High School category, Page 853
North Allegheny’s Lizzy Groetsch caps high school career with Roundball Classic MVP
It’s been quite a past several months for North Allegheny senior Lizzy Groetsch. The 5-foot-11 guard led her school to the Class 6A WPIAL and PIAA titles and was named Trib HSSN Player of the Year and state 6A Player of the Year. Saturday at Geneva College, Groetsch capped her...
George Guido: Highlands softball team’s new field a hit
Highlands is celebrating its first section softball title since 2005, and the Golden Rams did it in the first year of their new field. During the offseason, a number of parents and community volunteers converted a former PONY baseball field on the high school campus to softball. The field is...
Westmoreland notebook: Norwin, Hempfield could meet in baseball, softball playoffs
Norwin and Hempfield could meet again in the WPIAL baseball and softball semifinals, and that could mean at least two local teams making the Class 6A finals. The teams split their section series. The baseball teams shared a section championship. The WPIAL playoffs begin this week, and the local matchups...
Distance runners Carter, Miller ready for 1st crack at WPIAL girls championships
Fox Chapel’s Laura Carter and Kiski Area’s Eliza Miller first meet in competition in fall 2018 as seventh-grade cross country runners. Two years later, they were among the WPIAL’s top high school cross country runners, and they were separated by 5 seconds in the Class AAA WPIAL finals in October....
Ligonier Valley junior Higgins turning heads in the javelin
Ligonier Valley junior Miles Higgins turned some heads recently. When Higgins won the Westmoreland County Coaches’ Association javelin with a throw of 180 feet, 4 inches, it became the top throw in either classification in the WPIAL. Higgins goes into Wednesday’s WPIAL Class AA track and field championship at Slippery...
North Allegheny ready to rehire Dave DeGregorio as boys basketball coach
North Allegheny’s next boys basketball coach already knows the program well. North Catholic coach Dave DeGregorio, who coached North Allegheny from 2004-16, is returning to his old job, pending school board approval Wednesday. Online board records list DeGregorio as the recommended candidate. He’ll replace Dan DeRose, who resigned after one...
Bethel Park pole vaulter Nirella continues to raise the bar
Isaac Nirella, a junior at Bethel Park, has made great strides in just his second year of pole vaulting competition. “It’s really his first (outdoor season) since he lost last year,” coach Mark Jacobs said. “Isaac has improved so much from last year — over 3 feet so far —...
Brothers-in-law face off for Riverview, Leechburg baseball
A few years ago, Bill Stoops and William Gras, who are brothers-in-law, were sharing the same bench as the head and assistant coach of the Gateway baseball program. On April 30 and May 6 though, the two coaches found themselves in opposite dugouts as Leechburg and Riverview faced off in...
Plum softball, baseball teams turn attention to WPIAL playoffs
The Plum softball team hadn’t played a game in nearly two weeks when it came back May 10 from a covid pause to face Section 1-5A foe Armstrong in a game crucial to each team’s goal of a section title. The Mustangs didn’t show any rust as they got some...
Norwin notebook: Kessler’s home run trot a familiar sight for Knights
Sophomore Madie Kessler wasn’t aiming for Route 30, but those who witnessed her towering home run against North Allegheny believe the ball might have landed on the highway below Norwin High School. An umpire was even impressed, saying he hadn’t seen a ball hit that far. Kessler’s tape-measure blast to...
North Allegheny girls pleased with runner-up finish at WPIAL team championships
Only a handful of schools reach the WPIAL team track championships each year, but the meet has become almost an annual tradition for the North Allegheny girls. Consider, the Tigers returned this spring for the 17th time since 2000, finishing second to Butler in the WPIAL Class AAA meet May...
North Journal notebook: North Hills softball finishes 2nd in Section 3
The North Hills softball team fell just short of a section title last week after falling to Shaler, 9-8, on May 11. In the bottom of the seventh, Shaler’s Cam Murphy hit a two-run home run, and Natalie Spears delivered a two-run double for the walk-off win. North Hills belted...
Franklin Regional softball team hits upswing as playoffs approach
After losing its first two games, the Franklin Regional softball has been a model of consistency. Sort of. A four-game winning streak was followed by four losses. But then, as you might have been able to guess, the Panthers won four more in a row. Coach Jim Armstrong is focusing...
