Bill Beckner stories, Page 179
Former Southmoreland softball slugger on mend after shoulder surgery
Adeline Nicholson pushed a rock up a hill for the better part of three years. A worsening shoulder injury nagged her college career and threatened to stop it. But somehow, Nicholson did not let it slow her down. She played through some pain at Slippery Rock for two years and...
Carnegie Mellon shuts down fall sports
With growing concern over the widespread coronavirus spike that has made its way to Allegheny County, Carnegie Mellon will not participate in fall sports, the university announced Wednesday. Sports that will be shelved are football, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis and women’s volleyball. All but football and volleyball field men’s...
Penn-Trafford sports workouts resume with safety modifications
Penn-Trafford resumed athletic workouts Tuesday but with new provisions to its health and safety guidelines. The school’s voluntary summer conditioning for fall sports teams was paused Friday after Gov. Tom Wolf gave clarification on mask-wearing for indoor and outdoor workouts and discussed the importance of self-quarantining after out-of-state trips. Penn-Trafford’s...
Division III Presidents’ Athletic Conference limits fall sports to league games
The NCAA Division III Presidents’ Athletic Conference will limit its fall sports teams’ schedules to conference games only, a move announced by the league Tuesday. All fall sports, except football, are looking at a start date of Sept. 1. Football teams are set to begin their nine-game schedules on Sept....
Former Mt. Pleasant softball standout changes course, transfers to Alderson Broaddus
Meadow Uncapher is hitting the reset button again on her college softball career. A rising junior out of Mt. Pleasant, Uncapher is leaving St. Francis (Pa.) to play at Alderson Broaddus (W.Va.). The move will take her from a Division I to a Division II program, but she believes it...
Seton Hill product Nate Davis inks pro hoops deal with team in Germany
Late in his senior season at Seton Hill, Nate Davis said the stars would have to align for him to continue playing basketball past college. He must have wished upon one because it’s happening. Davis, the second-leading scorer in Griffins history, is set to embark on a professional career after...
La Roche names Cody Golon as its lacrosse coach
La Roche turned to a former Seton Hill player and offensive-minded assistant to lead its men’s lacrosse program. The university announced the hiring of Cody Golon as its head coach. A former assistant at Peters Township High School and a Baldwin grad, Golon was an assistant at Seton Hill the...
Former Slippery Rock star Micah Till turns pro
Micah Till was a wrecking ball around the basket at Slippery Rock. The 6-foot-7, 250-pound forward could rebound with the best in NCAA Division II basketball, but he was far from one-dimensional. He graduated as the only Rock player with at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 100 blocks, 100 steals...
Derry’s Bushey, Norwin’s Federovich overcame personal challenges to excel
Aidan Bushey and Matt Federovich do not know each other, but they have more than a few things in common. Both were star athletes at their respective high schools, Bushey at Derry and Federovich at Norwin. They were playmakers and lead-by-example teammates. Each will play a sport in college and...
West Penn Amateur postponed amid Allegheny County order
With an alarming increase of positive covid-19 cases surfacing daily in this corner of the state, the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association thought best to postpone one of its marquee events. The 120th West Penn Amateur, scheduled for July 6-7 at Allegheny Country Club, has been shelved until a later date...
Westmoreland County baseball notebook: Hot bats get Yough off to good start
Yough has been spending a lot of time on the basepaths so far in the Westmoreland County American League. And even more time clearing them. Through eight games, Yough (6-2) had scored 66 times to take a substantial lead in runs over the other eight teams in the summer wooden...
From Sidney Crosby to Jim Brown, ranking the greatest high school athletes of all time
Pro football legend Jim Brown was good at lacrosse. Jackie Robinson, long before he broke the color barrier in baseball, was a two-time tennis singles champion. Hockey suited pitcher Tom Glavine well, home run hitter Alex Rodriguez was a terrific quarterback, and NBA guard Danny Ainge, they say, could have...
