Ball 2025 | yardsandpoints

Cranberry: 3 straight District 9 softball titles

Chartiers-Houston ends Berries' season

For a while on June 2 things were looking good for the Berries. Like through the first six innings.

Homesteading Cranberry, ranked 98th in the state by Max Preps, scratched out a pair of runs against No. 9 Chariters-Houston and its Division I pitcher, Meadow Ferri, a Kent State recruit, and took that 2-0 lead into the top of the seventh of the PIAA 2A first-round game.

And then, boom: single, walk, infield hit and the Bucs had the bases loaded with nobody out. Another walk forced in the first run. Then a drive by three-time 1A all-stater Ella Richey drifted over the left field fence for a grand slam, and that, as it turns out, was the ball game.

Meanwhile, Gracee Hess, the Berries' outstanding sophomore, backed by some fine defense, had been mowing them down left and right through six.

Danica Wenner replaced Hess in the circle after the first walk in the seventh. Hess came back later in the inning to finish the game.

"We can go back and evaluate it a thousand different ways. I made a pitching change, and if I wouldn't have, would it have made a difference? Who knows?" Cranberry coach Chris Shumaker told The Derrick. "Gracee put a couple of runners on, and I thought they were catching on to her. I have all the confidence in the world in Danica, and I thought a different look would throw them off. I was wrong."

Apparently buoyed by the sudden offense Ferri, looking faster than ever, struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh, and everybody went home. Ferri finished with a three-hitter that included a ringing RBI double by Keelie Schneider in the first. Ferri walked three and struck out 10.

The Berries scored their second run in the fifth after Haylie Gregory singled and came around on Avery Coe's slow roller that led to some confusion/hesitation on what to do with the ball.

Hess totaled 6.2 innings, yielding two runs, five hits and three walks. She fanned two.

Chartiers-Houston, last year's 1A state champ and this spring's WPIAL runnerup to defending 2A state champion Neshannock, will take a 21-2 record into the state quarterfinals Thursday against District 10 champion Seneca (Wattsburg).

MORE: The game was the grand finale for Gregory, Schneider, Lexi Reisinger and Cassie Scarbrough, four seniors who have been part of Berries' three-year run as District 9 2A champs. The Berries were 13-5 (or 14-5) this season, depending on how you count their trip South in early April...Max Preps updated its rankings Monday, and moved Cranberry up to No. 97 in the state overall and 10th in 2A. C-H tumbled to 23rd overall and is No. 4 in 2A after its 7-1 loss to Neshannock in the WPIAL title game...While Ferri is a Division I recruit, Richey, last year's 1A Player of the Year, is headed to Division II King University in Bristol, Tenn...Neshannock's next opponent is District 5 winner Chestnut Ridge...Neshannock walloped Sharpsville, 10-0, and CR blanked Redbank, 4-0, in other first round games Monday...Elsewhere Monday Clarion baseball upset WPIAL 1A champion Serra Catholic, 3-2, and D-10 3A champ Titusville lost to Mohawk, 5-4...

Some gaudy numbers here

Final hitting stats for the hard-hitting Cranberry

Berries, who finished 13-5 with their third straight District 9 2A crown.

Five .400 hitters and nine at .300 or better, including reserves Kennedy Stewart and Emma Morrow.

(Photos by Kelly Malek)

Grove drops 2 heartbreakers in playoffs

Elizabeth Mawhinney was outdueled by 6-2 junior Kayla Crawford as Rocky Grove dropped a 2-0 decision to Cambridge Springs in the District 10 1A playoffs Wednesday.

Crawford, a Southern Louisiana recruit, allowed two hits over seven, striking out 13, one of which was the 500th of her career.

Chloe Thomas broke up her no-hit bid in the sixth and Neveah Fultz followed with a dribbler for the other Grove safety.

Mawhinney, a senior, gave up four hits over six. She fanned seven, walked two batters and hit two others. One of the Spa runs was unearned.

That was in the second inning on an error after a two-out walk. Angela Hassinger homered in the fifth.

The Orioles, with just two seniors -- first baseman Grascen Reyburn (pictured) is the other -- finished with an 8-12 record. Cambridge moves into the title game with a 15-2 mark.

Mawhinney hurled a five-inning no-hitter earlier this season against Forest Area. She struck out 11. Only a third-inning error kept Mawhinney from a perfect game.

(Christy Fackler photos)

DP takes out baseball team

Trailing West Middlesex 3-2, the Orioles had the bases loaded in the seventh, but a 5-2-3 double play ended the game, according to a tweet from Tom Reisenhweber of the Erie Times News.

Three of the Orioles' five hits came in the seventh. Haydon Bevier took the loss, yielding three earned runs over six. The Grove closed at 10-10.

Career stats of three
four-year seniors

Aaron Wetjen -- Rocky Grove

Will McMahon -- Oil City

Drew Kockler -- Franklin

Photos by Christy Fackler

Batting and pitching stats for local baseball players.

Top hitters and pitchers since 2010. Numbers from Max Preps, but, especially from 2010-2015, some schools didn't post stats, so these may be somewhat sketchy. Still interesting, though.

Gabby Laderer and Abby Boland were freshmen on Franklin's 2022 squad that was 19-5. It was the year after the Lady Knights won their District 10 title. Pitcher Trinity Edge, Sydni Hoobler and Brandy Atwell were .500 hitters on that team, which lost to Villa in the D-10 finals.

Boland hit only .254, but Laderer contributed a .390 mark. Here's how they ended up:

Franklin photos by Christy Fackler; Oil City photo by Kelly Malek

Some big sticks here

The Franklin and Oil City softball teams might have walked softly this season, but they did carry some big sticks as can be seen in the charts below.

Franklin was 5-13 and hit .263. But the ERA was 8.30.

Oil City was 1-17, defeating only Eisenhower, before ending the season on a 16-game losing streak. The Lady Oilers hit. 241, but pitched to a 9.76 ERA and averaged 4.6 errors per game.

Shalyn Whittemore was an .077 hitter in 2024, and a .225 hitter the year before that. Don't know if she played as a freshman, but she batted .253 the last three seasons.

EDITOR'S NOTE: No Rocky Grove stats available.