Seneca Valley 'Fab Four' Still in the Playoff Hunt

Call them the Fab Four, or the Final Four.

varsity teams – baseball, softball, girls lacrosse and boys volleyball - remain in the chase for WPIAL spring championships.

Now comes the last act. The Raiders’ impressive multiple-sport run through the WPIAL playoffs has entered the final stage.

The Raiders play  in the WPIAL Division I Girls Lacrosse Championship at 8 p.m. at North Hills High School.

“You get those years when you get a good crop of kids, and that’s the great thing about sports,” Seneca Valley baseball coach Eric Semega said. “Every single year you have an opportunity to do something and set a bar for people to follow. This just happens to be one of those years for Seneca Valley, not only in baseball, but for all the other sports involved.”

The Raiders’ baseball team became the latest group to join the steady march to the finals with a 2-1 victory over Bethel Park in the Class AAAA semifinals Wednesday at North Allegheny.

Seneca Valley (15-3) plays Peters Township (19-1) for the Quad-A baseball title at Consol Energy Park in Washington on May 31 or June 1 at a time to be announced.

“It’s awesome to be going to states and have a chance to win the WPIALs,” Raiders second baseman Jack Graham said. “It’s what we talked about from the beginning of the year.”

Seneca Valley junior starting pitcher Matt Smith blended his fastball, curve and changeup while giving up one in the first inning to earn the victory. He tossed an eight-strikeout, three-hitter.

“He (Smith) looked very good today,” Semega said. “He was difficult to hit. His curveball was very effective and his fastball made it even that much better.”

Seneca Valley’s Sam Fragale supplied the only extra-base hit of the game with a double in the second inning. Fragale scored the winning run on Jack Graham’s single.

“I was pretty happy with the way we swung the bat,” Semega said. “We had some bad at-bats, but we had some hard-hit balls that turned into outs.

“But to be honest with you, I knew it was going to be down to the wire,” the Raiders coach said.

Earlier Wednesday, the Raiders' softball team punched its ticket to the final with a dominating 12-2 victory over Baldwin (11-4) in six innings at Woodland Hills.

Seneca Valley (13-5) takes on Latrobe (14-4) in the Class AAAA Softball Championship on June 2 at California University at a time to be determined.

“We had a pretty good day overall, and a nice win, so now it looks like we’re going to Cal State,” Raiders softball coach George Trew said.

Trailing 1-0 going into the bottom of the fourth, the Raiders' softball lineup scored 11 runs as Erin Mullen, Lauren Davies, Julia Vandrak and Sarah Blagg each produced two-run base hits. Mullen doubled twice and scored three runs in the game.

Winning pitcher Emily Watson struck out three and walked five.

“Emily pitched another outstanding game,” Trew said.

Seneca Valley’s boys volleyball team earned its first WPIAL title berth by sweeping Norwin (25-17, 25-23, 25-23) Wednesday night at Chartiers Valley.

The Raiders will challenge North Allegheny for the WPIAL Class AAA Volleyball Championship at 8 p.m. Friday at Chartiers Valley High School.

The Seneca Valley boys lacrosse team dropped out of the WPIAL Division I title chase following a 9-7 loss to Mt. Lebanon.

However, Seneca Valley remains eligible to participate in the PIAA boys lacrosse playoffs, which open next week. Seneca Valley went all the way to the state semifinals last season.