Josh Rizzo stories

Jose Caraballo insists Colleen Davis was on the verge of springing a big upset on May 9 at the Caribe Royale Orlando. But Davis, a Shaler Area graduate, didn’t get to see if she could hand Elise Soto her first professional loss. A clash of heads in the second round...

David Vick would have liked to see Jaime Vick Moran give her own acceptance speech at the 54th annual Alle-Kiski Sports Hall of Fame ceremony Saturday night at Pittsburgh Shriners Center. Through her battle with leukemia, Vick repeatedly proved that she knew how to hold a room. At a dinner,...

The Fox Chapel softball team’s season won’t end with a trip to the PIAA Class 5A tournament, but the Foxes were able to create memorable moments before they were knocked out 6-3 by North Hills in the WPIAL quarterfinals. In the first round, 12th-seeded Fox Chapel (13-7) stunned No. 5...

The Shady Side Academy girls 3,200-meter relay team was laser focused on winning a WPIAL Class 2A championship. The Bulldogs didn’t disappoint in their pursuit May 14 at Slippery Rock University. Shady Side Academy finished nearly 10 seconds ahead of second-place North Catholic en route to the top of the...

Claire Conti knows what the issue is when her progress stalls out in the thrower’s circle. The Fox Chapel junior has to find a way to get out of her own way. Conti showed she is more than capable of defeating her own self doubt during the WPIAL Class 3A...

Jeremy Haigh knows the nature of a single-elimination playoff format for baseball is likely to bring heartbreak at some point. The Fox Chapel senior pitcher was hoping the Foxes would be able to avoid that feeling for a little longer. The eighth-seeded Foxes struggled to hit Latrobe pitcher Cole Short...

The Fox Chapel softball team has been plagued with maddening moments of inconsistency on defense. But when the lights were at their brightest during the first round of the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs Monday at North Allegheny High School, the 12th-seeded Foxes didn’t melt down. Fox Chapel committed only one...

Jaden Wall has the same routine every Saturday morning. He heads down to Valley High School to lift weights to get ready for football season. When Wall saw the Willie Thrower Award Foundation Quarterback Camp was going on Saturday morning, he took the opportunity to do a different type of...

Russell Fenton felt the void when his time playing high school basketball at Fox Chapel ended. When he moved on to the Georgia Institute of Technology, playing on the club basketball team didn’t fully satisfy what he was looking for. Fenton, despite never running track or cross country, chose to...

Jeff Perlis would like to make a trip to the New Balance Nationals, a long weekend for the Shady Side Academy track team. The Bulldogs coach said the school will have a larger contingent competing this summer than it did last year, when Chelsea Hartman was the only qualifier. Francesca...

Fox Chapel track and field coach Tom Moul enjoys the depth the Foxes have on their relay teams this season. That is part of the reason the Last Chance meets will be so important for the Foxes. Not every athlete who will compete in those events will have the same...

Maintaining momentum heading into the playoffs is tricky in softball. Long layoffs aren’t ideal when preparing for a single-elimination playoff format. The Fox Chapel softball team worked hard to stay sharp. Two weeks ago, the storm that brought down power for many Allegheny County residents caused the Foxes to be...

The Plum softball team shouldn’t be one that any opponent is eager to see in the WPIAL Class 5A softball playoffs. When the Mustangs made contact at the plate this season, it took them some time to locate exactly where the ball landed. Plum has cranked out 40 home runs....

Larry Fitzgerald Jr.’s time at Pitt was short. The wide receiver and Heisman Trophy runner-up flashed his professional bona fides in two years with the Panthers and was off to what would become a 17-year career with the Arizona Cardinals. But Fitzgerald’s fondness for Pittsburgh lingered long past his final...

Mason Friday and Frank Siegel protected their seed during the WPIAL Class 3A boys doubles tennis championships. The Fox Chapel duo nearly did more than that. Friday and Siegel, who were seeded third, reached the semifinals before taking on Mt. Lebanon’s Luca Ritivoi and Mark Summers, who were seeded second....

Fox Chapel graduate Dante DiMatteo is posting good numbers for the Washington & Jefferson baseball team this season. DiMatteo recently was named Presidents’ Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week after throwing seven scoreless innings against Allegheny. This season, DiMatteo has done a little bit of everything, compiling an 8-0 record...

Brady Matthews didn’t get distraught that his early days in lacrosse were delayed by the covid pandemic. Matthews, who started playing in middle school, missed a season because of the restrictions that put a pause on sports. Instead, the Fox Chapel junior attack/midfeidler went about improving in his own fashion....

Adam Janosko got a solid report on Javon Johnston before he made it to the Shady Side Academy boys varsity track and field team. Janosko was told that Johnston set a middle school record at Moon for one of the horizontal jumps. Johnston, now a freshman, is finding ways to...

The hardest lesson for any team to learn is how to take what they do in practice and apply it to game situations. Fox Chapel softball coach Larry Troutman saw his team learn the hard way plenty of times once Section 1-5A play started this season. The Foxes used those...

The Fox Chapel boys lacrosse team can count on its defense keeping every game close. What Foxes coach Jordon Hodder hopes is that the attack has finally found its footing. Fox Chapel scored 19 goals in a win over Norwin on April 21. The Foxes followed that up by grinding...

The Fox Chapel Area Sports Hall of Fame announced its Class of 2025. Six inductees will be honored during a banquet May 31. The inductees are: • Jason Lennon, Class of 1991, Soccer/baseball • Dan Tublin, 2010, Volleyball • Jason Kolod, 2011, diving • Erin Mathias, 2014, basketball • Brian...

Fox Chapel freshman Frank Siegel received the proper tutelage for playing effectively at the net. When Fred would go to the park and play with his older brother, Will, he didn’t expect him to take any heat off the ball. “He would hit balls at me when I was at...

Fox Chapel boys volleyball coach Phil O’Keeffe was on board with the WPIAL volleyball steering committee’s decision to make it more challenging to qualify for the postseason. That’s all well and good when the lineup is relatively healthy. But the Foxes had more than a dozen players out with the...

Ani’yah Hickman knows that being a three-year veteran of the Penn Hills girls flag football team will require taking on different roles at a moment’s notice. Hickman was one of three players called on to play quarterback because of various injuries afflicting Penn Hills on April 13 at Woodland Hills...

There’s no slowing down when finding success while playing Class 3A boys volleyball in the WPIAL. Penn Hills halted a long losing streak in section play when the Indians tripped up Plum in four sets April 8. The Indians (3-4, 1-2) fell back to earth during their next match when...