High School category, Page 868
Boys basketball coach Buddy Valinsky resigns at Norwin
Norwin boys basketball coach Buddy Valinsky resigned Wednesday after two seasons on the job. The Knights were 19-23 under Valinsky and lost to Butler in the WPIAL 6A playoffs this past season. They were 6-14 in the section. Valinsky previously coached at Allderdice in Pittsburgh City League. Norwin athletic director...
Hempfield grads, lifelong friends chase Olympic dreams together
They were neighbors in the Heather Ridge plan of Hempfield Township with adjacent backyards. They grew up together and competed together for the Hempfield track team. They were state and national track champions. They were NCAA Division I All-Americans. Now they are trying to make the United States Olympic team...
Trib HSSN Final State Baseball Rankings for June 23, 2021
Six teams have been crowned state champion as the 2021 high school baseball season is now in the books. Thus we present the final edition of the Trib HSSN state baseball rankings. Congrats to the state champions: LaSalle College in 6A, Bethel Park in 5A, New Castle in 4A, Tyrone...
Trib HSSN Final State Softball Rankings for June 22, 2021
A year after great disappointment over the lost 2020 spring season, the 2021 high school softball season concluded on a great high after six PIAA champions were crowned. Whether your favorite team won gold, silver or nothing at all, it was definitely a season to celebrate. As part of the...
Shady Side Academy’s Warden captures WPGA Junior title in a playoff
It wasn’t the way Weston Warden would have preferred to win the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association’s 101st Junior Championship Tuesday, but he’ll take it. Warden, a senior at Shady Side Academy, used a conservative bogey on the first playoff hole to edge Plum’s Wes Lorish. The 36-hole event began Monday...
Penn-Trafford’s Cade Yacamelli commits to Wisconsin
When Cade Yacamelli visited the University of Wisconsin this past weekend, he said it felt like home. The visit cinched his decision, so the Penn-Trafford rising senior announced Monday his verbal commitment to the Badgers. He said he really didn’t have a Top 5 list. “Since I made my decision,...
Trib HSSN Baseball Team of the Week for June 21, 2021
New Castle finished the regular season 10-9 overall with its longest winning streak being two victories in a row, twice. One wild and crazy month later following eight straight playoff wins, the Red Hurricane are celebrating both WPIAL and PIAA championships. “I am happy for the team,” New Castle coach...
Trib HSSN Baseball Player of the Week for June 21, 2021
Bethel Park used the one-two punch of senior lefty Eric Chalus and sophomore righty Evan Holewinski all season in route to a Section 4-5A title, a runner-up trophy in the WPIAL playoffs and the Black Hawks’ first state baseball championship in 33 years. However, with six of BP’s eight postseason...
Mt. Pleasant’s Mary Smithnosky writes fairy-tale ending to pitching career
A future college outfielder, Mary Smithnosky had to reaffirm to herself that she was a pitcher in her final high school softball season. The position in the circle had to be more than a facade to the senior from Mt. Pleasant, more than a column on the roster. If Smithnosky...
Trib HSSN Softball Team of the Week for June 20, 2021
Three weeks ago, Beaver was named the Trib HSSN Softball Team of the Week. So in our final edition of team of the week for 2021, I guess you could say Beaver is the district softball team of the year. They, along with Mt. Pleasant, were the only team to...
Trib HSSN Softball Player of the Week: June 20, 2021
In 2017, when Mt. Pleasant defeated Tunkhannock, 5-3, to win the PIAA Class 4A softball championship, Courtney Poulich and her current Vikings senior teammates were in eighth grade and watching their future team win the school’s first state softball title. Now, after beating Mid Valley to win the PIAA Class...
Gateway Sports Hall of Fame making plans for next induction
When the Gateway Sports Hall of Fame enshrined its 2019 class in October of that year, the committee members already were looking forward to the next biennial induction ceremony in 2021. But the covid pandemic caused a change in plans. Now, the hall of fame is looking forward to the...