Hampton boys lacrosse surges into postseason
Hampton senior defender Gus Wolf hopes history repeats itself in the WPIAL Class AA boys lacrosse playoffs. But only some of it. “Obviously, our big goal is to be able to see Mars again in the WPIAL championship,” Wolf said. “That would be ideal.” They just want the outcome to...
Shady Side Academy boys tennis celebrates 1st WPIAL title since ’14
All season, Shady Side Academy senior Colin Gramley was hoping at least one tennis match would come down to him. Turns out, on May 12, in Shady Side’s biggest match of the season, Gramley got his wish. The Bulldogs were ahead of Franklin Regional, 2-1, in the WPIAL Class AAA...
Bethel Park’s Malecki, Underwood vaulting to personal best marks
It takes a unique type of high school athlete to compete in the pole vault event. “It does,” said Mark Jacobs, Bethel Park’s pole vaulting coach. “You need that combination of speed, strength and determination that every great athlete needs, but at the same time you need grit and to...
Hampton athletes sprint toward WPIAL track championship meet
The Hampton boys track and field team last month won its first section title in 36 years. Next up for the Talbots is the chance for some individual accolades. Hampton heads into the WPIAL Class AAA track and field championships May 19 at Slippery Rock with a number of highly...
High school scores, summaries and schedule for May 14, 2021
High schools Baseball Friday’s results Nonsection Beaver 7, Keystone Oaks 2 Canon-McMillan 5, South Park 4 Connellsville 5, Derry 4 Freedom 12, Carlynton 8 Freeport 11, Valley 2 Greensburg Central Catholic 11, Apollo-Ridge 7 Indiana 18, Ligonier Valley 6 Knoch 5, Shady Side Academy 1 Laurel Highlands 8, California 1...
High school roundup for May 14, 2021: West Allegheny softball grabs share of section title
Adriana Vicari-Baker went 3 for 3 with two doubles to lead West Allegheny to an 11-1 victory over South Fayette in Section 4-5A softball Friday afternoon. The win moved West Allegheny into a tie with Chartiers Valley for the section title. Emily Nolan doubled, tripled and drove in three runs...
Playoff seeds sit well with Norwin, Franklin Regional baseball teams
Nothing seems to bother baseball coaches when it comes to pairings. So it was no surprise to see North Allegheny (17-3) seeded No. 1 in Class 6A despite a nonsection loss to No. 2 Norwin (13-3). All three Tigers losses were by a run. “Class 6A was pretty straightforward,” Hempfield...
9 A-K Valley baseball teams learn playoff fate; Plum earns No. 5 seed in Class 5A
This season has been full of ups and downs for baseball teams throughout the Alle-Kiski Valley, but on Friday afternoon, nine teams found out their fate for the WPIAL baseball playoffs. First-round games will begin Wednesday at neutral sites with WPIAL championship games being played at Wild Things Park in...
Trib HSSN baseball bracket breakdown
Class 6A Favorite: North Allegheny owns seven WPIAL titles but hasn’t won since 2013, an eight-year wait that ranks as the team’s longest between hanging banners. So, maybe the Tigers are due. Duke recruit Cole Young, a junior shortstop, is batting .434 with six home runs. Hard-throwing right-hander Kyle Demi...
WPIAL reveals brackets for 2021 baseball playoffs
After enduring a year with no baseball, the WPIAL playoffs are back. The WPIAL announced postseason brackets Friday for all six classifications with North Allegheny seeded first in Class 6A, Franklin Regional in 5A, Montour in 4A, Hopewell in 3A, Seton LaSalle in 2A and Eden Christian in A. Playoffs...
Kasperowicz suing Pine-Richland School District for defamation of character
Former Pine-Richland High School head football coach Eric Kasperowicz on Friday filed a lawsuit for defamation of character against Pine-Richland School District and several district officials for comments school officials made in the wake of his dismissal. Kasperowicz, who was informed on April 14 that his contract would not be...
Norwin soccer coach Lauren Karcher resigns after 7 successful seasons
Pregnant with her second child who is due to arrive in mid-September, Lauren Karcher knows she won’t be able to dedicate all of her attention to the girls soccer program at Norwin. She had the same issue in 2019 when she gave birth to her daughter, Harper, and she turned...
