If you thought Seneca Valley superstar Lexie Hames couldn’t possibly get any better after her stellar sophomore season, you might want to think again.
Just in case anybody forgot who is the most dominant two-way player in the state, Hames was happy to issue a reminder via an 18-strikeout no-hitter in a 2-0 home win against defending WPIAL Class 6A champion Hempfield on Wednesday afternoon. Hames allowed one baserunner on a walk to begin the second inning before retiring the final 18 batters she faced in order, and the Clemson recruit also drew a pair of intentional walks before smacking a hard-hit single up the middle in her final plate appearance.
For anybody else, this would qualify as the performance of a lifetime. For Hames, though, it was just another day at the office.
“Honestly, that was a team win,” Hames said. “Our defense made some amazing plays, and I couldn’t have done it without them.”
As a sophomore, Hames struck out a whopping 269 batters in 122 innings while posting a record of 17-2 with an 0.46 ERA and 0.49 WHIP — and early returns indicate the towering 6-1 flamethrower is even more unhittable as a junior.
Through her first eight games, Hames is 8-0 with an 0.00 ERA and 0.38 WHIP, racking up 102 strikeouts while allowing only eight hits and eight walks in 42 innings pitched. Hames has also belted a pair of home runs despite rarely getting chances to hit, giving her 21 homers for her career — and she also surpassed 500 career strikeouts in Wednesday’s win.
“The biggest goal is to get outs and win games,” Hames said. “To hit 500 [strikeouts] — I didn’t even know. Hitting 500 today was awesome. That’s definitely a milestone in my career.”
In a 3-0 win against Norwin on Saturday, Hames struck out a career-high 20 batters while hurling a one-hit shutout after taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning. In her next appearance, she fired six no-hit innings in an 8-0 win against Mt. Lebanon on Monday, followed by her dazzling performance against the defending champs on Wednesday — giving her a hitless streak of 13 innings and counting going into Friday’s matchup at Canon-McMillan.
“I’ve just been waiting for this moment,” Hames said. “[Hempfield] would not go down without a fight. Our team just produced and did what we needed to do. … It feels awesome, but our work here is not done.”
As has been the case the previous two seasons, many expect the Raiders (8-0, 5-0) and Spartans (4-1, 3-1) to clash three times this spring — twice in the regular season and once more in the playoffs. The fierce rivals split their regular-season matchups in 2022 and 2023, with Seneca Valley emerging victorious in the 2022 WPIAL semifinals en route to capturing the WPIAL Class 6A title. Last year, Hempfield ace Riley Miller conquered Hames and the Raiders in a dramatic 2-1 pitcher’s duel to reclaim the throne.
Both teams entered Wednesday’s game sporting perfect records in 2024, and both are considered among the favorites to contend for WPIAL and state titles once again in Class 6A. In this first installment of the series, though, Hames was simply untouchable.
“She’s obviously an outstanding player. Something special to watch,” said Spartans coach Tina Madison. “She’s just a special kind of kid out on the mound.”
With all but one starter returning from last year’s championship-winning squad, Hempfield has an acclaimed lineup stacked with solid hitters from top to bottom, and no real holes or weaknesses to be found. Still, only a select few players even managed to put the bat on the ball against Hames, and only three balls were put in play — two harmless pop-ups to the infield and one fly out to right field.
Seneca Valley senior Kylie Staudt made a tremendous diving catch in foul territory on the fly ball to right in the top of the fourth inning, then she promptly delivered an RBI single for her second hit of the game in the bottom of the fourth, following up an RBI triple by sophomore Abby Kalkowski to break open a tie game. That brief jolt of offense gave the Raiders a 2-0 lead that felt nearly insurmountable going into the fifth inning.
After all, with Hames in the circle, a 2-0 lead might as well be 20-0.
“I think for her, we’re always geared up to play at that top level when we’re playing against Hempfield,” said Seneca Valley coach Marlesse Hames.
