Bill Beckner stories, Page 115
District college notebook: All booked up, Ryan misses Seton Hill playoff opener
Morgan Ryan hopes to help Seton Hill softball reach the finals of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament. Right after she is done with her own finals. Ryan, the Griffins’ standout grad student pitcher, did not join the team for the PSAC playoff opener Wednesday in Quakertown. She is expected...
Power surge on Cougar Mountain boosts Yough softball team
Yough plays its home games on Cougar Mountain in Sewickley Township. But softball coach Dutch Harvey is lobbying to rename his team’s home address. “It’s become Dinger City here,” Harvey said. Yough isn’t traditionally a leave-the-yard kind of team, but the Cougars are developing a reputation that says otherwise as...
Westmoreland County softball notebook: Ligonier Valley’s Griffin gets aggressive
The owner of a 21-strikeout perfect game and three no-hitters this season, Ligonier Valley senior pitcher Maddie Griffin has all the physical tools to dominate in the circle. She has proven that beyond a doubt over the last season-plus of WPIAL and PIAA softball. But the Youngstown State commit, who...
Penn-Trafford uses disciplined attack to back pitcher Grabowski in win over Latrobe
Penn-Trafford baseball coaches and players talked about the importance of hitting and throwing first-pitch strikes against section champion Latrobe. They also discussed ways to possibly drum up offense if they were to earn a Section 1-5A sweep against the Wildcats. It all worked out according to plan, and the Warriors...
Westmoreland campus clippings: Adrian Blewitt named Seton Hill’s women’s soccer coach
Seton Hill announced the hiring of Adrian Blewitt as women’s soccer coach. He replaces Zak Kruger, who was not retained after three seasons. Blewitt spent three years as the head women’s soccer coach at Army West Point and also served as head coach at Arkansas Little Rock for five seasons...
Novacek’s career game helps Yough rally past Southmoreland, win share of Section 4-3A title
Despite pitching one of the best games of his baseball career, Allen Novacek did not earn a decision Monday afternoon. But his team did, and it was as exciting as it was important. “That’s all that matters,” the Yough senior said. Junior Gavin Roebuck delivered a two-run, walk-off single in...
Westmoreland campus clippings: Penn-Trafford grad Turner Price named AMCC Player of the Year
The Price was right this season at Pitt-Greensburg. Junior tennis standout Turner Price, a Penn-Trafford graduate, was named the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Player of the Year for the third time in his career. The award was not given out in 2020. Price finished 7-0 in conference singles play and...
Westmoreland High School Athletes of the Week: Ligonier Valley’s Maddie Griffin, Penn-Trafford’s Dylan Grabowski
Maddie Griffin School: Ligonier Valley Sport: Softball Year: Senior Claim to fame: One of the most dominant arms in the WPIAL, Griffin pitched the fifth perfect game of her high school career, doing so in head-turning fashion Monday as she struck out all 21 in a 3-0 victory over Seton...
Westmoreland HS notebook: Steelers draft goes from Ricketts to Pickett
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ seismic move to select Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett in the first round of the NFL Draft had fans buzzing, debating and reminiscing. While Pitt has only had one other quarterback go in the first round — former Central Catholic great Dan Marino — Pickett actually followed a...
Franklin Regional track teams claim section titles with undefeated records
Franklin Regional pulled a section double-dip this spring, winning team titles in boys and girls track and field for just the second time in program history. Both teams posted 6-0 section records. Seventh-year coach Bob Ralston knew he had talent but wasn’t sure if it was full-on section-winning kind of...
Norwin track teams celebrate 4th straight outright section titles
Unbeaten in five Section 1-3A meets, the Norwin boys and girls track and field teams pulled off a four-peat: four outright section titles in as many years — the run includes co-titles in 2017. But coach Tim Van Horn thinks the Knights could be in line for larger goals. “I...
Norwin notebook: Norwin wrestlers shine at freestyle tournament
Several Norwin wrestlers took part in the Ultimate Club Duals freestyle tournaments April 24 in State College. The Knights claimed their first trophy in freestyle competition, taking third place with a 6-2 record. Home sweet home? The Norwin softball team thought it finally was going to play on its home...
Penn-Trafford softball team makes most out of few hits in odd mercy-rule win over TJ
Literally, Penn-Trafford walked away with a first-place softball showdown against Thomas Jefferson. The Warriors didn’t even hit a ball out of the infield. Their bats were uncharacteristically quiet, in fact. But they still blew out the visiting Jaguars in five innings. Thomas Jefferson provided 10 walks — and several other...
