High School category, Page 1251
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...
Westmoreland baseball playoff preview capsules: Games of May 16, 2019
Thursday’s games Baseball First round Class 6A No. 8 Upper St. Clair (12-6) vs. No. 9 Hempfield (11-9) 4 p.m. at West Mifflin Winner plays: No. 1 Penn-Trafford (16-3) Coaches: Jerry Malarkey, Upper St. Clair; Tim Buzzard, Hempfield Players to watch: Eli Shedd, Jr., P, Upper St. Clair; Luke Hudson,...
Ellwood City baseball strikes late to oust Deer Lakes
It’s not often a strikeout results in the winning run scoring. But that is what happened Wednesday afternoon as Ellwood City defeated Deer Lakes, 2-1, in an opening-round Class 3A baseball playoff game at Neshannock’s Mike Kirkwood Field. With the scored tied 1-1, Douglas Balin opened the seventh with a...
Late surge lifts No. 7 Burrell past McGuffey in opening round of WPIAL playoffs
Burrell leaned on ace Luke Virag over the first handful of innings of its WPIAL playoff opener as the Bucs’ offense felt out an unfamiliar pitcher. The support came a bit late, but it came in bunches. No. 7 Burrell scored nine runs over its final two times to the...
No. 6 Beaver ousts Belle Vernon in Class 4A 1st round
For the fifth consecutive season, Belle Vernon’s WPIAL playoff run ended quicker than anticipated. The No. 11 Leopards were dealt a 5-0 defeat at the hands of No. 6 Beaver in a Class 4A first-round game Wednesday at Fox Chapel. Belle Vernon (11-8) was hindered by three errors in a...
St. Joseph tops Monessen for 1st playoff win in 18 seasons
For the first time in 18 seasons, St. Joseph has advanced in the WPIAL baseball playoffs. The 11th-seeded Spartans scored three runs in each of the first two innings en route to a 10-1 win over No. 6 Monessen on Wednesday at Seton Hill. Dominic Fellowes led the way for...
Five things to watch at the WPIAL Class AAA boys track and field championships
The WPIAL track and field championships are Thursday at Slippery Rock, the first time at the venue after the event spent more than 20 years at Baldwin. Action begins at 11 a.m. with running preliminaries and early field events. The afternoon field events are scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m....
Softball teams adjust after 1st-round playoff games get postponed
A familiar nemesis popped up as Springdale prepared to play its first WPIAL softball playoff game in nearly two decades: Mother Nature. The persistent rain that began over Mother’s Day weekend caused Springdale’s scheduled Class A first-round game against Quigley Catholic to get postponed, leaving the Dynamos to cool their...
Franklin Regional’s Kranick commits to play soccer at Oakland
Auston Kranick was glad to be collateral damage. That is how recruiting sometimes can work. Funny story, though, how Kranick became a Division-I soccer player. The Franklin Regional senior was not the recruit Oakland University was coming to scout during a game last season, but the Golden Grizzlies are glad...
PIAA overturns WPIAL, Waynesburg’s Daniel Layton can defend hurdles title
A clerical error will not prevent Waynesburg’s Daniel Layton from defending his WPIAL title in the 110-meter hurdles, the PIAA decided Wednesday. A PIAA appeals panel voted 5-0 to overturn a WPIAL decision and allow Layton to compete in the event at Thursday’s WPIAL championships even though his coach had...
High school scores, schedules for May 14, 2019
High Schools Baseball WPIAL Playoffs Class 6A First round Thursday’s schedule Upper St. Clair (12-6) vs. Hempfield (11-9) at West Mifflin, 4 p.m.; Peters Township (13-6) vs. Butler (6-13) at Boyce Mayview Park in Upper St. Clair, 7 p.m.; Norwin (13-6) vs. Mt. Lebanon (10-10) at West Mifflin, 2 p.m.;...
High school roundup for May 14, 2019: Albert Gallatin blanks South Fayette
Maddy Hershberger threw a four-hit shutout and also had an RBI double to lead No. 9-seeded Albert Gallatin to a 2-0 victory over South Fayette (11-8) in the first round of the WPIAL Class 5A softball playoffs -Tuesday at Trinity. Hershberger struck out eight and walked two in the complete-game...
