Baseball News

by Randy Gore

The top-seeded North Allegheny baseball team fell to the eighth-seeded Hempfield Spartans on Monday night, 3-1, in the WPIAL Class 6A quarterfinals at Boyce Mayview Park. Hempfield collected just two hits and hit the ball out of the infield only twice, both flyouts, but earned its first playoff win in four years by capitalizing on five hit batsmen and three North Allegheny errors.

The game started well for North Allegheny as a one-out single by J.J. Mancuso and an RBI double by Christian Simons gave the Tigers an immediate 1-0 lead. Despite the early deficit, Hempfield starter Josh Cayer didn’t allow a hit for the remainder of the night and retired 15 consecutive batters to end the ballgame.

With the Tigers held at bay, the Spartans tied the game at 1-1 in the second inning when Chase Sikorski raced home on a throwing error. The contest remained deadlocked until two more unearned runs scored in the fifth inning, giving Hempfield its winning margin of 3-1.

Cayer earned the victory for Hempfield with a complete game two-hitter and eight strikeouts. NA starter Nico Varlotta was the hard-luck loser, going 6.2 innings with six strikeouts and three unearned runs allowed.

For a remarkable four-year run donning the black and gold, including a WPIAL championship victory last season, the North Allegheny seniors were named the Wright Automotive Players of the game.

With the loss, North Allegheny’s season ends with a 14-7 record. Hempfield improves to 9-12 overall and advances to the WPIAL semifinals to face Norwin on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.

Baseball Summary at Hempfield, 5-19-25

Score By Innings	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Hempfield	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	3	2	1
North Allegheny	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	3

WP - Josh Cayer
LP - Nico Varlotta (2-3)