Bill Beckner stories, Page 75
Norwin’s Alex Thomas trades skates for shoes to play in international ball hockey championships
Trading skates for court shoes, Alex Thomas still is faster than many of his opponents and can sling an orange ball past goaltenders with the same zip as a hockey puck. The rising senior at Norwin is playing ball hockey this summer and doing so at a high level. Thomas...
Allegheny Force FC girls soccer team advances to nationals
A half-dozen girls soccer players from Franklin Regional qualified to play in a national tournament July 7-11, in Wichita, Kan. The Allegheny Force FC 2007 team worked its way through the youth national series, advancing past local and regional play and winning the coveted U.S. Soccer President’s Cup. Franklin Regional...
Mt. Pleasant grad Mary Smithnosky tries to stay positive after rare tumor ends softball career
Mary Smithnosky knew something was wrong. These weren’t the usual aches and pains from being an athlete. It wasn’t normal for discomfort to come and go so readily. Off and on from the time she was 13, she had spells where her hands or legs would tingle and go numb...
Legion baseball notebook: District 31 playoffs start next week
The American Legion District 31 baseball season seems like it just started, but the regular season will wrap up next week. Teams, most of them from Westmoreland County, will complete league play Thursday, and the playoffs likely will begin next weekend. The top eight out of 10 teams qualify. The...
Belle Vernon’s Viva Kreis earns honorable mention for Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award
Belle Vernon’s Viva Kreis already gained national attention when she won the $10,000 Heisman High School Scholarship Award last December. Now the recent graduate is being recognized by ESPN. Kreis is an honorable mention for the Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award, which for the second time will be part...
New Mt. Pleasant boys coach congratulated by Mike Krzyzewski
Encouragement from family and friends is one thing. But when Mike Krzyzewski gives you his blessing, you go for it. Annie Malkowiak took a leap of faith when she applied to be the next boys basketball coach at Mt. Pleasant. When she accepted the position, her phone “blew up” with...
Mt. Pleasant hoops coach Malkowiak brings passion to new gig
When she started coaching, Annie Malkowiak was young and brash. Admittedly, she shouted and pushed back, thinking the game was more about her than the team. “I was an idiot,” she said. “I was very passionate, but I was an idiot. I was 21. I didn’t use my energy for...
Annie Malkowiak to coach Mt. Pleasant boys basketball, a 1st for Westmoreland County
Mt. Pleasant’s boys basketball team will have a female head coach next season. Annie Malkowiak was approved unanimously for the position during Wednesday night’s school board meeting. She becomes the first woman to coach a varsity boys basketball team in Westmoreland County. Malkowiak is the second woman to currently coach...
Ryan Kanner set to lead Greensburg Central Catholic boys soccer team
Growing up and attending Aquinas Academy in Greensburg, Ryan Kanner discovered there was a certain aura around Greensburg Central Catholic. Aquinas serves as the elementary school to GCC, so students have a tendency to look up to the high school athletes. “I was around the high school a decent amount...
Fox Chapel grad Patrick Monteverde picked for MLB All-Star Futures Game
Patrick Monteverde once said he wasn’t too proud to ask for pitching advice. It was not beneath him to seek knowledge from veteran arms on how to accelerate his professional baseball career. Monteverde looks to be more the teacher than the student these days. His invitation to All-Star Saturday is...
Westmoreland County campus clippings: Ligonier Valley grad Maddie Griffin transfers to IUP
Softball pitching in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference already is a grind for hitters, but it just got tougher. Maddie Griffin, the former strikeout ace from Ligonier Valley, is leaving Youngstown State to play at IUP. Griffin, a rising sophomore, said the move was based on nothing more than wanting...
Penn-Trafford’s Tomosovich chooses Army for football future
It wasn’t until the scholarship offers started rolling in hot and heavy that Penn-Trafford’s Zach Tomosovich fully realized he was Division I football material. Sure, the size was there. That gargantuan size for a high school tackle: 6-foot-5, 320 pounds. But the offers validated it all for the hefty rising...
Hempfield ace Riley Miller named Tribune-Review Westmoreland Softball Player of the Year
When she took the softball, popped it in her glove and stepped into the chalk-lined circle for the first time, Riley Miller knew she was also entering an elite sisterhood. When she stepped on the rubber, she was ready to be the next one. Hempfield is known for producing high-end...
