It usually gains acclaim when a school wins WPIAL football and basketball championships in the same school year. But North Catholic is on the verge of a double take on championships that is even more rare. (The dates for WPIAL baseball and softball playoff games has been changed, due to inclement weather.)

North Catholic has made it to the WPIAL Class AA championship and will play Shady Side Academy tomorrow night at Consol Energy Park in Washington. North Catholic won a WPIAL Class AA boys' basketball title three months ago. With a win against Shady Side, North Catholic will become only the fourth school in WPIAL history to win basketball and baseball titles in the same school year.

On top of that, North Catholic made it to the WPIAL football quarterfinals in the fall.

"For some reason a couple years ago, people were saying this senior class was a very talented, athletic group. I guess they were right," said Pat Walsh, North Catholic's second-year baseball coach.

The North Catholic-Shady Side game is one of four championships played today and tomorrow at Consol.

In the history of the WPIAL, 15 schools have won football and basketball titles in the same school year. The only three to win basketball and baseball titles in the same year are West Allegheny (2007), Mt. Lebanon (2006) and McKeesport (1955).

One of the reasons the basketball-baseball double was harder to accomplish was that, until 1979, WPIAL baseball had only one classification. From 1979-98, the league had only two baseball classes, and three from 1999-2004. Four classes started in 2005.

Football and basketball, meanwhile, had at least three classes since 1932.

One of the things that makes the North Catholic basketball-baseball success unusual is only one of the baseball team's players was on the varsity basketball team. That's unusual because sports teams at small schools usually share at least a few athletes.

Christian Wolosik is a standout pitcher for North Catholic and he was a reserve on the basketball team. Wolosik is 6-2 this season and combines with Mike Mulvey (5-0) for a nice one-two pitching punch.

The other unusual thing about the baseball team is there are no Longs.

"The question I get asked most often by people is 'How many Longs do you have on your team?'" Walsh said. "It's funny, but there is none."

The Longs have become fixtures on North Catholic sports teams the past few years and they are all related -- either brothers or cousins. Four Longs were starters on the basketball team. The same four were also central figures on the football team.

"I hear when they were small they were supposed to be heck of a baseball players, too," Walsh said.

The Class AAAA and AAA championship games match teams from the same sections.

In Class AAAA, North Allegheny and Pine-Richland split two games in the season. In AAA, Moon and Chartiers Valley also were 1-1 against each other.

"In baseball, I really don't think it matters if you've played a team before. You can't tell that much," Pine-Richland coach Kurt Wolfe said. "You don't know who was pitching the last time. A lot of things are different in baseball from game to game. ... I don't think it would matter if we played them 10 times before."

North Allegheny was the WPIAL's No. 1 seed for the playoffs and Pine-Richland No. 2.

"To be honest, I felt like I knew Pine-Richland was going to get [to thc championship] because I knew how good they were," North Allegheny coach Andy Maddix said. "I knew it would be hard for us because of some of the teams we would have to play. I'm just happy we're there."

The North Allegheny-Pine-Richland game will feature six future NCAA Division I college players.

For Pine-Richland, pitcher Vinny Nittoli and center fielder Mitch Elliott signed with Xavier. Third baseman T.J. Kuban will play at West Virginia and shortstop Matt Berezo at Duke.

For North Allegheny, center fielder Jon Wilson signed with Maryland and left fielder Jackson Boyd with Duquesne.

Carmichaels is trying to win its second consecutive Class A championship. The Mikes would be the first to repeat since Class A was formed in 1999.