Michael Love stories, Page 135
Plum softball team reflects on special season, tough ending
It wasn’t the way the Plum softball team expected its season to conclude. The Mustangs shared the Section 2-5A title, won 15 regular-season games and picked up the No. 2 seed for the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs. The players and coaches hoped and prepared for a deep postseason run. However,...
Freshman Walsh lifts Shady Side Academy to WPIAL girls lacrosse title in double OT
For Shady Side Academy’s Molly Walsh, the wait was worth it. The Upper St. Clair and Shady Side Academy girls lacrosse teams returned to Robert Morris on Friday to complete their WPIAL Class AAA championship game suspended Thursday because of bad weather. With just five seconds left in the second...
WPIAL athletes hope to join PIAA track and field record lists
The PIAA track and field championships begin Friday morning at Shippensburg University, and athletes from the WPIAL will be going after titles, medals and season and career bests. Several of them also hope to challenge for a state record in their event. The WPIAL currently holds 14 state records across...
A-K Valley boys lacrosse preview capsules: Game of Friday, May 24
WPIAL Boys Lacrosse Class AA Third-Place Consolation 12-Freeport (9-8) vs. 3-Quaker Valley (10-4) 4 p.m. Friday at Robert Morris Winner plays: District 3 champion Hershey on Tuesday at a site and time to be determined Coaches: Dave Riley, Freeport; Chip Hansen, Quaker Valley Players to watch: Sean Fennell, Sr., attack,...
Highlands’ Thimons in race to get to PIAA track medals podium
It’s déjà vu for Cj Thimons. Last year, the Highlands junior placed fourth in the Class AAA boys 800-meter run at the WPIAL championships and earned the No. 10 seed for the PIAA meet at Shippensburg. Thimons repeated his fourth-place finish in the event at WPIALs last week at Slippery...
Dates, times and locations set for WPIAL baseball championship and third-place games
The WPIAL baseball championship games, as well as the third-place consolation matchups, have been finalized with dates, times and locations. 6A Championship: Penn-Trafford vs. Pine-Richland, May 29, Wild Things Park, Washington, 7:30 p.m. Third-Place Consolation: North Allegheny vs. Bethel Park, May 28, Washington & Jefferson College, 7 p.m. 5A Championship:...
WPIAL finalizes dates, times and locations for softball championship and consolation matchups
The WPIAL on Thursday finalized and released the softball championship and third-place dates, times and locations in all six classifications. 6A Championship: North Allegheny vs. Hempfield, May 30, Peterswood Park, 4:30 p.m. 5A Championship: Connellsville vs. West Allegheny, May 29, Peterswood Park, 4:30 p.m. Third-Place Consolation: Penn-Trafford vs. Franklin Regional,...
Late surge lifts No. 1 Penn-Trafford past North Allegheny in WPIAL baseball semifinals
The Penn-Trafford baseball team is one win away from its first WPIAL championship. The top-seeded Warriors broke open a tie game with four runs in the fifth inning and added two more in the sixth en route to a 7-2 win over No. 4 North Allegheny on Wednesday in a...
Steel Valley baseball rallies past Freeport to reach WPIAL Class 3A final
The Freeport and Steel Valley baseball teams split their regular-season series in Section 1. The Yellowjackets and Ironmen met in the rubber match Wednesday with a trip to the WPIAL Class 3A championship game on the line. Steel Valley rallied from an early three-run deficit with five runs in the...
Hampton tops Quaker Valley boys lacrosse in WPIAL semifinals
The Quaker Valley boys lacrosse team saw its run to a WPIAL Class AA title cut short Monday evening with a 9-6 semifinal loss to No. 2 Hampton. But the Quakers, who came into the tournament as the No. 3 seed, are not done with their season. In fact, QV...
Keystone Oaks slugs past No. 3 Burrell in WPIAL quarterfinals
The Burrell softball team won its final 12 games of the regular season, captured the Section 1-3A championship and earned the No. 3 seed for the WPIAL playoffs. However, none of that mattered to Keystone Oaks on Monday in a WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinal matchup at Hampton Community Park. The...
WPIAL track and field champions earn top seeds for PIAA meet
Several WPIAL track and field champions are top seeds for the two-day PIAA championship meet Friday and Saturday at Shippensburg. The PIAA released the performance lists to its website, and Shady Side Academy’s Melissa Riggins owns the top seed for the girls Class AA 800-meter and 1,600 runs. Joining Riggins...
