the night Wednesday. WPIAL softball playoff brackets are due out Thursday with baseball pairings scheduled to be released on Friday. Here’s a rundown of the playoff status for the 19 Washington & Greene County schools.
Softball:
6A Canon-McMillan has clinched and can climb as high as #4 in the six-team field.
5A Trinity has clinched, can share the Section 4 title but will need some help.
3A McGuffey and Charleroi have clinched, finishing 2-3 in Section 3.
2A Section 3 Chartiers-Houston wins the title. Burgettstown is 4th.
2A Section 4 Waynesburg is 2nd, Bentworth 4th.
1A Carmichaels has clinched a share of the Section 2 title. West Greene clinches a share with a win against the Mikes on Monday. Jeff-Morgan is 3rd, Avella 4th.
Eliminated: 5A Peters Township, 4A Ringgold, 2A California, Fort Cherry, Wash High, 1A Beth-Center, Mapletown.
Baseball:
6A Canon-McMillan is the Section 2 champion.
5A Peters Township has clinched. Trinity is alive, needing to make up one game vs. South Fayette or two games on Upper St. Clair.
4A Ringgold has clinched as the 4th place team in Section 2
3A Waynesburg is the Section 4 champion. Charleroi has clinched, currently in 2nd place. McGuffey clinches with one win vs. Seton-La Salle or with a Keystone Oaks loss.
2A Burgettstown and Fort Cherry have clinched and play each other for the Section 1 title Monday/Tuesday. California clinches with one win, or via a multi-team tie-breaker. Chartiers-Houston clinches with a win. Beth-Center is alive but must sweep Frazier and see California sweep Chartiers-Houston.
1A Jeff-Morgan and Carmichaels have clinched. The two are currently tied for 2nd place in Section 1, two games behind Greensburg Central Catholic. Avella has completed section play and clinches 4th with a Jeff-Morgan win over Jeannette. The Eagles are out if Jeannette sweeps the Rockets.
Eliminated: 3A Wash High, 2A Bentworth, 1A Mapletown, West Greene
May 5, 2025 4:35 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Stephen Kolek pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings in his first major league start and combined with four relievers for the San Diego Padres’ eighth shutout of the season, a 4-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates for their fifth straight win. Kolek was recalled from Triple-A El Paso before the game. He made 42 relief appearances for the Padres last season as a rookie after being selected from Seattle in the Rule 5 draft. Xander Bogaerts had three RBIs for the Padres, who scored all their runs in the first two innings off Andrew Heaney (2-3), who was pulled with two outs in the fourth.
May 5, 2025 4:38 am
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Adam Lowry scored on a tipped shot 16:10 into the second overtime and the Winnipeg Jets rallied to beat the St. Louis Blues 4-3 to advance to the second round of the NHL playoffs. Cole Perfetti had two goals, Vladislav Namestnikov also scored, and Kyle Connor and Neal Pionk each had three assists for Winnipeg, which scored twice in the final two minutes of regulation to tie the score. Connor Hellebuyck finished with 26 saves. Jordan Kyrou, Mathieu Joseph and Radek Faksa scored for the Blues. Jordan Binnington had 43 saves. The Jets will next face the Dallas Stars starting Wednesday at home in the teams’ first postseason meeting.
May 5, 2025 4:39 am
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Sovereignty’s Kentucky Derby victory in the muck at Churchill Downs sparked curiosity over whether the colt can build on his signature win over a possibly drier, faster surface on the Triple Crown trail. The question now is whether that test will come sooner or later. Trainer Bill Mott initially seemed inclined to bypass the Preakness on May 17 in Baltimore for the Belmont next month but will decide this week. Trainers for other Derby horses face similar decisions after a muddy race that was new for many competitors.
May 4, 2025 8:12 am
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Sovereignty out-dueled 3-1 favorite Journalism down the stretch to win the 151st Kentucky Derby by 1 1/2 lengths in the slop. Trainer Bill Mott won his first Derby in 2019, also run on a sloppy track, when Country House was elevated to first after Maximum Security crossed the finish line first and was disqualified after a 22-minute delay. This time, he knew the result immediately. Journalism found trouble in the first turn and jockey Umberto Rispoli moved him to the outside. He and Sovereignty hooked up at the eighth pole before Sovereignty and jockey Junior Alvarado pulled away. (Photo: AP)
