Jaguars continue Cinderella run to 5A championship

The game started nearly 90 minutes after it’s scheduled start time of 7 p.m. but the delay didn’t bother the Jaguars.

Editor’s note: Due to the first two games of Wednesday’s tripleheader going extra innings, the rest of this story was unavailable prior to press time. The complete story will be updated online and in Friday’s electronic edition.

A pair of double-digit softball seeds waited overtime Wednesday night for a chance to meet top-seeded Armstrong in the WPIAL Class 5A championship game.

After a delayed start of 1 hour and 20 minute, No. 10 Thomas Jefferson earned a shot at the River Hawks with a 4-2 victory over No. 11 Latrobe in the third game of a playoff tripleheader at Gateway.

Aubrey Shaffer pitched a four-hitter and Adalina Bracco’s two-run single sparked a three-run, second-inning uprising that carried Thomas Jefferson (11-7) to success in the semifinals and sent Latrobe (11-11) into the third-place consolation game against No. 4 Penn-Trafford.

Shaffer finished the complete game with five strikeouts and one walk, allowing both Latrobe runs on opposing pitcher Kayla Williams’ fourth-inning homer and sixth-inning sacrifice fly.

The Class 5A championship and third-place consolation games will be played at PennWest California on a date to be determined.

Shaffer rode Thomas Jefferson’s three-run burst in the second as the Jaguars could managed just four hits against the hard-luck loser Williams.

Layla Patterson’s RBI double in the fourth gave Thomas Jefferson a 4-1 lead after Williams belted her home run in the top of the inning to pull Latrobe within a pair.

The game was delayed after Armstrong needed 2 1/2 hours in the opener to beat Penn-Trafford, 8-6, in the other Class 5A semifinal on Emma Paul’s two-run, walk-off home run in the bottom of the eighth inning and Norwin upset Hempfield, 5-2, in the Class 6A championship game in another long affair.

Macie McHugh notched two of Latrobe’s four hits, including a double.