Senior scholar-athletes awarded scholarships from sports hall of fame
Kyah Russell was a standout on the tennis court for the Gateway girls team, and her dedication to the sport was matched by her dedication to academics. She will attend the University of Pittsburgh to pursue a nursing degree. Russell joins Penn-Trafford’s Tyler Horvat, Franklin Regional’s Mason Fishell and East...
Gateway trio qualifies for state track championships
Shelly Jones said she was happy with her performance at Thursday’s WPIAL Class AA championship finals at Slippery Rock. The Gateway senior, who had been dealing with an ankle sprain leading up the to meet, earned her best-ever WPIAL finish with a throw of 39 feet, 1 inch in the...
After winning WPIAL discus title, Plum’s Linhart looks forward to PIAA meet
Hunter Linhart will return to the place he recorded a career-best in the discus. The Plum senior had a top toss of 147 feet, 7 inches at last year’s PIAA Class AAA championship meet at Shippensburg. He placed 10th. Now, Linhart, the newly minted WPIAL discus champion — he bested...
Distance runner CJ Singleton continues to make history at St. Joseph
CJ Singleton made history in the fall as he became the first St. Joseph athlete to compete at the WPIAL and PIAA cross country championships. The freshman distance runner capped his first cross country campaign with a 20th-place finish in the Class A boys race at Hershey. Singleton added another...
Quaker Valley boys tennis team rolls into PIAA quarterfinals
The Quaker Valley boys tennis team continues its quest for a state championship Friday as it takes on District 3 runner-up Pequea Valley in the quarterfinals at 12:30 p.m. at the Hershey Racquet Club. The Quakers made quick work of District 6 champion Juniata in a 5-0 first-round victory Tuesday,...
Deer Lakes’ Yourish sets gold standard at WPIAL track meet
Deer Lakes senior Josh Yourish already had won a trio of silver medals at WPIAL meets. One of those silvers came in the 1,600-meter run during Thursday’s WPIAL Class AA championships at Slippery Rock. But gold was what Yourish craved, and gold is what he got in the 800. Seeded...
Quaker Valley and Sewickley Academy athletes arrive at WPIAL track and field championships
Members of the Quaker Valley and Sewickley Academy track and field teams take part in the WPIAL Class AA championships Thursday at Slippery Rock University. The top five finishers in each event automatically qualify for the PIAA championships May 24 and 25 at Shippensburg University. Also, those in the top...
Apollo-Ridge softball eliminated by two-time finalist Frazier
The Frazier softball team has played in the past two WPIAL Class 2A championship games, and it hopes to make it three straight in a couple of weeks. The Commodores, the WPIAL champions in 2017 and last year’s runner-up, got off to a good start toward that goal Wednesday as...
Quaker Valley baseball opens playoffs against South Park
The Quaker Valley baseball team begins its playoff journey Wednesday afternoon at Seneca Valley High School against South Park in the first round of the WPIAL 4A tournament. It is one of the earliest starts with first pitch at 2 p.m. The Quakers picked up the No. 10 seed after...
Burrell girls sprint relay unit aims for another golden performance at WPIAL meet
Every year at this time, members of the Burrell girls 400-meter relay are focused on getting to the top of the podium at the WPIAL Class AA track and field championships. It has happened 11 times before, including the past four years and five out of the last six. Seeded...
Quaker Valley boys tennis team returns to state playoffs
The WPIAL runner-up Quaker Valley boys tennis team begins play in the PIAA Class AA tournament Tuesday at noon against District 6 champion Juniata. It is the Quakers’ third trip to states in the past four seasons. In 2016, QV finished as the No. 3 team from the WPIAL and...
Coaches association releases final boys volleyball rankings
The WPIAL boys volleyball playoff brackets were revealed Monday morning, and the first-round matches are set for Tuesday. In advance of the playoff announcement, the Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association released its final Class AAA and AA rankings for the 2019 season. All season, the 39 WPIAL coaches voted for...
WPIAL releases boys volleyball playoff brackets
North Allegheny and Derry are the top seeds for the WPIAL Class AAA and AA boys volleyball playoff tournaments. The WPIAL released the brackets Monday morning. Joining the Tigers as the top seeds in Class AAA are No. 2 Bethel Park, No. 3 Shaler and No. 4 Latrobe. Only the...
