Michael Love stories, Page 132
Plum Legion meets Monroeville with regional tournament berth on line
The Plum and Monroeville American Legion baseball teams split their two-game Allegheny South season series. Plum won the most recent matchup 3-1 seven days ago. The teams meet for the third and final time at 8 p.m. Monday at Gateway High School. The winner advances to the Region 6 tournament...
Despite 1st-round exit, Murrysville Legion finds positives in return to District 31
The Murrysville Senior American Legion baseball team knew it was going to be a tall playoff task against top-seed Hempfield East in the best-of-three District 31 first-round series. Coach Chas Brncic said despite the tough postseason matchup — Hempfield East scored a two-game series sweep July 8-9 — he was...
Seneca Valley’s Kaltenberger focused on returning to WPIAL title game
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 HSSN Media Day at Kennywood Park. Josh Kaltenberger didn’t feel the need to wait. The 6-foot-5, 285-pound rising senior at...
Burrell boys basketball coach Shawn Bennis resigns
In his six seasons as coach of the Burrell boys basketball team, Shawn Bennis appreciated the hard work his players put in preparing and game planning for every opponent. “The players worked so hard to be ready to play, no matter the situation,” he said. “We were always competitive. No...
Knoch grad Jordan Geist looks to maintain momentum at USATF championships
Jordan Geist will throw the shot put July 26 at the U.S. Track and Field Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, and he heads into the event with momentum from a gold medal and a new record at a recent meet in Mexico. Geist, who also earned All-American honors with...
WPIAL swimmers earn spots on All-American lists
Upper St. Clair’s Josh Matheny set a National Federation of High Schools record of 52.52 seconds in the 100-yard breaststroke at the PIAA Class AAA championships in March at Bucknell University. So, it came as no surprise Wednesday when the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association All-American lists for the 2018-19...
Trib HSSN rewind: A look back at the 2018-19 WPIBL bowling season
Competitors from the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Bowling League made an impact at all levels during the 2018-19 season. Small is big at states Plum’s Shannon Small led the WPIBL with a fourth-place finish (202.5 average/six games) out of 24 in the girls singles qualifier at the Pennsylvania High School State...
Plum grad Courtney Zezza signs pro basketball contract with team in Greece
Plum and St. Francis (Pa.) graduate Courtney Zezza will begin her professional basketball career in Greece. The Red Flash’s all-time leader in blocked shots (299) signed a contract with Kronos Agiou Dimitriou, a member of the Greek C Basketball League. The league has been in operation for 35 years. Kronos...
Unity blanks Young Township to open District 31 Legion playoffs
Unity held serve in the opener of the District 31 American Legion baseball playoffs. The No. 3 seed Bulldogs jumped ahead early and went on to defeat Young Township, 14-0, on Monday at Whitney Field in Unity Township. The game was halted after five innings because of the 12-run mercy...
Trib HSSN rewind: A look back at the 2018-19 boys swimming and diving season
For the second year in a row, a National Federation of High Schools record fell at the PIAA Class AAA swimming championships at Bucknell University. Upper St. Clair’s Josh Matheny, now a rising junior, established an all-time mark of 52.52 seconds in the boys 100-yard breaststroke, surpassing the previous NFHS...
Legion teams prep for playoffs after condensed regular season
Weather issues and other scheduling variables over the past month-and-a-half altered the original District 31 American Legion game plan, and that made for a compacted stretch run to the playoffs. Teams playing two games in one day on the weekend was commonplace. Kiski Valley and Young Township concluded the regular...
Trib HSSN rewind: A look back at the 2018-19 girls swimming and diving season
One of the closest races at the PIAA Class AAA championships at Bucknell University in March saw Butler junior Laura Goettler edge Fox Chapel freshman Zoe Skirboll by 10 one-hundredths of a second for the title in the finals of the girls 100-yard breaststroke. Skirboll, however, would capture state gold...
Penn State football lands 20th verbal commit in 2020 class
The Penn State football program continues to add to its 2020 verbal commitment list. Bryce Mostella, a 6-foot-6, 230-pound weak-side defensive end from Kentwood High School in Grand Rapids, Mich., gave a verbal commitment to the Nittany Lions on Friday. Rivals ranks Mostella three stars. He made an official visit...
