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Valley West baseball ready for PIAA showdown with Boyertown

Two more wins and it&#8217;s on to the softball state championship game.Holy Redeemer has seen both side of that situation, winning the PIAA Class 2A title in 2015 and falling a game short of playing for it in 2013. Hazleton Area has never made it to a championship game. The best the Cougars could do is muster up a couple semifinal appearances &#8212; one in Class 4A in 2005 and another in Class 3A in 2000.Of course, neither team can concern themselves with next week without getting through this week. The next step happens Thursday as the last two Wyoming Valley Conference teams play at Patriots Park in the quarterfinals.The games are part of a quadruple-header at the Allentown facility. Between Hazleton Area playing at noon and Redeemer at 4 p.m., D11 champion Williams Valley and D1 champion Bristol play at 2 p.m. in a Class A game. Williams Valley made waves with its 39-0 victory over GAMP in the first round.The 6 p.m. nightcap is a Class 3A game between D2 champion Abington Heights and D1 runner-up Bishop Shanahan.Hazleton Area vs. Perkiomen ValleyPIAA 4A QuarterfinalsNoon, ThursdayPatriots Park, AllentownDistrict 2 champion Hazleton Area (22-1) entered the state playoffs with some unfinished business. The same could be said for District 1 champion Perkiomen Valley (23-4).Perkiomen Valley checked off one box on the to-do list by defeating Avon Grove for its first D1 softball championship in school history. Now the goal is to advance past the quarterfinals, where last year&#8217;s team stalled 5-3 against D11 and eventual state champion Parkland.The Vikings certainly have the resources and wherewithal. Seven starters returned from last year&#8217;s squad which struck out 17 times against Oregon recruit Maggie Balint but defeated Avon Grove 1-0 in 10 innings.Senior shortstop Ana Bruni, a South Florida recruit, leads Perkiomen Valley with a .586 batting average and 17 steals. There are plenty of seniors in the lineup including second baseman Rachael Helverson (.397, 18 RBI), catcher Nicole McCullough (.386, 4 triples) and third baseman Kelsey Impink (.328). Freshman outfielder Jordan Sell is hitting .450 and junior pitcher/outfielder Abby Wild leads the team with 19 RBI.&#8220;They have some strong hitters,&#8221; Hazleton Area coach Heather Dale said. &#8220;They got two D-I commits I know of. One is going to Rider and one to South Florida. Their defense is strong. It should be a good game.&#8221;Hazleton Area finally made it to the quarterfinals after being bumped off in the first round the last three years. Sophomore Rebecca Rossi&#8217;s RBI bunt single gave the Cougars a 2-1 victory over Penn Manor in 10 innings. Now the even trickier part &#8212; getting to the semifinals.Hazleton Area has qualified for states 13 times since the school was formed in 1992 via merger of Hazleton, Freeland and West Hazleton. The Cougars have made it to the semifinals twice and lost &#8212; in 2005 as a Class 4A team and 2000 as a Class 3A squad. (The PIAA went to four classes in softball in 2005).Junior first baseman Megan Trivelpiece leads the team with a .465 batting average, 13 doubles and 19 RBI. Rossi (.373) junior catcher Hope Kinney (.371), senior pitcher Celine Podlesney (.356) and senior shortstop Mackenzie Yori (.355) are also hitting over .300.The winner plays Monday against the winner of Thursday&#8217;s game between District 1 runner-up Avon Grove and D1 third seed West Chester East.Holy Redeemer vs. KutztownPIAA 2A Quarterfinals4 p.m. ThursdayPatriots Park, AllentownIf District 3 champion Kutztown (18-6) needs to be aware of one thing, it&#8217;s that two outs mean nothing to D2 champion Holy Redeemer (22-2). The defending state champion does some of its best hitting when its backed into a corner.Redeemer scored all of its runs with two outs in a 7-3 first-round win against D4 champion Milton. In the district semifinals and finals, five of the Royals&#8217; eight runs were scored with two outs.The big blast against Milton was a grand slam by freshman Tiana Wren, who leads the team with seven homers and a .461 batting average. She&#8217;s followed by junior Abby Shorts (.391) and freshman Allyson Laiuvara (.390). Every starter is hitting over .300.Redeemer&#8217;s one-two punch of Kristen Coffay and Morgan Bienkowski has been dominant in the circle for the most part.&#8220;For these kids, it&#8217;s not a whole lot different than what they do on a weekend basis,&#8221; Redeemer coach Jerry Paulukonis said. &#8220;They play travel ball. They play this competition all the time. They know their position, they know what they have to do.&#8221;Kutztown advanced with a 5-0 victory over D12 champ Philadelphia Academy Charter. Katie Caukins threw a two-hitter while Ashley Donat (2 for 3) and Kaela Fritz (2 RBI) supplied the offense. After a 2-3 start, Kutztown has won 16 of 19 games.Caukins threw a no-hitter in a 2-0 victory over Pequea Valley for the D3 championship. The victory gave the Cougars their first district title since 2012 and their eighth in school history. Only Chambersburg with 12 D3 softball championships has more.The winner plays Monday against the winner of Thursday&#8217;s game between D11 champion Pine Grove and D3 runner-up Pequea Valley.<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Kristen Coffay delivers a pitch against Northwest in a game earlier this season. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_Redeemer-Northwest_SB_1-1-.jpg</photo0><caption0>Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Kristen Coffay delivers a pitch against Northwest in a game earlier this season. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis file photo | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By John Erzarjerzar@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>UP NEXTPIAA 4A SoftballHazleton Areavs. Perkiomen Valleynoon Patriots Park, AllentownPIAA 2A SoftballHoly Redeemervs. Kutztown4 p.m. Patriots Park, Allentown</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</shirttailMeta></div>

Hazleton Area, Holy Redeemer softball taking the next step