Peter Diana, Post-Gazette A HAIR-OWING EXPERIENCE: Hopewell's Becky Novacek clears the bar at 5 feet Friday during the field events at the Baldwin Invitational. Novacek went on to win the event with a jump of 5-6. Click photo for larger image.

Nothing has worked this season to slow down the Riverside baseball team's offense. Not even some underhanded tactics.

In what has to go down as some of the strangest tactics used in WPIAL baseball, Neshannock threw some underhanded pitches to Riverside batters in a recent game. When Neshannock pitcher Mark Butler threw overhand, he tried a number of "ephus" pitches, where the ball comes in slowly and with an arc.

Riverside trailed the contest, 4-3, after four innings, but came back to win, 23-6.

"I'd say maybe 60 percent of their pitches through the first five innings were either underhanded or with an arc as big as 10 feet," Riverside coach Dan Oliastro said. "In my 39 years of coaching, I've never seen anything like it."

The WPIAL is aware of Neshannock's tactics and has asked both teams to send a report on the game to the league office in Green Tree. The league will then decide if it should pursue the matter to protect the integrity of the sport.

"At times, it was like girls' slow-pitch softball," Oliastro said.

Riverside is undefeated at 16-0, and its offense has been practically unstoppable. The Panthers have scored 10 runs or more in 15 of 16 games and had defeated Neshannock, 12-1, earlier this season.

Neshannock coach Mike Kirkwood contended his team was "short" on pitching against Riverside. He said his projected starter was suspended from school.

"I thought about every possible way to keep us in the game and this is what we came up with," Kirkwood said. "We were just throwing a lot of 'ephus' pitches and they struggled with it for a while."

The origination of the "ephus" pitch goes back to Rip Sewell of the Pirates in the 1930s.

"We were not doing it as a joke or to be funny," Kirkwood said.

"We were just trying to be competitive. It's like running the four corners in basketball. You have to come up with some kind of tactic to keep the game close."

Kirkwood claimed the pitches did not break any rules and the home-plate umpire did not stop the tactic.

"The umpire was confused. He didn't know what to do with the strike zone," Oliastro said. "My contention is the strike zone is horizontal and not vertical.

"My feeling is that [Neshannock] made a farce out of the game. The umpire should've said, 'If you do this, I'm going to call every one of those pitches a ball.' "

Jeter a hit

Beaver Falls' Lance Jeter is seemingly making a push for athlete of the year.

Jeter's talents in football and basketball have been well-chronicled. It also has been pointed out he is playing baseball for the first time in high school.

But Jeter isn't just playing baseball. He's having an impact. He had three hits in a victory Wednesday against Laurel. Last Saturday, he hit a walk-off grand slam in an 8-4 victory against Langley.

Petersen bids

The PIAA boys' and girls' basketball championships have been played in Hershey for 30 of the past 31 seasons. The University of Pittsburgh would like to see the games at the Petersen Events Center.

The Petersen Center has put in a bid to play host to the games for a three-year period, starting next season. The Giant Center in Hershey, the Bryce Jordan Center at Penn State and the Liacoruas Center at Temple University also have put in bids.

It seems unlikely the PIAA would move the games out of Hershey because they have drawn well, and the PIAA offices are close to Hershey. However, the only time in the past 31 seasons the basketball championships weren't in Hershey was 1979. That year, they were at the Civic Arena.

The PIAA will select a site in late May.

Ohio still wanted?

The Ohio Football Coaches Association recently voted to continue its relationship with Pennsylvania in the Big 33 all-star football game. But is the feeling mutual?

Big 33 officials are not happy with the team Ohio is sending for this year's Big 33 game, June 17 in Hershey. Ohio's North-South all-star game is the same day and many of the top players in the state are playing in the North-South game.

This is the first year the Big 33 and North-South games have been on the same day.

Of the top 33 players in Ohio, according to Super Prep magazine, only seven are playing in the Big 33. One of them is Copley running back Delone Carter, Mr. Football in Ohio last season.

"I think Ohio is working very hard to come up with a structure of where they put the best players in the Big 33 and keep the North-South people happy," said Mickey Minnich, the director of the Big 33.

Big 33 officials are considering Maryland as a possible future opponent. New Jersey also is interested in playing, but that state wants the game played in New Jersey every other year.

Seventeen members of the Big 33 board and 40 from the Pennsylvania State Football Coaches Association will vote in June to determine next year's opponent for Pennsylvania.

"We've told the people in Ohio how much we love what they do and that they're our best matchup," Minnich said. "But we have to do what's best for the Big 33."

NFL material

Three former WPIAL players were selected in the NFL draft last weekend -- Aliquippa's Josh Lay, Seton-LaSalle's Bruce Gradkowski and Thomas Jefferson's Tyler Reed.

But two high schools in California had three players selected in the draft, according to www.prepnation.com. Three graduates of De La Salle and three from Long Beach Poly were picked by NFL teams. If that's not impressive enough, consider this: All six players were taken in the first four rounds.

De La Salle's top selection was running back Maurice Drew of UCLA (second round). Poly's top selection was tight end Marcedes Lewis of UCLA (first round).

Five of the six draft picks from De La Salle and Poly played against each other when the two teams met in a 2001 game.