Bill Beckner stories, Page 203

As a fail-safe, Jeannette moved its 10 a.m. football scrimmage on Aug. 17 against Valley — originally scheduled to be played at home — to Valley Memorial Stadium in New Kensington. Jeannette’s McKee Stadium is undergoing an artificial turf project that is slightly delayed, and school officials want to give...

Rain caused a suspension of play and ultimately rained out the first day of stroke play Wednesday in the 83rd Pennsylvania Golf Association Women’s Amateur at Philadelphia Cricket Club in Plymouth Meeting. A number of local players are in the 42-player field in the Amateur Division, including former Hempfield and...

Mt. Pleasant will have a pair of Division I midfielders prowling the soccer field this fall. Brooke Ulery and MacKenzie Leeder have made verbal commitments to higher-level programs on the eve of their junior seasons. Ulery plans to attend Cleveland State, and Leeder pledged to Duquesne. Both are two-time All-WPIAL...

After leading her moh-BEEL!USA team to a championship this season, Maddy Grimm was recognized with a postseason accolade in the American Softball Association. The burgeoning, four-team professional league announced its all-ASBA players and Grimm was a clear first-team selection. A third baseman who hails from Ligonier Valley and Kent State,...

JJ Matijevic is leaping and hip-bumping teammates, smiling and chomping on wads of gum as he revels in one of the hottest streaks of his professional baseball career. He looks like a kid enjoying the game again. Matijevic, a corner infielder and outfielder for the Corpus Christi Hooks, the Double-A...

Katie James used home-course advantage to raise a golf trophy Monday. James captured the 12th Western Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur Championship on her home course, Fox Chapel Golf Club, with a steady-as-she-goes round of even-par 73. Sewickley Heights Golf Club’s Madison McDanel, of Central Valley, was a shot back at 74...

Seton Hill announced its newest athletic hall of fame inductees. The four-member class features lacrosse player Matt Delmonico (Class of 2014), men’s basketball player Chris Giles (2012), football player Antwarn Jones (’10) and women’s soccer player Nicky Pergar (’08). • Delmonico, a three-time All-American, holds career school records for points...

Preparations for basketball season are beginning a little earlier this year for a pair of area programs. The St. Francis (Pa.) women and Waynesburg men are taking international trips that are a blend of team-bonding, competition and culture. St. Francis will leave Tuesday for Australia, while Waynesburg will spend more...

Ryan Hayden peered out from the press box at McKee Stadium as workers smoothed over gravel and continued to prepare the historic field for artificial turf. The Jeannette faithful are awaiting the big reveal. Count Hayden among them. “It’s a good time to be around here,” Hayden said. “Everyone is...

Palmer Jackson is one of those rare, up-and-coming amateur golfers who has the uncanny ability to capture lightning in a bottle. Just when you thought the recent Franklin Regional grad from Murrysville couldn’t get any better on the course, he started another hot streak. Some might say Jackson’s favorite club...

Andrew Muraco always dreamed of playing Division I baseball but the actuality he could do so began to take shape last year when he was a freshman at Franklin Regional. After two seasons at the high school level — and a growing reputation as a gamer in travel baseball —...

Justin Sliwoski knew he wasn’t heading into an idealistic situation when he walked on at Pitt. The strong-armed quarterback out of Hempfield figured he could possibly find a niche with the Panthers as a backup or third-stringer — and be ready in the wings as a just-in-case guy. He’d pay...

It’s late July and Saint Vincent College is alive with the sights and sounds of football. But that is nothing new. The Pittsburgh Steelers have called Latrobe their preseason training camp home for more than five decades. The home-standing Saint Vincent Bearcats, who will overlap three days with the Steelers...

The late Bill Fralic was never one for attention. But the mountain of a football player, who blocked and tackled better than most at Penn Hills and Pitt before a pro career he spent mostly with the Atlanta Falcons, enjoyed being able to make a difference in the lives of...

Kelsey Oddis was a two-sport standout during her undergraduate days at Pitt-Greensburg, excelling in both cross country and basketball with the Bobcats. Now, she will have multiple coaching titles at her collegiate alma mater. Already a women’s basketball assistant at UPG, the Burrell graduate will take over the school’s men’s...

Like the big boys themselves, Division I college interest in area linemen keeps growing in size. St. Francis (Pa.) is following suit with a number of other FCS schools in the market for front-line talent by making inroads to Westmoreland County programs. Two more local players received scholarship offers this...

Sheldon Jeter is bringing home a gold medal from the Pan American Games. The Pitt and Beaver Falls alum helped the USA men’s 3x3 basketball team to a championship at the Games, played at the Coliseo Eduardo Dibo in Lima, Peru. Jeter, a member of the Maine Red Claws, an...

Hanna Green represented the Red, White and Blue quite well. The elite runner from Latrobe posted a second-place finish in the 800-meter run Sunday night at the Toyota USA Track & Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. Green, who was a standout at Virginia Tech after graduating from Latrobe in...

It is no secret: Lineman looks to be the premier position his season in Westmoreland County football. Area teams should be well-protected up front with a number of Division I prospects pushing the pile. Belle Vernon rising senior Hayden Baron is one of them as he continues to find his...

Monica Burns took a year off from college basketball, a decision made for personal reasons but one that ultimately scrubbed away her final season at Wheeling Jesuit. The standout guard would have been a redshirt senior had she played. The year removed seemed like an eternity for Burns, a bona...

The all-things-soccer website, TopDrawerSoccer, which covers recruiting and ranks teams on a nationwide scale, released its high school all-region and all-state teams for the 2018 fall season. The WPIAL was well-represented on the boys and girls teams. Four district players made the site’s All-Mid-Atlantic Region teams: West Allegheny graduate and...

While Demetrious Cox has other things lined up for after football, the former Jeannette standout is far from ready to begin the descent on his pro career. Cox is set to begin training camp this weekend with the Cincinnati Bengals after spending most of last season on the team’s practice...

Brandon Stone has been in Philadelphia since January, training and getting to know his new coaches and teammates at La Salle. The former Southmoreland basketball standout and incoming freshman, who finished his prep career at Christ School (N.C.), is beginning to adjust to his new surroundings, confident in his decision...

Perhaps the greatest what-if story of the 2019 WPIAL softball season was Latrobe pitcher Jordan Tallman. The fast-throwing sophomore had a spot among the WPIAL strikeout leaders before an injury sidelined her for the final six games of the regular season and sent Latrobe’s year into somewhat of a tailspin....