Bill Beckner stories, Page 180
New Western Pa. wood bat summer league sprints out of batter’s box
The average fastball thrown by pitchers in the opening wave of games in the All-American Baseball Collegiate League popped at 91 mph. That’s about how fast league commissioner Connor Perry has been moving lately to get the newly formed league off the ground. A former Norwin and Pitt standout, Perry...
Beaver County league gives high school softball players a place to play
High school softball is coming back — at least in Beaver County. It may be a permutation of the real thing since the WPIAL season was scratched because of the cornavirus outbreak, but a new league will include many of the same players. A 10-team, unnamed league, the brainchild of...
Robert Morris hires track and field, cross country coach with championship resume
Robert Morris has itself a championship track and field and cross country coach. Bryan Delsite, hired to lead the women’s teams, has won conference titles as a coach, as well as college, national and international titles as an athlete. A former RMU assistant, Delsite has been an assistant for the...
Temporary recruiting calendar proposed for Division I men’s basketball
The plan is temporary, but it is a plan nonetheless. The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Oversight Committee on Monday endorsed a fall recruiting calendar which was devised by the National Association of Basketball Coaches and other collaborators. The outline is meant to reestablish important recruiting dates that had been...
Number of WPIAL softball standouts were off to fast starts at college level
It pains some coaches and fans to think what could have been this season for a number of former WPIAL softball stars playing at the Division I college level. When the coronavirus pandemic showed up early in the spring and put a line through the NCAA softball season, it also...
Penn-Trafford hires Doug Kelly to coach boys basketball
Doug Kelly has gained a measure of perspective since he last served as a head boys basketball coach in the WPIAL. He has lost loved ones, acquired many friends and listened to words of wisdom, all the while building up to his next venture. “I feel that I am ready....
Sal Frelick, who has Greensburg ties, one to watch in 2021 MLB Draft
This year’s MLB Draft, as short and sweet as it was, is in the books. But it is never too early to look ahead to next year. One player to keep an eye on plays at Boston College but has ties to Westmoreland County. Rising junior Sal Frelick, who attended...
Gregor Meyer takes low honors at state amateur qualifier
Fox Chapel graduate and former WPIAL champion Gregor Meyer shot 3-under-par 67 Monday on his home course to earn medalist honors at an 18-hole Pennsylvania Amateur qualifying tournament. Meyer, a member at host Hannastown Golf Club and a rising sophomore at High Point, made three birdies and one bogey to...
Thomas Jefferson’s Richter puts focus on soccer future at FC Cincinnati Academy
Marshall Richter just finished his sophomore year at Thomas Jefferson, albeit from home like his classmates and many others across the country who were walled off by the coronavirus outbreak. But the future will have the soccer standout on the move, allowing him to stretch his legs again on the...
WCCA cancels 7-on-7 football championship
The holding pattern is over for the Westmoreland County Coaches Association. There will be no 7-on-7 football championship after all. The organization held out hope it could play but on Sunday decided it would be best to cancel the event as health concerns and question marks loom over the coronavirus...
High school notebook: Latrobe basketball player Anna Rafferty gets D-I offer
With the NCAA “dead” period — the time when college coaches cannot have contact with potential recruits — extended to July 31, basketball players who usually wade in the AAU recruiting waters at this time of year have been left to their own devices. AAU season has yet to begin,...
Murrysville brings experience to Westmoreland County summer baseball league
Take a six-player core of veteran guys, stir in some newcomers and sprinkle in a dash of talent from four other programs that won’t field teams this summer, and you have the Murrysville senior “Legion” baseball team. Now, subtract the Legion part. “We have some guys that have been with...
Ex-Greensburg Central Catholic soccer star Cartwright fighting back from injury-stunted career at Notre Dame
A bright spotlight followed Bailey Cartwright when she played high school soccer at Greensburg Central Catholic, one so bright it was more like a heat lamp sometimes for the star forward. Her goal-scoring barrage became a sort of spectacle as record after record fell and the Centurions meandered through each...
