Michael Love stories, Page 61

The weather in Sarver early Friday evening calls for temperatures in the low 60s with no rain in sight. That is good news for area racing fans who plan to flock to Lernerville Speedway as the season finally gets started. Mother Nature put a halt to the first two attempts...

Sydney Selker made the most of her first varsity season with the Freeport softball team. Last year, as a freshman, she batted .483 with seven home runs, 27 RBIs and 28 runs scored. She also finished 8-5 with a 3.70 earned-run average and 114 strikeouts in 89 innings. Selker is...

Nick Dizon called it a very tough decision, but after four years as coach of the Kiski Area girls basketball team, he is stepping away to lead the women’s program at Penn State Greater Allegheny. “I met with the team (Monday) night, and talking with them was probably one of...

A section clash last week between WPIAL heavyweights produced a change at the top of the latest Western Pa. Volleyball Coaches Association Class 2A rankings released Monday morning. North Catholic, No. 2 last week, upended No. 1 Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, 3-1, on April 12 and has moved...

Pitt is it for another Plum girls soccer standout. Junior Kaitlyn Killinger, an All-WPIAL and all-state forward who helped the Mustangs reach the WPIAL Class 3A championship game for the second year in a row and make a deep run in the PIAA playoffs, gave a verbal commitment to the...

The Plum girls lacrosse team reached the midpoint of its Section 1-2A slate in contention for the section title. The Mustangs, who are gearing up a nonsection clash with Class 3A Penn-Trafford on Friday, improved to 4-1 in section play and 5-2 overall with an intense 11-8 victory over rival...

Amaya Robinson is building on the past and making the most of the present while lending an eye to the future. The Gateway senior sprinting standout, a WPIAL medalist last year in the Class 3A girls 100-meter dash (sixth) at Slippery Rock, will make Slippery Rock her collegiate home starting...

The Gateway baseball team split last year’s Section 1-5A series with Penn-Trafford on the way to a 6-4 record and a trip to the WPIAL playoffs. Early last week, the Gators hoped to break out the brooms and sweep past the Warriors. But Penn-Trafford wouldn’t go quietly after Gateway took...

Parker Steele has high hopes the Riverview boys 3,200-meter relay can defend its WPIAL Class 2A title from a year ago. With three of the four runners back — Steele, a senior, along with junior Amberson Bauer and senior Ty Laughlin — and a mix of veterans, including senior Lucas...

The Plum girls lacrosse team reached the midpoint of its Section 1-2A slate in contention for the section title. The Mustangs, who are gearing up for their next game, a nonsection clash with Class 3A Penn-Trafford on Friday, improved to 4-1 in section play and 5-2 overall with an intense...

Burrell took Game 1, but the Knoch baseball team returned the favor in a big way Friday afternoon in a Section 1-4A rematch at sun-splashed No Offseason in Russellton. Jacob Stallsmith doubled, singled and drove in six runs as the Knights collected 12 hits in a 15-5 victory over the...

Early last season, Deer Lakes suffered a 6-3 loss to Valley, and that ended up playing a big part in costing the Lancers a share of the Section 1-3A championship. North Catholic and Deer Lakes ended up splitting their season series, but the Trojans won the title outright with a...

Jalen Cloud produced a highly successful indoor season with the Cal (Pa.) men’s track and field team, and those positive outcomes have carried over to the outdoors. The Vulcans senior and Kiski Area graduate improved on his NCAA provisional mark in the triple jump Saturday at IUP’s Ed Fry Invitational....

North Allegheny (Class 3A) and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (Class 2A) held on to their respective No. 1 spots in the Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association’s Week 3 WPIAL boys top 10 polls released Monday morning. The Tigers capped this past week with a semifinal finish at the...

The Gateway boys volleyball team got a chance to show its potential at the early-season Seneca Valley tournament on April 2. Fourth-year coach Phil Randolph said he saw a lot of good things from his players as they came together to advance to the tournament semifinals before falling to Norwin...

With five seniors and several other returning underclassmen to fuel the machine, the Gateway baseball team’s optimism for the 2022 season grew in the weeks leading up to the season opener at Pine-Richland on March 29. The Gators won that game in close fashion, 7-6, and it sparked the team...

When Dianne Haney stepped down as Kiski Area softball coach in 2014, she had completed 22 years at the helm of the Cavaliers and helped the program to 248 victories, 12 section championships, 15 playoff appearances, four undefeated regular seasons and a 1995 WPIAL runner-up finish. She also garnered Valley...

The Plum boys volleyball team has goals and aspirations of claiming the Section 2-2A championship. Six starters are back from last year’s team which outlasted Trinity, 3-2, in the first round of the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs before falling to eventual WPIAL champion Seton LaSalle in the quarterfinals. Second-year coach...

Plum boys and girls track and field coach Stephanie Kennedy witnessed a plethora of promising performances from the more than two dozen athletes who competed at the early-season Altoona Igloo Invitational on April 2 at Altoona’s Mansion Park. “It was awesome,” said Kennedy, who saw three individuals and four relays...

Cadin Olsen stood tall, literally and figuratively, among a wide-ranging crop of talented quarterbacks in the WPIAL and City League. The 6-foot-5 junior was a running and passing threat for Armstrong during the 2021 season, and the standout helped the River Hawks to an 8-4 overall record, a 5-2 mark...

The Western Pennsylvania Golden Gloves winter and spring 2022 schedule comes down to Saturday evening and a card full of championship bouts at Pro Sports in Monroeville. Boxers representing Butler Cubs, Team 412 WPAL, Wolfpack Boxing, Jack’s Gym, 3rd Avenue WPAL, Pittsburgh Boxing, Scorchin Boxing, Erie Boxing Academy, South Park...

Katie Armstrong’s freshman softball season was over before it got a chance to get going. The now-Burrell junior was in the running for varsity starting time in the pitcher’s circle with Kylie Karns, a freshman pitcher this spring at Mt. Aloysius, and things went well in her scrimmage debut against...

The Steel City Ice Renegades boys Tier II 16U 3A and Steel City Selects girls Tier II 19U A hockey teams were not to be denied Monday as they finished title runs at their respective USA Hockey national championship tournaments. Both teams played six games. The Ice Renegades finished 5-1,...

After scoring single runs in losses to Shaler and Laurel to open its season, the Highlands softball team broke out in a big way Monday in the Section 1-4A opener against Freeport at Freeport Community Park. The Golden Rams pounded out 20 hits, including five home runs, and senior Jaycee...

There’s a change at the top of the Western PA Volleyball Coaches Association’s WPIAL Class 2A rankings released Monday morning. Our Lady of the Sacred Heart ascends to the top spot in the coaches’ vote from its No. 2 position in last week’s poll. It won three nonsection matches in...