West Allegheny’s Hendrick selected to High School All-Star Game
Austin Hendrick, a rising senior at West Allegheny and a Mississippi State baseball verbal commit, will compete in the inaugural High School All-Star Game on Saturday at Progressive Field in Cleveland. Major League Baseball and USA Baseball released the rosters Friday. Forty players, selected from the 80-player Prospect Development Pipeline...
New coach, offseason workouts provide optimism for Highlands boys soccer
Jason Norris was on a plane to Los Angeles when he found out he was hired as coach of the Highlands boys soccer team. “When the athletic director called me to tell me the news, the people on the plane were telling us to put our phones away, and I...
U.S. Senior Open experience memorable for Oakmont’s Sean Knapp
Sean Knapp missed the cut at last weekend’s U.S. Senior Open at Notre Dame’s Warren Gold Course in South Bend, Ind. While the ending to his second straight appearance in the tournament and fourth overall wasn’t what he hoped for, the opportunity again to share the course with the world’s...
Penn State lands defensive back, wide receiver with verbal commits
The Penn State football program has added two more commitments to its Class of 2020. Virginia’s Joseph Johnson, an athlete/defensive back from Chester Life Christian Academy, and Texas’ Parker Washington, a wide receiver from Fort Bend Travis High School, both gave verbal commitments to the Nittany Lions on Tuesday evening....
Trib HSSN rewind: A look back at the 2018 girls tennis season
The Sewickley Academy girls tennis team had won its only previous Class AA state championship in 2011, and the Panthers were gunning for a second title in Hershey to cap the 2018 season. That title seven years prior also was the only other time the school had reached the championship...
Knoch’s Gourley honored by recognition from Pa. softball coaches
Monica Gourley collected three hits in four at-bats, one being a triple, and also drove in two runs in the Knoch softball team’s 7-2 victory over Thomas Jefferson in the WPIAL Class 4A third-place game. The victory propelled the squad to its first PIAA tournament appearance. The senior shortstop’s production...
Highlands’ Crise continues to catch attention of college coaches
The Tribune-Review and the TribLive High School Sports Network are profiling each member of the 25-player Trib HSSN Preseason WPIAL Football All-Star team. The players will be recognized July 23 during a HSSN Media Day live broadcast at Kennywood Park. Johnny Crise announced his arrival on the high school football...
Knoch’s Gourley earns POY honors from state coaches association
Knoch senior shortstop Monica Gourley has been selected the state’s Class 4A Softball Player of the Year by the Pennsylvania High School Softball Coaches Association. Gourley was the only WPIAL player to earn the player of the year recognition in the six PIAA classifications. Each candidate for the player-of-the-year designation...
Freeport’s Jarrett Heilman named Valley News Dispatch Baseball Player of the Year
2019 Valley News Dispatch Baseball All-Stars Player of the Year Jarrett Heilman, Junior, Pitcher, Freeport Jarrett Heilman said he and his Freeport baseball teammates are getting noticed more in the community since they lifted the program to its first PIAA playoff appearance since 1998. “I’ll go into Tony’s Pizza in...
A-K Valley Senior Legion baseball teams enter stretch runs
The A-K Valley’s Senior Legion baseball teams continue to move through their league schedules as they enter a busy stretch run to the playoffs. Plum visits Highlands on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Allegheny South action at Highlands High School. Plum enters the game 4-2 overall after a 7-2 win...
St. Joseph basketball players adjust to new coach, system during summer workouts
When longtime St. Joseph boys basketball coach Kelly Robinson resigned in April after 21 seasons at the helm, the search began in earnest to find his replacement. A little less than a month later, the Spartans had their man in Hart Coleman, who led the Plum boys team the past...
Marino hired as Plum boys basketball coach
When Mark Marino joined the men’s basketball coaching staff at Lycoming College in 2008, his first task as a high school talent evaluator was to observe Plum standout Andrew Cressler as Cressler was going into his senior season with the Mustangs. “I sat down, watched him play and took notes...
