Bill Beckner stories, Page 11

Fresh off a career milestone and a tight loss, Riley Miller made sure Hempfield softball bounced back on senior day. The senior ace, who reached 500 strikeouts in her previous outing — a 2-1 loss to rival and No. 2 Seneca Valley — helped the top-ranked Spartans return to form...

Riley Miller has proven she is one of the better pitchers to come through one of the state’s great softball programs at Hempfield. The senior has joined an elite group of aces in the Spartans’ record book. Miller, a Kent State commit, reached 500 career strikeouts this week, becoming just...

Norwin’s Colin Bruno was one of the first to decommit from Saint Francis when the university announced plans to move from NCAA Division I to Division III. He took the news hard because, at the time, it was life changing. The football lineman went from blessed and humbled to stunned...

With gusty winds whipping out to center all afternoon, any baseball hit deep had a chance of leaving the park Tuesday at Norwin. A harmless-looking fly ball suddenly had jets. Even Ben Geissler managed to get ahold of one. “Normally, I like singles,” the Norwin senior first baseman said. “I...

Jason Bush didn’t think it could get much better after he watched his Ligonier Valley baseball team score twice in the bottom of the seventh inning last week to walk off Burrell, 3-2. But that was only the beginning. The Rams (6-7) have shown a propensity for late-game thrills. They...

NJ Ramchandran plans to pitch at Division I Fairfield (Conn.) next year. The Franklin Regional senior, however, has been limited on the mound this spring as he recovers from inflammation in the elbow of his throwing arm. To say the Panthers (10-7) are glad the right-hander is back would be...

Now, Mt. Pleasant can celebrate. Having already clinched the Section 1-3A softball title, the Vikings still had business to tend to in the section finale Monday at Yough. Momentum and positive mojo are important for a team headed to the WPIAL playoffs. A team that didn’t want to take a...

Outfielders have been backing up this season when Courtney Poulich comes to the plate for Robert Morris. Poulich, a Mt. Pleasant alum, has been bashing softballs at a record rate for the Colonials. The outfielder smacked two solo home runs in Saturday’s 5-4 loss at Cleveland State to set a...

Tracey Smeltzer has done a lot for the Derry boys and girls golf programs, but she is ready to turn the keys over to someone else. Smeltzer is stepping down after 19 years, 12 as head coach. “It was a great ride,” Smeltzer said. “It was not an easy decision,...

School records fell, some from decades back, as the Norwin track and field teams continued their impressive season at the Butler Invitational, which featured more than 90 teams and 2,000-plus athletes. The girls won the team championship, while several individuals brought home medals. The Norwin boys’ 3,200-meter relay of Enzo...

Goalkeeper Addison Ayres considered playing full-time soccer with her Internationals SC team in Akron, Ohio, which would have meant not playing her senior season at Franklin Regional. The Elite Clubs National League team plays higher-level programs, which helps players sharpen their skills for college. But Ayres ultimately opted to stay...

A jump to WPIAL Class 4A wasn’t something Derry softball could control, but the Trojans knew they had to make a quick adjustment to new opponents, better pitching and deeper lineups. Almost immediately, the girls began to list their goals. Coming up from 3A fit the team’s motif of upping...

Hempfield waited 11 months and two days for this opportunity. Nearly one year of stewing over a semifinal loss that, in the Spartans’ eyes, cost them another WPIAL softball championship. Norwin upset mighty Hempfield to advance to the final for the first time, sending the No. 1 seed home shocked...

Between innings Wednesday, ace pitcher M.J. Maruschak soft-tossed with a teammate behind his team’s dugout to stay loose. It is a tradition he has adopted, along with throwing and catching a medicine ball. Down time is not an option for the right-hander. The entire Canon-McMillan baseball team looked loose in...

Hempfield and Seneca Valley, let’s try this again. The Class 6A softball rivals’ first section matchup at Hempfield has been postponed twice because of inclement weather, but the game has been rescheduled again for 4 p.m. May 6 at Robert D. Kalp Field. Hempfield (13-0, 9-0) is ranked No. 1,...

Chloe Lancaster threw 27 pitches in the first inning Tuesday and gave up two runs in the second. It had the makings of a long afternoon. The situation even prompted movement in the Franklin Regional bullpen, which caught Lancaster’s attention. But the Panthers ace didn’t panic or get flustered. “I...

Penn-Trafford is in the thick of the Section 1-5A race, but its nonsection baseball schedule has been beneficial. The Warriors (7-5, 4-2) own three wins over Class 6A teams in Norwin, Hempfield and North Allegheny. The third win is the most impressive because North Allegheny was ranked No. 1 when...

He was not invited to the NFL Scouting Combine in February, but all that did was give him more mental leverage, more fuel to prove the doubters wrong. Jeannette’s Marcus Barnes could have a life-changing week, have his dreams come true, but he won’t hide the giant chip on his...

After losing to Pine-Richland twice in a five-day span, Seneca Valley went into its next softball game with some pent-up frustrations. Ace pitcher Lexie Hames and the third-ranked Lady Raiders took it out on Norwin. Hames was on her game in a big way, striking out 19, including the final...

Bloomsburg has a new strikeout queen. Senior pitcher Callie Sowers (Hempfield) became the program’s career leader in strikeouts with 804. In her previous appearance, Sowers tied the mark of 803 set by Cait Paine from 2010-13. A career 69-game winner, Sowers earned the record in relief in a 12-9 victory...

Hempfield and Penn-Trafford played each other in the softball season opener. Who knew it was a preview of two of the best — maybe the best — hitting teams in the WPIAL? Both have been putting the business end of the bat on the ball with crushing regularity, a couple...

Pittsburgh’s Neal Shipley was introduced to the golf world at large last year when he earned low amateur honors at the Masters and U.S. Open. Now he has his first professional win. Shipley, a 24-year-old Central Catholic graduate, outlasted Seungtaek Lee of South Korea in a five-hole playoff to win...

The recruiting process is coming in waves for Brock Heisler. The junior from Hempfield is lining up a Division I college football career and has plenty of options when it comes to his future destination. But he is handling the endeavor with poise. “I always knew I wanted to play...

Pitcher Patrick Monteverde is on his way to the big leagues. The 27-year-old left-hander out of Fox Chapel received a call-up Saturday to the Miami Marlins. He had been with the Triple-A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp of the International League. Monteverde, who played at Seton Hill and is the first Griffins...

You could say Jake Williams is a gap hitter. But it doesn’t take a spray chart to figure that out. No, the former Franklin Regional baseball standout made the most of a gap year — a year off between high school and college — to get his game right for...