Belle Vernon’s Braden Laux commits to Eastern Michigan
As he gets prepared to catch passes next year instead of throwing them, championship quarterback and defensive end Braden Laux is warming up to the idea of playing a new position in college. Laux, a rising senior quarterback and defensive end at reigning WPIAL and PIAA 3A champion Belle Vernon,...
Former Norwin wrestler headed to Nicaragua on missionary trip
John Altieri has those pre-tournament butterflies and is anxious to see what the competition looks like. “I’m excited to get going,” the former Norwin standout wrestler said. “I wish I could leave today.” While the feeling is familiar, it not a wrestling tournament that awaits him in two months. No,...
Franklin Regional grad catches on with DuBois team for ‘The Basketball Tournament’
Nick Novak will see if a Dream can come true. The former Franklin Regional and Pitt-Johnstown basketball standout who played seven years professionally overseas plans to play in “The Basketball Tournament” with the DuBois Dream, a semi-pro team in the Premier Basketball League. Novak also played in the event in...
Westmoreland County high school notebook: WCCA adds baseball showcase
The Westmoreland County Coaches Association added a new event to its calendar. The WCCA’s first baseball showcase will take place at 8:30 a.m. July 17 at Westmoreland County Community College. College coaches will be present to evaluate players graduating in 2023, ’24, ’25 and ’26. Cost for each player is...
Mt. Pleasant’s Jackson Hutter adds 1st Division I scholarship offer
Jackson Hutter hopes the Division I college football offer he received this week is the first of many. The rising senior linebacker prospect from Mt. Pleasant received an offer to play at Saint Francis (Pa.) after attending the Red Flash’s camp Tuesday in Loretto. Hutter (6-foot-1, 200 pounds) also recently...
Westmoreland County campus clippings: Penn-Trafford grad Josh Spiegel transfers to Pitt
Going from Penn State to Pitt seems borderline taboo, but Josh Spiegel is doing the unthinkable. He is leaving one side of the in-state rivalry for the other. The former Penn-Trafford standout will depart Penn State after three seasons to play his final year at Pitt. A catcher, Spiegel entered...
Norwin grad takes reins at North Irwin speed, strength academy
Since it opened 17 years ago, the National Speed and Strength Academy in North Irwin has become a staple in the training space for local athletes. Former Norwin and Mercyhurst football player Jon LoChiatto, who honed his skills at the academy during his athletically formative years, has taken over a...
Franklin Regional grad wins prestigious scholar-athlete award at Washington & Jefferson
Justin Johns does more at Washington & Jefferson than spoil opposing quarterbacks’ Saturdays. An outstanding student in addition to being a standout linebacker, the Franklin Regional product received a prestigious award to cap his junior year. Johns was the male recipient of the Paul Reardon Award, given to a student-athlete...
Norwin notebook: Knights to compete in Cunningham Memorial tournament
Norwin will once again have a team in the third annual Tre Cunningham Memorial Basketball Tournament June 22-24 at Jeannette. The boys’ varsity-level event honors the memory of Cunningham, a terrific three-sport athlete at Jeannette who was killed in a motorcycle accident in 2020. Norwin will open against Yough at...
Westmoreland County high school notebook: Belle Vernon’s Quinton Martin endorses fragrance line
Football is leading Quinton Martin to dollars and scents. The Belle Vernon star verbally committed to Penn State in April and took his official visit to State College earlier this month. In between, Martin signed a name, image and likeness deal with a men’s fragrance company. Martin will endorse smell-goods...
After title game loss, Hempfield vows to ‘come out on fire next year’
UNIVERSITY PARK — As Hempfield players made their way through the outfield and back to their waiting charter bus early Thursday evening, they took one last panorama of Beard Field at Nittany Lion Softball Park. As they left Penn State, they could have chanted, “We Are!” As in, “We Are!”...
Hempfield can’t crack North Penn ace in 1-0 PIAA championship game loss
UNIVERSITY PARK — Walled off by a gifted pitcher and unable to manufacture offense with runners on base, Hempfield lost a state softball championship for the first time. Happy Valley wasn’t very for the Spartans, who finally met their match in the PIAA tournament. “We didn’t get that big hit...
