Michael Love stories, Page 37

Burrell High School graduation is Thursday evening. Four senior members of the Bucs softball team who will be receiving their diplomas — Abbie Larko, Alanna Miller, Cassidy Novak and Katie Armstrong — hope the day is a busy one as it also is the day of the second round of...

Emily Levine wasn’t witness to her Gateway doubles team’s run to third place at the PIAA Class 3A tournament May 27, at the Hershey Racquet Club. Her husband had undergone emergency eye surgery, and she wasn’t able to travel. But the news that traveled back to the Pittsburgh area excited...

When the baseball and softball fields at the Gateway Sports Complex were still in the construction stage, Gateway athletic director Don Holl gazed into his crystal ball and saw the facility hosting a number of WPIAL playoff games. Hope and optimism turned into reality over a two-week span from May...

Damian Davies said it was time to step away as head coach of the Leechburg boys basketball team but said he leaves with many positive moments from the four seasons of his second stint with the program. Davies said he made the decision a couple of weeks ago, ending the...

Fox Chapel’s Sydney Schutzman and Mt. Lebanon’s Addie Murdoch in Class 3A and Hampton’s Emi DiLiberto in Class 2A were unanimous selections to the All-WPIAL girls lacrosse teams released Wednesday. The selections for All-WPIAL in both Class 3A and Class 2A as well as the four all-section teams are based...

The first two meetings between baseball section rivals Plum and Penn-Trafford were close and low-scoring. Each won on their home field. The rubber matchup between the Mustangs and Warriors on Wednesday at Washington & Jefferson’s Ross Memorial Park was expected to be a similar type of contest, and it was....

The Burrell softball team used small ball to pick up its first run of Tuesday’s WPIAL Class 3A third-place game against Waynesburg Central at Gateway. Sophomore Brae Jones led off with an infield single, was aggressive in moving to third on a sacrifice bunt from senior Alanna Miller and scored...

In a win-or-go-home scenario Tuesday at Gateway, the Greensburg Central Catholic softball team survived. The Centurions bounced back from last week’s WPIAL Class 2A semifinal loss to No. 1 Neshannock with a 7-6 victory over Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in a battle for third place where only the...

Last year, the Burrell softball team lost in the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals, dropping it to the third-place consolation game against Montour with a trip to the PIAA playoffs on the line. The Bucs, in a must-win situation to continue their season as only three Class 4A teams advanced to...

On the road and down a set in its WPIAL Class 2A first-round match against No. 7 Montour on May 16, the No. 10 Gateway boys volleyball team punched back and scored a win in set two to even things up. “It was nothing short of awesome to see us...

The Gateway boys tennis team surged to the top of WPIAL Class 3A this season and made its mark with a run at the PIAA tournament. First-year coach Emily Levine said it was a special feeling to be a part of it all with her players and to see the...

The Gateway Sports Hall of Fame will induct its next class of Gators athletic greats this fall, and the first class since 2019 has been selected. The group includes five athletes, a teacher/coach and one team. Robert Kalkstein (Class of 2010) was 41-9 as Gateway’s starting quarterback and played in...

The passion for the Pittsburgh Passion women’s football team never left Lauren Ferragonio. That desire to make a difference in the sport is what drives the Plum graduate and Penn Hills resident to put the pads and helmet back on and mix it up again after three years away from...

The Shaler boys volleyball team arrived at Peters Township High School as Thursday’s Class 2A championship game was taking shape. The players sat in the bleachers and watched North Catholic capture its first WPIAL title with a sweep of 10-time champion Ambridge. Shaler then went out and achieved a similar...

There were no secrets when section rivals Ambridge and North Catholic met Thursday evening at Peters Township to decide the WPIAL Class 2A boys volleyball championship. The Bridgers and Trojans split their season series, each winning in five sets. With the title on the line, North Catholic won the latest...

Before Reese Skiba and Isaac Wetzel can throw and run Friday and Saturday at the PIAA Class 2A track and field championships at Shippensburg, the Freeport duo will take one of the most important walks of their lives. The seniors will take part in commencement activities Thursday evening at Freeport...

Avonworth cleanup hitter Leah Kuban fell victim to Burrell pitcher Katie Armstrong twice in Tuesday’s WPIAL Class 3A semifinal softball game at North Allegheny. She struck out against the Bucs senior to begin the bottom of the second and then went down on strikes to end the bottom of the...

Seton LaSalle collected four hits through five innings against Riverview starting pitcher Ben Hower in a Class 2A quarterfinal baseball playoff game Monday afternoon at Gateway. The No. 2 Rebels then erupted for six runs on five hits in the sixth inning off of Hower and Raiders reliever Enzo Lio....

WPIAL softball playoffs Class 3A Semifinals 1-Avonworth (19-1) vs. 4-Burrell (13-5) 4 p.m. Tuesday at North Allegheny Winner plays: Winner of 2-Southmoreland (15-2)/3-Waynesburg Central (16-3) in championship game May 31 or June 1 at Lilley Field, PennWest University, California (time TBA) Players to watch: Brae Jones, Burrell; Alvia Lantzy, Avonworth...

The Valley boys tennis team qualified for the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Class 2A tournament and faced North Catholic on May 8 with a spot in the semifinals and a berth to states on the line. The day before, the Vikings starting seven had the opportunity to train with some...

As the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds for the WPIAL Class 5A softball playoffs, Thomas Jefferson and Plum, many expected, would play a close and competitive first-round game. That is what played out May 15 at Gateway High School. The Jaguars grabbed a two-run lead before Plum rallied to...

A couple of months ago, a hurdle was a foreign object to Gateway senior Derrick Jones. The first-year member of the Gators boys track and field team gave the event a try, and he quickly made strides, both figuratively and literally as he got more and more comfortable sailing over...

Kerry McKinney Mills is in quite the celebratory mood. In addition to Saturday’s induction into the Alle-Kiski Valley Sports Hall of Fame, the 2001 Deer Lakes graduate who earned 11 letters in soccer, basketball and track and field, turns 40 on Sunday and will mark the milestone occasion with many...

France will be back. Chuck Sarver, president of the Freeport International Baseball Invitational, said Friday that planning continues to move forward for this year’s event July 25-29 on fields throughout the Alle-Kiski Valley. A team from the same town and league in France that was represented last year will return...

The Carmichaels softball team scored 10 or more runs in 13 of its 16 regular-season games. The Mighty Mikes offense was mighty again Thursday in a WPIAL Class A quarterfinals game against Leechburg at Gateway. The No. 2 seed pounded out 16 hits as eight of the nine in the...