Penn-Trafford linemen get college attention
A pair of Penn-Trafford football linemen are beginning to gain traction in the recruiting game. Juniors Joe Enick and Conlan Greene, all-conference players who will try to help the Warriors win back-to-back WPIAL and PIAA Class 5A championships in the fall, hold scholarship offers from Division I-FCS St. Francis (Pa.)...
Hempfield softball stays unbeaten in victory over North Allegheny
A day after moving into the state softball rankings, Hempfield was out to show it belonged there again. The Spartans looked the part in an efficient, 1 hour, 20-minute victory against visiting North Allegheny. The top-ranked team in WPIAL Class 6A and fourth-ranked team in the state got a lift...
Hempfield grad earns invitation to exclusive Manning Passing Academy
It started with a simple email. Then, a text message. All of a sudden, Justin Sliwoski had a front-row seat to not only meet the Mannings — Peyton, Eli and their father, Archie — but also to get instruction from the the former star quarterbacks. Sliwoski, a redshirt junior quarterback...
It’s a wide world of sports for busy Greensburg Salem senior Jake Smith
When Jake Smith isn’t throwing strikes, he’s rolling them. When he isn’t scoring runs, he’s going on them through the woods. It isn’t all that rare that he plays four sports at Greensburg Salem. What is unique is the sports he chose. “They’re split up nicely,” Smith said. “Fall, winter...
Westmoreland County baseball notebook: Teams playing 1-run thrillers
Westmoreland County games have not lacked late-inning drama lately. Take last Wednesday. If you didn’t walk it off, you probably didn’t win. There were four one-run games that day. • Brady Lane doubled, then scored on an error, as Penn-Trafford clipped Kiski Area, 3-2, in eight innings. • Hempfield dropped...
Westmoreland County softball notebook: Ligonier Valley specializes in perfection
Ligonier Valley has only been in the WPIAL since 2020, but the softball program’s stay has been, in some ways, perfect. How many programs can say they have thrown six perfect games in two years? How many have six perfect games in their history? Senior Maddie Griffin tossed the fifth...
Mental toughness, blazing fastball make Penn-Trafford pitcher Mia Smith hard to hit
There is a lot going on behind the intense eyes and stoic game face of Mia Smith. Often, quietly, a perfect storm is brewing. A 50-50 mix of mental toughness and physical ability fuses inside the chalk-lined circle from where she pitches. When she rears back and prepares to send...
Norwin beats Upper St. Clair, makes up ground in section
Here comes Norwin. After losing four of five and getting swept by Canon-McMillan, the Knights are back in the playoff conversation in Section 2-6A — and back to .500 — after a sweep of their own. Seniors Jake Kendro and Ty Stecko homered, and senior Sebastian Rosado-Guindin pitched 62⁄3 innings...
Westmoreland campus clippings: Mt. Pleasant grad Sam Napper helps Westminster to PAC title
Junior Sam Napper and his Westminster golf teammates went back to back. And Napper had the shot of the tournament. The Mt. Pleasant graduate made a hole-in-one during the final round of the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Championships and the Titans (892) went on to a 44-stroke victory over Washington &...
Better than perfect: Ligonier Valley’s Maddie Griffin strikes out all 21 hitters she faces vs. Seton LaSalle
Maddie Griffin admits she has not lived up to her own lofty expectations this spring. After all, the senior softball pitcher from Ligonier Valley threw 11 no-hitters, including five perfect games, last season. While she has been bothered some by an ankle injury, the pressure to perform at such a...
Westmoreland campus clippings: Penn-Trafford grad Anthony Sherwin on Brooks Wallace Award watch list
Breakout sophomore Anthony Sherwin has become known for his smooth glove in the middle of Bucknell’s infield. It’s no exaggeration to say the Penn-Trafford graduate is one of the top shortstops in the country. He is, after all, on the Brooks Wallace Award watch list, an honor reserved for the...
Westmoreland campus clippings: Penn-Trafford grad Anthony Sherwin on Brooks Wallace Award watch list
Breakout sophomore Anthony Sherwin has become known for his smooth glove in the middle of Bucknell’s infield. It’s no exaggeration to say the Penn-Trafford graduate is one of the top shortstops in the country. He is, after all, on the Brooks Wallace Award watch list, an honor reserved for the...
