News

For the second year in a row, the Mars baseball team will have a shot at playing at Wild Things Park in Washington, Pa. for the Class 5A championship.

After losing in the title game last year, the Planets earned their return trip with a 4-0 win against their section rival, Hampton, at North Allegheny High School on Thursday.

The two teams split the regular season series, but it has been Mars who have been the more dominant team of late, recording shutouts in the last two meetings against the Talbots.

A big part of that is due to the pitching performance of junior Will Bednar. Bednar pitched a complete-game, with 12 strikeouts and no walks.

The score remained 0-0 until the bottom of the fourth inning when Mars broke through with two runs on a bloop hit by senior Anthony Michalski for a 2-0 lead. That would be all the support Bednar needed, but the Planets tacked on insurance run later in the inning on a double by freshmen Mitchell Shultz and a bases loaded walk in the fifth inning with junior Tyler Kowalkowski at the plate.

The win improves Mars to 15-5 overall and is their eighth win in a row. They will face another section rival, North Hills, in the championship on Wednesday at 5 p.m.

Hampton drops to 13-5 overall and will face West Allegheny in the Class 5A Consolation game next Wednesday at 7 p.m. for a spot in the PIAA playoffs.