As a sophomore, Hames registered only 28 official at-bats in 19 games, drawing 35 walks in 65 plate appearances. Most of the free passes were intentional, with opposing teams refusing to give the feared slugger an opportunity to showcase her prodigious power.
Hames still swatted five home runs last year while batting .393 with a .738 on-base percentage, .964 slugging percentage and 1.702 OPS on her way to earning PUP Player of the Year honors. But the Raiders struggled to capitalize on all the extra baserunners provided by the intentional walks, and their inability to give Hames the support she needed proved costly in their gut-wrenching WPIAL championship defeat.
“Offense was something we talked about,” Marlesse Hames said. “In order to make a run, we definitely had to pick up that offense that we really struggled to manufacture last year. … We got a lot of girls last year a lot of playing time, which I think is really helping with that.”
With players like Staudt and Kalkowski providing some much-needed offense at the bottom of the order — not to mention the presence of veteran leaders like Bella Gross, Anna Kalkowski and Kara Pasquale up top — it’s looking like Seneca Valley has a much deeper and more dangerous lineup than last year’s bunch.
Then again, with six shutouts in their first eight games and Hames tossing no-hitters left and right, the Raiders don’t need much offense to win — but she won’t complain about the boost in run support, either.
“Our bats this year are super hot, and I’m excited to see the rest of the season,” Hames said.
Shaler flirting with perfection
In last week’s edition of the PUP softball notebook, we reported that no team had been as flawless as Southmoreland during the Scotties’ 5-0 start to the season without allowing a run.
Apparently, Shaler and star sophomore Bria Bosiljevac must have taken that personally.
At the time, the Titans had just rattled off three consecutive wins against Mars, Laurel and Bethel Park — and like Southmoreland, they did it without allowing a run. Since then, Bosiljevac has posted three more shutouts to keep Shaler’s perfect start going with a trio of wins against Fox Chapel, North Hills and Plum to open up section play.
After spending most of last season as a closer for the PIAA Class 5A runners-up, Bosiljevac took over as the Titans’ No. 1 starter during the team’s run to the state championship game. Now, coming off her sensational debut season, Bosiljevac seems to be taking things to another level for Shaler (6-0, 3-0) this spring.
Against the Foxes, Bosiljevac tossed a complete-game one-hitter with 14 strikeouts, then she pitched the first perfect game of her career while striking out 16 in a 2-0 win against North Hills on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Bosiljevac twirled another masterful gem in a 3-0 win against Plum to keep the Titans’ perfect record intact.
Penn-Trafford producing plenty of offense
Penn-Trafford wasn’t being tabbed by many as the team to beat going into the season, but the Warriors are rapidly rising up the power rankings in Class 5A after a handful of impressive victories to start the year.
After beginning the season with a lopsided 10-0 loss to Southmoreland, Penn-Trafford bounced back to win back-to-back contests against Mount Pleasant and Bethel Park before a 5-3 defeat against Hempfield on March 28. Although the .500 start didn’t turn many heads, the Warriors have since put together a three-game winning streak that includes blowout wins against Armstrong, Franklin Regional and Kiski Area by a combined score of 43-4.
Facing off against the River Hawks as a heavy underdog in the eyes of many last Friday, Penn-Trafford rolled to an eye-opening 11-3 win in a rematch of the 2022 WPIAL Class 5A final. The Warriors then turned in an equally impressive 14-1 rout against the high-powered Panthers on Monday — highlighted by Cam Ponko’s two-homer, seven-RBI third inning — followed by an 18-0 drubbing against the Cavaliers on Tuesday to establish firm control of the top spot in the rugged Class 5A Section 2.
Long considered one of the premier programs in Class 5A under coach Denny Little, Penn-Trafford has surprisingly never won a WPIAL softball title — but it’s looking like this could be the Warriors’ best chance yet.
Steve is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at srotstein@unionprogress.com.
