Michael Love stories, Page 79

Beau Ritson is no stranger to high-level youth hockey as a member of the Pens Elite travel program. The 11-year-old Monroeville resident now is gearing up for play as part of Team Pennsylvania at a top-flight youth tournament in Las Vegas on July 6-9. The Kings of Vegas tournament was...

Growing up, J.J. Brestensky was no different than many other young baseball players in that he had aspirations of one day playing professionally. The Freeport graduate is getting that chance for the first time this summer as a member of the Trinidad Triggers in the Pecos League, one of the...

After a delay of 1 hour, 45 minutes, the Ligonier Valley softball team began Thursday’s PIAA Class 2A quarterfinal against District 5 champion Chestnut Ridge at Mt. Aloysius College. Through five innings, the Rams held a 1-0 lead. Then, in the sixth, the rain returned, and the game was delayed...

After losing 2020 to the covid pandemic, the Fox Chapel softball team entered this spring with optimism that it could get to the Class 5A playoffs and make a run. Foxes coach Chris Olbrich was confident his team would be competitive in each game it would play. Both of those...

Rayla Smith was an offensive force for the Plum girls lacrosse team this spring. The freshman attacker didn’t shy away from going to the goal, and she finished the season with more than 40 goals for a Mustangs squad that had designs on the WPIAL playoffs from the start of...

Cloudy skies and rain greeted the Highlands softball team Friday afternoon as they gathered for practice in preparation for Monday’s PIAA Class 4A semifinal against Beaver. The Golden Rams, who are focused in on the WPIAL title game rematch, saw enough rain Thursday to last a lifetime in a state-tournament...

EBENSBURG — The Highlands softball team had to wait through a four-hour delay from the original 4 p.m. start of its PIAA Class 4A quarterfinal game Thursday against Bishop McDevitt. It also practiced patience as the game was moved from Mt. Aloysius College to nearby Central Cambria High School. In...

CRESSON — The record will show Ligonier Valley secured a 1-0 victory over Chestnut Ridge in the PIAA Class 2A softball quarterfinals Thursday. That only begins to tell the story. Rain first delayed the start of the game by 1 hour and 45 minutes. The teams then started and quickly...

The Highlands softball bats and the players swinging them have proven themselves all season with high hit and run totals. The Golden Rams offense continued that trend Monday with 13 hits and seven runs against Clearfield in a PIAA Class 4A first-round victory in DuBois. Just as key, but sometimes...

Softball Class 5A Quarterfinals 7-2 Highlands (17-5-1) vs. 3-1 Bishop McDevitt (23-2) 4 p.m. Thursday at Mt. Aloysius College in Cresson Coaches: Jen Koprivinikar, Highlands; Tim Bowen, Bishop McDevitt Winner plays: Winner of 7-1 Beaver Area (18-0)/7-3 Elizabeth Forward (18-3) Monday in the semifinals (site and time, TBD) Players to...

North Allegheny graduate Jack Wright said he was taken aback when he entered the CHI Health Center in Omaha for the Wave I U.S. Olympic Swim Trials last week. “It is a one-of-a-kind pool that is built up, and it is unlike anything I’ve swam in before,” said Wright, a...

Several members of the North Allegheny rowing team competed at the Scholastic Rowing Association of America national championship regatta over Memorial Day weekend on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. The Tigers were represented with qualifiers for the girls varsity lightweight double and the girls varsity quad races. Charlotte Bentrim (stroke)...

Things didn’t start out well for the Leechburg softball team in Monday’s PIAA Class A first-round game against DuBois Central Catholic at Heindl Field in DuBois. The District 9 champion Cardinals scored 13 runs over the first two innings and kept the Blue Devils off the scoreboard. Leechburg didn’t fold...

Already in uncharted territory, the Highlands softball team added to its historic season Monday against Clearfield in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A playoffs. The Golden Rams, playing in the first state playoff game in program history, scored runs in the third and fourth, three more in the...

For the second time in as many seasons, the Leechburg softball team survived a pressure situation in the WPIAL consolation final to earn a trip the PIAA playoffs. This time, South Side fell victim to a Blue Devils team that roared back from a tough Class 1A semifinal loss. Leechburg’s...

Gateway football seniors Jacques Taylor and Chamor Price teamed up one final time May 30 to cap their high school careers in the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association East-West Football Classic at Landis Field in Harrisburg. While the West team didn’t come out on top — the East scored a...

The first three WPIAL softball championship games played at Cal (Pa.) on Wednesday ended by way of the mercy rule, with the winning teams scoring 17, 15 and 12 runs. The nightcap between Highlands and Beaver Area for the Class 4A title was much closer. In a pitchers’ duel between...

Zoe Skirboll was among the spectators at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Swim Trials in Omaha, Neb., and she watched the best in the nation compete for spots on the team that competed a month later in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. “It was breathtaking,” said Skirboll, an Aspinwall resident. “I had...

The 2021 James Madison softball team has made history with its first-ever trip to the NCAA Women’s College World Series, and two South Fayette graduates, Sara Jubas and Lauren Bernett, have helped the Dukes in their journey to Oklahoma City. JMU took two of three games in a best-of-three Columbia...

2-Beaver (16-0) vs. 5-Highlands (16-4-1) 6:45 p.m. today at Lilley Field, Cal (Pa.) Road to the finals • Beaver — After receiving a bye into the quarterfinals, the Bobcats began their postseason journey with a 7-3 victory over No. 7 Yough behind a pair of RBIs from Anna Blum and...

Softball Class 5A 7-Armstrong (15-4) vs. 8-North Hills (15-5) 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at Lilley Field, Cal (Pa.) Road to the finals • Armstrong — The River Hawks came out strong in the first round, scoring 16 runs in a 16-3 rout of No. 10 South Fayette. They continued to roll...

Dylan Urban made the most of his senior season with the La Roche baseball team. The Gateway graduate and Redhawks center fielder was selected the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference all-star first team after a season in which he finished third on the team in batting with a .366 average. In...

The Gateway boys volleyball team was the underdog as the No. 14 seed when it traveled to Ambridge on May 18 to take on the No. 3 Bridgers, WPIAL champions in 2018 and ’19, in the first round of this year’s Class AA tournament. Gators coach Phil Randolph said the...

Maera Williams arrived to school Thursday and soon was greeted with a plethora of well-wishes and congratulations for her and her Highlands softball teammates. Roughly 12 hours earlier, the Golden Rams rallied past top-seeded Elizabeth Forward, 6-4, in eight innings in the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals and earned the program’s...