In a rematch of last year's WPIAL consolation game, South Park and Riverside will play for the WPIAL Class AA championship at 5 p.m. today at California University of Pennsylvania.

The last time South Park and Riverside met on the softball diamond, a trip to the PIAA playoffs and third place in the WPIAL were on the line. When they meet today, a lot more will be riding on the outcome.

Last season, Riverside put together a four-run second inning with all its hits coming with two outs. South Park responded with three runs in the third inning but Riverside pitcher Kari Falk shut the Eagles down the rest of the way.

South Park is also going for its third WPIAL title this school year. The Eagles have captured WPIAL titles in girls' soccer and basketball. South Park junior second basemen Nicole Doria played on those two teams.

"The three-peat has not really been discussed. It's not something we are afraid to discuss, we just don't," South Park coach Scott Shipley said.

South Park went 13-2 in Section 6-AA in the regular season. The Eagles defeated Deer Lakes, 3-1, in 10 innings, Sto-Rox, 5-0, and Mohawk, 1-0, in the semifinals.

Starting pitcher Lindsay Harkins pitched all 10 innings in the Deer Lakes win. Lauren Hanlon, who replaced Harkins in the circle during the season when she was injured, came up with a two-run double in the 10th for the winning runs.

Against Mohawk, senior outfielder Nicole Balcer opened the game with a double and scored on a ground out. Harkins ensured that run would hold up by pitching a one-hitter.

South Park came into the playoffs losing three of four games but those losses may have helped the team as Shipley likes to pack as many tough teams as he can on the schedule to get the Eagles ready for the playoffs. In a four-game span, they played Class AAAA Mt. Lebanon, Class A powerhouse Vincentian and section champion South Allegheny.

"You want to play teams like Vincentian. You want to play tough teams that are solid all the way around and not that just have solid pitching," Shipley said. "The losses from the regular season did not carry over to the playoffs and I didn't think it would either."

South Park has nine seniors on the roster and seven who started last year.

Riverside opened the season with a 9-7 loss to Class AAAA Butler and then won 18 consecutive games to win the Section 5-AA title and reach the WPIAL final. In the playoffs, they defeated Burrell, 3-1; Greensburg Central Catholic, 8-2; and Washington, 5-4.

The win against Washington was especially sweet after a tough 13-1 loss to the Little Prexies in the semifinals last year.

"Last year in the playoffs our bats died and this year the kids have such determination," Riverside coach Pam McCarty said.

"The girls don't want things to happen like they did last year. They didn't like that ride home and they remember that. They didn't like that feeling and that is what's driving them."