Chris Harlan stories, Page 112
Aliquippa’s Zuriah Fisher postpones commitment hours before decision day
On the eve of commitment day, Aliquippa linebacker Zuriah Fisher decided to postpone his decision. “Due to the process being a bit overwhelming for me I’ll be pushing my commitment date back,” Fisher wrote Sunday night on Twitter. The three-star recruit had initially said he’d commit Aug. 5. He lists...
2 big innings help Pirates break slump, beat Mets to open homestand
As teammates on a last-place club, the trade deadline could’ve seen Melky Cabrera, Starling Marte or Felipe Vazquez playing elsewhere this weekend. Instead, Cabrera lined a two-run double off the bullpen fence and Marte hit a three-run homer Friday night as the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the New York Mets, 8-4,...
Pirates’ Kela: Telling truth led to 10-game suspension
Keone Kela told the truth in Cincinnati, and he is pretty sure that’s why he’s facing a 10-game suspension. The Pittsburgh Pirates reliever drew the harshest punishment of anyone involved in Tuesday’s brawl with the Reds. Kela stirred long-simmering nastiness when he threw a pitch over Derek Dietrich’s head, an...
Pirates’ Jameson Taillon needs elbow surgery, won’t pitch again this season
Jameson Taillon needs surgery to repair a tendon in his pitching arm, ending any hopes that he could throw again this season. Taillon needs surgery to fix an injured flexor tendon, said trainer Todd Tomczyk, not the ulnar collateral ligament that was repaired in 2014 during Tommy John surgery. The...
Pirates designate Jung Ho Kang for assignment
The glove was still there, but two seasons away from the majors was probably too much for Jung Ho Kang’s bat to overcome. “That’s our take on it,” manager Clint Hurdle said Friday after the Pirates designated the Korean infielder for assignment. “Love the growth of the man off the...
WPIAL football recruits share their written scholarship offers as August arrives
The first day of August is the date each year that college football coaches can send written scholarship offers to high school seniors. The official offers began arriving just after midnight Thursday and WPIAL recruits quickly took to social media. Here’s a look at some of the announcements shared online....
Like his older brother, Seton LaSalle’s Dom Popa commits to Pitt baseball
Seton LaSalle’s Dom Popa, whose brother stars for Pitt, committed Monday to also play baseball for the Panthers. The younger brother is a rising senior who batted .470 for the Rebels, who went 21-3 and won the WPIAL Class 2A title this past spring. The outfielder led his team in...
Gateway transfer Diego Bledsoe remains ineligible over father’s critical comments
The PIAA listened to critical public comments made by Diego Bledsoe’s father and then upheld a WPIAL decision that leaves the Gateway transfer ineligible to play football. Bledsoe, a rising junior who transferred from Steel Valley, had a PIAA hearing Tuesday in Mechanicsburg. The WPIAL had ruled Bledsoe ineligible June...
PIAA overturns suspension levied against Central Catholic coach Brian Urso
The PIAA overturned a WPIAL decision and lifted the suspension given to Central Catholic boys basketball coach Brian Urso. While investigating recruiting allegations, the WPIAL board in June ordered Central Catholic to suspend the first-year coach for one scrimmage and two regular-season games for contacting eighth-grade athletes. But Central Catholic’s...
PIAA overturns WPIAL, makes West Mifflin football standout Nahki Johnson eligibleVideo
The recruiting allegations made against Nahki Johnson and coach Rod Steele were “unsubstantiated,” the PIAA decided Tuesday, so it ruled the West Mifflin football standout immediately eligible. Johnson, a Pitt recruit and one of the WPIAL’s top rising junior, was ruled ineligible last month by the WPIAL, but that decision...
Clairton, McGuffey schedule Week 1 football game
Left idle by forfeits, McGuffey and Clairton will have Week 1 football games after all. The two teams announced Monday that they will play one another Aug. 30 at McGuffey. Kickoff is 7 p.m. McGuffey was left without a Week 1 game when Northgate announced last week that it would...
Aliquippa linebacker Zuriah Fisher sets commitment dateVideo
Aliquippa’s Zuriah Fisher hasn’t picked his college but the star linebacker did set a commitment date. The rising senior will commit Aug. 5, he said Sunday on Twitter. Fisher lists nearly two dozen FBS offers. His most recent came last month from Texas A&M. He also has Pitt, Penn State...