Franklin Regional grad Fisch lives dream, earns walk-on spot with Pitt basketball
It is not quite “The Fish Who Saved Pittsburgh.” No, this story is more along the lines of, “The Fisch Who Wooed Pittsburgh,” and it is a tale of devotion, determination and fulfillment. In a couple of years, Pitt super fan Aidan Fisch went from being a team manager on...
Which WPIAL power was named the best place for high school sports in Pennsylvania?
North Allegheny is the best place for high school sports in Pennsylvania. That is according to Niche.com, a Pittsburgh-based site that gathered analytic information and personal reviews from people in school districts, and weighed things such as number of sports and championships won to hatch a list of the top...
Wildcats Select AAU basketball to livestream workout
AAU basketball has yet to return after extensive delays caused by the coronavirus outbreak, but a local organization is ready to tip and plans to give coaches, families and fans a look at their talent pool through a different prism. The Wildcats Select, founded by co-directors Nate Perry and Tom...
Latrobe’s Anna Rafferty gets first Division I offer from Kennesaw State
With the NCAA “dead” period — the time when college coaches cannot have contact with potential recruits — extended to July 31, basketball players who usually wade in the AAU recruiting waters at this time of year have been left to their own devices. AAU season has yet to begin,...
NCAA Division III extends preseason on run-up to sports’ phased return
In another step geared toward keeping the health and safety of student-athletes first, the NCAA Division III Administrative Committee announced it will lengthen the preseason for sports teams for 2020-21. The move looks to provide a cushion of preparation time as college athletics begin to swing toward a measured return...
Former Seton Hill soccer player Seon Ripley signs to play in Northern Premier League
Striker Seon Ripley, a former standout at Seton Hill, is headed for a semi-professional soccer stint in the Northern Premier League, which covers all of Northern England and parts of the Midlands. Ripley signed with Ossett United F.C., a team that plays in the Division One North West. The Sheepicorns...
Unforgettable West Newton Little League team to be honored 65 years after state tournament run
It is a challenge, but Melvin Fox does his best to stretch his memory back — way back. Six decades back, to a time when a ticket to a minor league baseball game went for six bucks, a sharp suit cost $75 and groups of farmhands lived with host families...
Latrobe grad Zach Kokoska hopeful to hear name called during shortened MLB Draft
Zach Kokoska might be on a baseball field or camped out at a Marriott hotel in South Florida on Wednesday and Thursday during the MLB Draft. Either way, the power-hitting outfielder will have his cell phone turned on. The former Latrobe star and Gatorade Pennsylvania Player of the Year has...
Notre Dame standout, Franklin Regional grad Palmer Jackson receives local golf award
Each time he swats a drive down the center of the fairway with a gentle cut or hard fade, Palmer Jackson improves his game. With each flip wedge or curling putt, he is dialing in to something more. Whether it is physical swing mechanics or a sharper mental approach, Jackson...
Westmoreland high school notebook: No decision yet on 7-on-7 tournament
The waiting game continues for the Westmoreland County Coaches Association 7-on-7 football championship. Don’t write off the event just yet. The county organization wants to have the annual passing tournament July 18 as scheduled but needs the go-ahead from the state in the way of Gov. Tom Wolf’s phased return...
PIAA’s spring sports cancellation especially tough for new softball, baseball coaches
Bob Kovalcin did not coach a game this season at Latrobe, but the man who came out of retirement to lead the Wildcats softball team has spent the last couple of weeks conducting exit meetings with his players. The asterisk-stamped season never happened because it was claimed by coronavirus restrictions....
Mix of excitement, anxiety as Derry prepares to start Westmoreland County Baseball League action
Derry Legion baseball manager Joe Lynch is as eager as he is nervous to see a return of summer baseball. The revamped Westmoreland County American League Baseball, a slight deviation from the District 31 league that will return in 2021, is set to begin next weekend. New safety guidelines will...
