Bill Beckner stories, Page 154
Fundraiser for former Franklin Regional soccer coach Kurt Landsberg at $29,000 and counting
Local avid soccer enthusiast and former coach Kurt Landsberg is battling Glioblastoma, an aggressive type of cancer in his brain. The longtime Franklin Regional girls assistant, who also coached at Highlands and with the Allegheny Force FC, is now the focus of a community fundraiser aimed to help with medical...
Westmoreland high school notebook: Norwin’s Bilinsky gets 1 more game
Norwin senior Ty Bilinsky was selected for the Roundball Classic, the year-end all-star basketball event. But he doesn’t just plan to show up and sit on the bench as an honorary pick. He is going to play. Organizers initially invited Bilinsky thinking he simply would be recognized. Bilinsky, a 5-foot-10...
Norwin notebook: Soccer players Swankler, Sigut commit to D1 programs
Norwin will send two more girls soccer players to NCAA Division I programs. Junior forward Paloma Swankler announced she has committed to play at Robert Morris, while senior Morgan Sigut is headed to Long Island (N.Y.). One of several speedsters for the Knights, Swankler, an all-section player, was a scoring...
Norwin track and field to lean on senior depth
A global pandemic put a line through last season, ending playoff streaks for both of the Norwin track and field teams. The boys had made the WPIAL Class 3A semifinals in 2017 and ’18, while the girls reached the team finals four years in a row (2016-19) and have made...
Franklin Regional notebook: Panthers hockey reaches PIHL semifinals
The seventh-seeded Franklin Regional hockey team advanced to the PIHL Class AA semifinals with a thrilling upset in the quarterfinals. Dan Rafferty found the net halfway into overtime as the Panthers took down No. 4 Hempfield, 4-3, on April 5, at the Belmont Ice Complex in Kittanning. Zach Zeto, Jeff...
Penn-Trafford baseball unveils memorial to the late Maclean MaundVideo
With a simple gesture, the raising of their caps, players and coaches from rival teams who stood single file along the first- and third-base lines saluted in unison the life of Maclean Maund. And they joined everybody else in giving a special nod to the best seat in the house....
Norwin’s bats wake up in win over Penn-Trafford
Eric Chorba zeroed in on a 1-0 fastball that arrived a touch inside. When it met the business end of his bat and he sent it climbing toward a sun-canvased sky, the Norwin senior was out of his admitted slump and his team was well on its way to another...
WPIAL coaches agree: Back-to-back section games ‘more equitable’
Baseball teams that opened WPIAL section play earlier this week had a similar refrain for their opponents: “See you tomorrow.” The league went to a new format this season for section games with teams playing each other on back-to-back days, at each other’s home fields, to bring more uniformity to...
Westmoreland baseball notebook: Franklin Regional uses simple formula for success
Franklin Regional is winning with a simple formula. One that has produced pure, fundamentally sound baseball. And four wins in as many games. “Pitching and defense,” coach Bobby Saddler said. “We knew we had both, and our guys are proving it.” The Panthers (4-0, 2-0), ranked No. 3 in Class...
Rosters announced for annual Roundball Classic
The Roundball Classic is back after a year away and it will feature eight games over three days next month. More than 170 players are set to converge on Geneva College May 13, 14 and 15. “I thought we’d be forgotten after last year,” organizer Allen Deep said. “When you’re...
Hempfield beats Penn-Trafford in slugfest between big-school powers
Hempfield misses its senior starting pitcher, Callie Sowers, who has yet to play a game this season because of a broken thumb. But perhaps to the surprise of some who follow the elite softball program, this Spartans team isn’t just about pitching. They can hit … and hit … and...
Greensburg Central Catholic softball off to promising start
While three games is a small sample size, it represents a strong start to the Greensburg Central Catholic softball team, and is perhaps a sign of what’s to come for the program. The Centurions were anxious to take the field last year to display their improved pitching and defensive play....
Westmoreland campus clippings: Gray leads Seton Hill men’s lacrosse to key win
Junior Logan Gray came through in the clutch to lead the Seton Hill men’s lacrosse team, ranked No. 5 in the latest USILA Division II Coaches Poll, to a 12-11 win Friday at No. 16 Frostburg State. Gray won a faceoff and scored five seconds into overtime to propel the...