Season full of highlights for Chartiers Valley girls lacrosse
The Chartiers Valley girls lacrosse season began with the team having to reschedule a scrimmage because of a lack of players. The Colts season ended with a heartbreaking one-goal loss to top-seed Blackhawk in the WPIAL Class AA quarterfinals. In between, there were many high points for a growing program....
Carlynton baseball team looks forward to future
It’s better to walk before you run. For the youthful Carlynton baseball team, it was more like crawl then walk this spring. “Our season had an abundance of growing pains, but, overall, we showed a ton of improvements,” Carlynton first-year coach Steve Bressler said. “With losing seven seniors last season...
Thomas Jefferson softball learns from move up in classification
Thomas Jefferson’s softball team moved up one classification — from 4A to 5A — in 2021, and seemed to pay for the price of admission. The Jaguars’ section opponents consisted of Albert Gallatin, Connellsville, Gateway, Latrobe and Penn-Trafford. TJ qualified for the WPIAL playoffs for a fifth straight year, but...
Thomas Jefferson lineman Alby Breisinger honored with award named for his uncle
He’s a natural. • Same family dynamics. • Same first and last name. • A great fit as a student-athlete on and off the football field. Senior lineman Alby Breisinger was the recipient of this year’s prestigious Breisinger Award at Thomas Jefferson. He found out about the honor June 1...
Penn Hills softball players earn postseason honors
Lauren Sipple didn’t anticipate having many nerves about if she would see the field for the Penn Hills softball team as a freshman. The Indians had vacancies at several positions going into the season. “I wasn’t nervous because I knew there weren’t a lot of people at Penn Hills who...
Pine-Richland crew team closes season with strong results
The Pine-Richland crew team had to navigate plenty of obstacles that came with the covid-19 pandemic like mandated shut downs and having athletes train individually at home, but at the end of the year they finished with some strong results. At the biggest event of the year, the Midwest Scholastic...
George Guido: New River Valley High envelops Saltsburg, Blairsville
A new high school on the horizon. Blairsville and Saltsburg will be merging July 1 and will become River Valley High School. That same day, the Blairsville-Saltsburg School District will be officially known as the River Valley School District. The new school will be called the Panthers and will wear...
Softball a family affair for PIAA champion Mt. Pleasant
UNIVERSITY PARK — Mt. Pleasant took extra time to board the team bus for the ride home Friday from Penn State after the Vikings won the PIAA Class 3A softball championship. A large contingent gathered for photos with the trophy. Coach Chris Brunson tried to direct traffic, but seemed overwhelmed...
Westmoreland notebook: Youngstown State offers Belle Vernon’s Whitlock
Devin Whitlock reeled in his first Division I football scholarship offer. He hopes it will be the first of many to come. The rising senior at Belle Vernon announced an offer from Youngstown State, a program that often tries to cast a net over the WPIAL to land top players...
Plum baseball team eager to tackle summer tournament schedule
The Plum Bulldogs baseball team members are no strangers to each other. “Most of these guys have been playing together since they were 7,” coach Dan Macioce said. The high-school age squad, made up mostly of players transitioning from the Plum varsity and JV teams this spring, is hoping for...
Norwin notebook: Knights baseball, softball players earn spot on Big 5/6 all-section teams
Norwin was well-represented on the Big 5/6 Conference all-section baseball and softball teams. The Big 5/6 recognizes team and individual accomplishments in the WPIAL’s two highest classifications. Norwin baseball had three first-team selections in Setion 2: Jake Kendro, Jack Whalen and Jake Bazala, along with second-teamers Ty Stecko, Alex Gabauer,...
Franklin Regional baseball team looks back on memorable season
Franklin Regional coach Bobby Saddler did not ride the team bus, instead driving separately to what turned out to be his team’s final baseball game of the 2021 season. He had to transport canopies in his pick-up truck. The coach watched as the Panthers’ caravan pulled out of the lot...
Hampton’s Suyama presses on after covid cancellations, torn ACL deny her final 2 lacrosse seasons
Emi Suyama knows life can throw a lot at you. When the covid pandemic ruined her junior girls lacrosse season at Hampton, she was comforted by visions of her senior season. But then a fluky skiing accident Dec. 17 at Hidden Valley left her with a torn ACL in her...
