Mike White takes a look at some rematches in the PIAA baseball and softball playoffs:

The PIAA quarterfinals bring about the same situations for the two teams that won the WPIAL Class AAAA baseball and softball championships. Peters Township's baseball team and Latrobe's softball team can look at their opponents and say "Haven't we met before?"

Peters Township plays Canon-McMillan in the baseball quarterfinals Thursday (6 p.m.) at Consol Energy Park in Washington. The two teams played in the same section during the regular season and met three times, with Peters Township winning two.

In the softball quarterfinals Thursday (2 p.m.) at Fairhaven Park in Kennedy Township, Latrobe takes on Shaler for the second time in seven days. The two met in last Thursday's WPIAL championship game, won by Latrobe, 1-0.

"I don't think it matters how many times you've played each other," said Canon-McMillan coach Steve Bucci. "I know we're excited. We kind of feel like this is the state championship game."

Peters Township beat Canon-McMillan by scores of 10-5 and 10-1, while Canon-McMillan won once, 16-11.

Canon-McMillan will face Peters Township ace Jordan Jankowski for the second time this season. Jankowski beat Canon-McMillan, 10-5.

"He had 14 strikeouts the first time," Bucci said. "We're going to have to cut that in half to have a chance."

Canon-McMillan will pitch Chris Ditmar (4-1).

"What this game is going to come down to is simply who is better on the mound and who is going to hit with runners in scoring position," Bucci said.

Meanwhile, the Latrobe softball team has never seen an opponent cross home plate in the postseason. That's because star senior pitcher Alexa Bryson has pitched four shutouts -- three WPIAL games and one PIAA game. When she beat Shaler in the WPIAL final, Bryson allowed only two hits and struck out 17.

"I think it helps to have faced her once because the kids know what to expect now," said Shaler coach Skip Palmer. "A bunch of our kids went to watch her pitch against Mt. Lebanon [in the WPIAL semifinals] and they were impressed. But they were even more impressed when they got in the batters box against her."

Bryson, who is 18-2 overall, has allowed only six hits and has struck out 49 in 31 postseason innings. She has 16 shutouts for the season.

"We talked to the kids about being mentally ready for her," Palmer said. "We just have to find a way to put the ball in play. We can't have 17 kids going down with strikeouts.

"She's really good. She's the best. It's a big challenge for our kids, but our kids are looking forward to the challenge."

The PIAA semifinals for all classifications are Monday and the championship games are next Friday. The baseball championships are at Altoona's Blair County Ballpark and the softball championships are at Shippensburg University.