Westmoreland softball notebook: Hempfield pitcher Callie Sowers nears return
Hempfield is hoping to get senior pitcher Callie Sowers back sooner rather than later. Sowers, who broke the thumb on her throwing hand during a scrimmage, has yet to pitch this season for the five-time defending WPIAL champion Spartans. Longtime coach Bob Kalp said Sowers is “progressing.” “She is doing...
Campus clippings: Derry grad Justin Huss continues busy spring at W&J
Justin Huss is pulling double duty this spring at Washington & Jefferson. The former Derry football and track standout said he wanted to play two sports in college, and he is living up to his goal. Huss had a couple of carries in a football game last Thursday night, then...
Andrew Muraco, slick defense carry Franklin Regional past Penn-Trafford
Because he has been such a good pitcher for Franklin Regional, some forget that Andrew Muraco is going to Coastal Carolina as an infielder — and for what he can do with his bat. The senior right-hander has yet to pitch this season as he deals with a minor injury...
Emma Little slugs Penn-Trafford past NorwinVideo
Emma Little did not spend Easter Sunday afternoon eating candy. She was too busy working on her softball swing. “I made a complete change,” the Penn-Trafford senior catcher said. “Me and my dad came to the field, and I changed my whole swing, stance-wise. It was something I needed to...
Westmoreland campus clippings: Strong outing for Notre Dame’s Palmer Jackson
Palmer Jackson continues his rapid adaptation to the highest level of college golf. The former Franklin Regional standout and PIAA champion completed his third top-five finish for the Notre Dame men’s golf team, posting a 9-under-par 207 to take fifth at the Augusta Haskins Award Invite in Augusta, Ga. Notre...
Westmoreland high school notebook: Norwin pair going D-I
Norwin will send two more girls soccer players to NCAA Division I programs. Junior forward Paloma Swankler announced she has committed to play at Robert Morris, and senior Morgan Sigut is headed to Long Island (N.Y.). One of several speedsters for the Lady Knights, Swankler, an All-Big 5/6 Conference player,...
Mt. Pleasant gets past Penn-Trafford in early-season softball showdownVideo
Having played three games coming into Saturday’s nonsection showdown against Penn-Trafford, a team that finally was playing its long-awaited season opener, Mt. Pleasant had somewhat of an advantage. “An advantage, or a disadvantage?” Mt. Pleasant coach Chris Brunson pondered before the game. “You never know how that’s going to go.”...
Tribune-Review Westmoreland Girls Basketball Player of the Year: Latrobe’s Anna Rafferty
Tribune-Review Westmoreland Girls Basketball Player of the Year Anna Rafferty, Latrobe 6-2, Jr., C With defenders closing in all around her — and looking up at her in the process — Anna Rafferty calmly paused and made moves to the basket. Time and again, the junior center from Latrobe seemed...
Tribune-Review Westmoreland Boys Basketball Player of the Year: GCC’s Brevan Williams
Tribune-Review Westmoreland Boys Basketball Player of the Year Brevan Williams, Greensburg Central Catholic 6-3, Jr., G/F Nobody saw the type of season Brevan Williams had in store — not even Brevan Williams. The junior at Greensburg Central Catholic exploded onto the scene, both on a local and WPIAL-wide scope, as...
Franklin Regional baseball sets tone with strong start to season
They say the first game of the season can be a good or bad omen for baseball teams. It can set the tone for what lies ahead. Franklin Regional liked what it saw in its first game of 2021 — its first in nearly two years because of the coronavirus...
Latrobe grad Austin Butler chooses Charlotte as transfer destination
Austin Butler had to rediscover the recruiting process when his four years of college basketball ended at Holy Cross because he could not continue his academic career in Worcester, Mass. The former Latrobe star entered the NCAA transfer portal and got more than a few nibbles on the line. About...
Penn State offers Belle Vernon freshman Quinton Martin
Things are happening fast for Belle Vernon freshman Quinton Martin. Really fast. Then again, he likes it that way. That is how he plays football. “It’s been super crazy, this whole experience,” Martin said. “But I’m handling it pretty well.” Power-5 interest continues to swirl around the 6-foot-3, 180-pound Martin,...