Alabama, rarely seen around WPIAL, offers Gateway junior Derrick Davis
Joe Namath starred there in the 1960s and Robert Foster picked Alabama earlier this decade, but Crimson Tide football offers don’t appear all that often in the WPIAL. Saturday, one arrived. Gateway’s Derrick Davis announced a scholarship offer from Alabama, adding to the rising junior’s status as one of Pennsylvania’s...
North Catholic’s Kylee Lewandowski commits to Richmond
North Catholic’s Kylee Lewandowski, one of the WPIAL’s top rising seniors, committed Saturday to Richmond. The 6-foot-1 guard had more than a dozen offers. She chose the Spiders over offers from Bryant, Bucknell, Denver, Fairfield, Fordham, Hartford, Marshall, Miami (Ohio), Niagara, Quinnipiac, Xavier and Western Michigan. Lewandowski announced her decision...
WPIAL will re-evaluate how it schedules football after Northgate forfeits
The WPIAL will change the way it schedules nonconference football games after a team strategically forfeited for the second time in two years. Northgate decided to forfeit its Aug. 30 football game against McGuffey to avoid injuries to an already thin roster. The decision was made by the school’s administration,...
Gateway’s Derrick Davis adds Louisville offer as Gators take team tripVideo
The Gateway football team took a road trip this week to Louisville and linebacker Derrick Davis picked up a souvenir to bring home. The rising junior announced Thursday a scholarship offer the Cardinals. Gateway traveled there for seven-on-seven competitions with Louisville-area high schools St. Xavier, Fern Creek and Ballard. Along...
Peters Township wide receiver Josh Casilli commits to Penn
Peters Township’s Josh Casilli committed Thursday to Penn, choosing an Ivy League path that was wildly successful for another WPIAL wide receiver just a few years ago. Casilli chose the Quakers from a list of offers that included Duquesne, Robert Morris, Air Force, Cornell, Holy Cross, Rhode Island, Lafayette, Sacred...
WPIAL’s best football players take break for TribLive HSSN event
High school football teams have worked out together for months in weight rooms and practice fields, but suddenly those offseason sessions have a more serious tone. Camp is only three weeks away. “Absolutely, things start to heat up,” Norwin quarterback Jake Salopek said. “We start to work a little bit...
Quaker Valley’s Corinne Washington adds 2 more Division I offers
Quaker Valley has another Washington with Division I basketball talent. Rising junior Corinne Washington, the sister of former Quakers star Coletrane Washingon, added a pair of college offers from Bethune-Cookman and Mount St. Mary’s. The 5-foot-11 guard already held an offer from Western Michigan. She was a double-digit scorer as...
Armstrong coach Frank Fabian ready for season after short-lived resignation
In two weeks, when WPIAL football teams start heat acclimation, Armstrong coach Frank Fabian will be there for his fifth season with the River Hawks. Fabian stepped down during the winter, wanting to spend more time with his young family, but his resignation was short-lived. Within weeks, his mind was...
QB Eric Wilson wants to help revive Sto-Rox tradition he grew up on
The Tribune-Review and the TribLive High School Sports Network are profiling each member of the 25-player Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star team. The players will be recognized July 23 during a HSSN Media Day live broadcast at Kennywood Park. As a youngster at Sto-Rox football games, Eric Wilson watched as...
North Catholic’s Kylee Lewandowski adds 2 more Division I offers
North Catholic’s Kylee Lewandowski, now in the heart of AAU basketball season, added two more college offers. The 6-foot-1 guard announced offers from Denver and Miami (Ohio) in the past week, pushing her scholarship total to more than a dozen. Lewandowski, a Trib 10 all-star, will be a senior in...
PIAA sets pitch-count limit for junior high baseball
The PIAA believes junior high baseball players shouldn’t throw as many pitches as high school hurlers, so a separate pitch count was established this week. Starting next spring, Pennsylvania’s junior high/middle school pitchers will be limited to 75 pitches in a day and 150 in a calendar week (Sunday through...
As incoming freshmen, WPIAL basketball’s 2023 class already looks special
Early indications say the WPIAL Class of 2023 will be special. That group is just now entering high school this fall, but at least three basketball players from that incoming freshman class already have Division I offers. Laurel Highlands’ Rodney Gallagher, Indiana’s Eve Fiala and North Allegheny’s Jasmine Timmerson all...
PIAA denies request to add games to baseball regular season
The high school baseball regular season will continue to have a 20-game limit after the PIAA denied a request to add more contests. The PIAA board on Wednesday rejected a recommendation from the PIAA baseball committee that would have increased the regular-season maximum to 24 games next season. “The board...