Sewickley Academy softball edges Monessen in Class A opening round
A come-from-behind effort was not enough as Monessen softball ended its season with a 5-4 loss to Sewickley Academy in the first round of the WPIAL Class A playoffs Tuesday at Peters Township. After starting the season 1-8, the Greyhounds raced to the finish, winning five of their last six...
Beaver’s List drives in 6 in WPIAL 1st-round rout of Derry
Beaver freshman Payton List turned in quite of a performance in her first WPIAL Class 3A playoffs. List clubbed a pair of two-run home runs and finished with six RBIs to help the No. 5 Bobcats to an 18-3, three inning victory against No. 12 Derry in the first round...
Brentwood runs past Summit Academy in preliminary round
With the one-and-done aspect of the WPIAL playoffs, baseball coaches always say they need to win and advance in the postseason. On Tuesday, Brentwood decided to steal and survive in a preliminary-round game. On opening day of the district baseball playoffs, Brentwood ran past Summit Academy, 8-1, to advance to...
Moon basketball’s Donovan Johnson receives North Carolina scholarship offer
Hours after earning all-state player of the year honors, Moon’s Donovan Johnson received a scholarship offer from North Carolina. The Tar Heels offered Johnson on Tuesday, said his father Gil. The 6-foot-7 junior already held offers from Pitt Arizona, Ohio State, TCU, Xavier and others. What makes North Carolina more...
Greensburg Central Catholic softball ousted via mercy rule vs. Bishop Canevin
Bishop Canevin coach Karen Seitz-LaFianza said she wasn’t nervous about Tuesday’s WPIAL Class A first-round game, and neither were her young Crusaders. With three freshmen starting their first playoff game, the Crusaders didn’t blink. They took advantage of three walks and an error in the opening inning and rolled to...
Westmoreland athletes of the week: Greensburg Salem’s Aaren Putt, Penn-Trafford’s Brooke Cleland
Aaren Putt School: Greensburg Salem Sport: Baseball Year: Junior Claim to fame: Putt, who struck out two and walked one, allowed a leadoff hit to Mt. Pleasant’s Asker O’Connor and then retired the next 19 batters to lead Greensburg Salem to a 5-0 victory in a Section 1-4A game May...
Five things to watch in the WPIAL Class AAA girls track and field championships
The WPIAL track and field championships are Thursday at Slippery Rock, the first time at the venue after the event spent more than 20 years at Baldwin. There are numerous returning Class AAA girls champions who are looking for a return trip to the PIAA championships May 24-25 at Shippensburg....
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...
Alle-Kiski Valley Athletes of the Week: Highlands’ Zac Kuniak, Plum’s Jillian Durst
Zac Kuniak School: Highlands Class: Senior Sport: Baseball Report card: Kuniak picked up the save in the Rams’ 9-3 win over Section 1-4A rival Indiana and helped clinch Highlands’ first trip to the postseason since 2003. A two-year captain, Kuniak leads No. 14 Highlands (10-8) in batting average (.400) and...
George Guido: Players from Freeport’s ’79 baseball title team show support for current team
It was nice to see several players from the Freeport 1979 WPIAL championship baseball team came out to Community Park last Wednesday to cheer on the Yellowjackets. Coach Bob Isenberg, along with players David and Dennis Montgomery, Jim Solomon and Jeff Markwell were introduced to the crowd just prior to...
Moon’s Donovan Johnson leads all-state basketball selections as Pa. Player of the Year in Class 5A
Moon’s Donovan Johnson was named as the state’s Class 5A boys basketball player of the year Tuesday and Adam Kaufman was named coach of the year after leading the Tigers to a PIAA title in March. Johnson averaged 22.6 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 1.5 blocks per game as...
WPIAL postpones Tuesday softball games at Gateway, Hampton, North Allegheny, Shaler
The rainy weather that began over Mother’s Day weekend presented a curveball to the WPIAL softball playoffs. The WPIAL on Tuesday postponed first-round games scheduled for the afternoon at four sites: Gateway, Hampton, North Allegheny and Shaler. Those games now will take place on Thursday, at the same time as...
Hempfield sophomore pole-vaulter Barnhart ready to soar
Tanner Barnhart was bummed watching the Hempfield boys track team win the school’s seventh WPIAL team title May 6 at Peters Township. He was disappointed because a sprained left foot prevented him from pole vaulting. Hempfield’s best vaulter sat and cheered on Rylan Kauffman and Lukas Kissel, who won the...