Former GCC standout AnnaMarie Gatti promoted to assistant with St. Francis (Pa.) softball
When she played college softball, AnnaMarie Gatti was known as a drop-ball pitcher, one who could induce ground ball outs to stifle opposing rallies. But now that she has entered the coaching ranks, the former WPIAL star is on the rise. Gatti, an overpowering pitcher at Greensburg Central Catholic before...
Penn Hills’ Longue Vue Club celebrating 100th anniversary, gearing up for next year’s U.S. AmateurVideo
This place has come a longue way. Situated high atop Penn Hills Township, the venerable Longue Vue Club is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a look at its storied past and an eye toward a promising future. Longue Vue, a registered National Historic Place and one of the top multiservice...
Chartiers Valley hoops star Aislin Malcolm adds Penn State offer
Fast-rising basketball talent Aislin Malcolm welcomed another scholarship offer Wednesday as Penn State came calling. Malcolm, a 5-foot-10 guard and two-time WPIAL champion who has not lost a game in her high school career at Chartiers Valley, adds the Nittany Lions to an expanding list of offers. She has others...
Derry, South Park standouts win UPMC Comeback Athlete of the Year awards
A pair of determined athletes are the WPIAL’s latest comeback kids. Multi-sport standout Aidan Bushey of Derry and tennis player Haley Spitznagel of South Park were named recipients of the UPMC Comeback Athlete of the Year awards. Bushey is a recent graduate who will continue his golf career at Cal...
High school softball players finding diamonds to play on in pop-up summer leagues
Brooke Cleland is back to doing what she does best on the softball field: launching towering home runs. And she is doing so again in Penn-Trafford green and gold. The rising senior and several of her high school teammates found a way to play some games together after the coronavirus...
Stimmel wins WPGA spring stroke play title
Rick Stimmel is known around local golf circles as a steely veteran, someone who has played in USGA championships, bounced around mini tours and ground through qualifiers. His name always seems to surface on the leaderboard. Stimmel added another victory to his resume Monday by winning the 27th Western Pennsylvania...
Norwin lineman Giansante commits to Western Kentucky
With each video clip he posted on social media, bulked-up Anthony Giansante shared another step on his path to Division I football. Whether he was lifting weights, jumping rope, or improving footwork and hand technique, he let people follow along, including college coaches who could not meet him in person...
Norwin’s Max McDowell inks deal with YankeesVideo
Catcher Max McDowell made headlines last summer when he helped turn a rare triple play while playing in the minor leagues. On Sunday, he pulled off another game-changing highlight for his career, and with it, two words: “Play ball.” McDowell, a former Norwin standout, signed a free agent deal with...
Westmoreland County boys athlete of the year: GCC’s Nate Ward showed will to win in 4 sports
Nate Ward scored goals in soccer, kicked extra points and caught passes in football, hit 3-pointers on the basketball court and carried the baton around the track oval. With each sport, he made his mark. It was like the Greensburg Central Catholic multi-sport athlete had an extra gear and could...
Westmoreland high school notebook: 2022 recruiting resumes
With excessive early commitments in Division I women’s soccer sweeping the country in recent years, the NCAA opted to make a rule change in 2019. Players regularly were committing as freshmen and sophomores. So rising juniors — girls or boys — were not allowed to have contact with Division I...
Southmoreland grad Lexi Klatt leaving one Division II school for another
Lexi Klatt is on the move. The former Southmoreland softball standout is leaving Alderson Broaddus after less than half a season to play closer to home in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. Klatt, a catcher and outfielder, announced she is transferring to Edinboro. “I was just unhappy there,” the rising...
High school golfers get head start with eased restrictions, summer tournaments
Freeport’s youth program is as much of a summer tradition at Buffalo Golf Course as outings and leagues. The program, which amounts to a voluntary preseason gathering of high school golfers who are getting ready for the fall season, has been in place since 1993 and has not missed a...
Luckhardt, Mihalik, Hieber, Murawski among locals on College Football Hall of Fame ballot
When John Luckhardt retired from Cal U in 2012, he likened his 40-plus-year journey coaching football, which also included a successful stint at Washington & Jefferson, to a “Carnival cruise.” Luckhardt could soon be setting sail toward the elite of college football. He is a candidate for the 2021 College...
