The Elk County Catholic baseball team will be staying close to home, while the Smethport softball team will be hitting the road for their respective PIAA playoff openers Monday.
The Crusaders, unbeaten at 22-0 and fresh off a 13-3, five-inning win over Cranberry in the District 9 Class A title game, will play the No. 3 seed from the WPIAL (District 7) Sewickley Academy at 4:30 p.m. at Brockway High School.
ECC will look to make it two-straight teams from Elk County to win PIAA championships, as the Johnsonburg Rams won the Class A state title in 2013.
The Lady Hubbers, meanwhile, coming off a 4-0 loss to DuBois Central Catholic in the D-9 championship game, will be heading to North Allegheny High School to take on WPIAL champion Neshannock at 3:00 p.m.
North Allegheny is located in Wexford, approximately 15 miles north of Pittsburgh.
Elk County Catholic’s game is part of a D-9 baseball doubleheader, as DuBois will play WPIAL runner-up Baldwin at 2:30 p.m. in the Class AAAA first round.
As such, Elk County Catholic’s start time of 4:30 p.m. should be considered tentative.
Other District 9 baseball teams in action include Class A runner-up Cranberry taking on WPIAL champ California (whom Johnsonburg beat 8-1 in the semifinals last season) at 3 p.m. at the Burkett Complex in Robinson Township (located 11 miles east of downtown Pittsburgh), Class AA champ Karns City playing D-10 runner up Northwestern at 5 p.m. at Clarion- Limestone High School and Class AAA champ Punxsutawney against WPIAL champion West Allegheny at Pullman Park in Butler (4:30 p.m.)
In other softball games involving District 9 teams, Class AAA champ St. Marys plays WPIAL No. 2 Mars at 3:30 p.m. at Brockway, while Class AAAA champ DuBois plays WPIAL runner-up Canon-McMillan at 5:30 p.m. at Brockway, another game time that should be considered tentative.
Class A champ DuBois Central Catholic plays D-6 runner-up Claysburg Kimmel at 3:30 p.m. at Clarion-Limestone, while Class AA champ Moniteau plays D-6 runner-up Philipsburg-Osceola with a tentative start time of 5:30 p.m. at C-L.
All games are on Monday.
Potential D-9 PIAA Quarterfinal Opponents
BASEBALL
Class A
Elk County Catholic — 5-1 Southern Fulton or 7-2 Carmichaels
Cranberry — 6-1 Bishop McCort or 10-1 Eisenhower
Class AA
Karns City — 7-1 Steel Valley or 5-1 Bedford
Class AAA
Punxsutawney — 10-1 Cathedral Prep or 7-3 West Mifflin
Class AAAA
DuBois — 7-1 Seneca Valley or 7-3 Moon
SOFTBALL
Class A
DuBois Central Catholic — 10-1 Iroquois or 7-2 South Side Beaver
Smethport — 6-1 Southern Huntingdon or 7-3 Burgettstown
Class AA
Moniteau — 7-1 Beaver or 5-1 Everett
Class AAA
St. Marys — TBA
Class AAAA
DuBois — 7-1 Shaler or 7-3 Latrobe
