Bill Beckner stories, Page 77
Westmoreland County high school notebook: WCCA awards scholarships
The Westmoreland County Coaches Association gives out several scholarships each year with money raised through different means, including entry fees and 50/50 raffles at its events. This year, the association awarded a record seven scholarships to county athletes in the amount of $12,000. Three annual scholarships, each worth $2,000, went...
Hannah Shaw ends Norwin track career with state medal
Before a jump, Norwin senior Hannah Shaw tells herself, “You know you can do this.” She waited all season to compete for a state medal, and she came home from Shippensburg with one around her neck. Shaw finished tied for fourth at the PIAA track and field championships in the...
Softball team leads Norwin in strong spring sports season
Norwin brought contenders to the WPIAL spring sports season, along with plenty of highlights: home runs, goals, spikes and record times and distances. From the diamond to the jumping pits, the Knights made their mark. Softball With more than 30 home runs, the Knights used the long ball to build...
Hard-hitting lineup helps Franklin Regional have softball season to remember
The crack of the bat and the swell of crowd noise was a regular thing for the Franklin Regional softball team this season. The Panthers connected on 30 home runs, making them one of the most threatening long-bombing teams in WPIAL Class 5A. But they fell short in the playoffs,...
WPIAL champ Hempfield softball team rewarded with PIAA home game
There was more at stake than a WPIAL championship for the Hempfield softball team. When the Spartans topped Seneca Valley, 2-1, in extra inning to win their eighth district title Wednesday at Cal (Pa.) and become the league’s lone representative in the PIAA Class 6A playoffs, they also earned a...
Longtime men’s basketball coach D.P. Harris named Saint Vincent’s interim athletic director
Until there is a more permanent situation, Saint Vincent will use an all-hands-on-deck approach to oversee and operate its athletic department heading into the summer months and possibly beyond. The leadership of sports at the Unity college, at least temporarily, will be in the hands of several coaches, SVC president...
Jeannette star from 1930s chosen for new National High School Football Hall of Fame
A former Jeannette running back will be part of a new football hall of fame. He will represent the high school on a national level. The late John “ShowBoat” Crowell, a backfield standout for the Jayhawks in the 1930s, will be inducted into the National High School Football Hall of...
Hempfield’s Bandieramonte honors memory of late father with WPIAL title-clinching homer
The softball sailed high and true, carrying deep into the night sky until gravity finally took over. It clanked off the left-field bleachers some 240 feet from home plate. Mia Bandieramonte had hit home runs before, but none quite like the one she sent out of Cal (Pa.)’s Lilley Field...
Avonworth beats Southmoreland to repeat as WPIAL 3A softball champs
Southmoreland had a sendoff at school Thursday morning for the WPIAL 3A softball championship. Applause and support from teachers and students followed the team to the bus. But Avonworth — annoying, thorn-in-their-side Avonworth — sent the Scotties home with another postseason loss. Despite a positive start, the Scotties stumbled defensively...
8th-inning homer off Seneca Valley ace lifts Hempfield to WPIAL 6A softball championship
Hempfield brought in a pitching machine recently to simulate the speed of Seneca Valley pitcher Lexie Hames. The Spartans had it cranked up to 70-plus mph. Mia Bandieramonte was up to speed. The senior designated player and No. 9 hitter turned on a Hames pitch and launched it over the...
2023 WPIAL Class 3A softball championship preview: Avonworth vs. Southmoreland
WPIAL Class 3A softball championship 2-Southmoreland (17-2) vs. 1-Avonworth (20-1) Noon Thursday at Lilley Field, PennWest University, California On the air: Trib HSSN (video) How they got here: Southmoreland — Defeated 15-McGuffey 3-1 in first round; Yough 15-14 in quarterfinals; Waynesburg 7-0 in semifinals; Avonworth — Defeated 16-Seton LaSalle 15-4...
‘Smiling snipers’ from Southmoreland eager to take crack at unseating No. 1 Avonworth
The text messages began shortly after the semifinal results came in. Southmoreland junior shortstop Amarah McCutcheon and Avonworth’s junior battery of pitcher Alivia Lantzy and catcher Riley Gray began the jabbing. “We always mess with each other,” said McCutcheon, who plays on the same travel softball team — Steel City...
14th-seeded Hopewell completes Cinderella run to WPIAL Class 4A crown with win over Latrobe
Landon Fox was hurting but hunting. The Hopewell senior pitcher injured his lower back in the last playoff game and was feeling pain early in Tuesday’s WPIAL Class 4A championship game. “It was getting pretty bad in the third inning,” Fox said. “But I figured, you only get to the...
Hempfield softball team looks to win first title since 2019
Despite its championship pedigree and reoccurring reign at the top — seven WPIAL titles, including five in a row from 2015-19 — Hempfield hasn’t won one in a while. In fact, none of the current players have been to the WPIAL finals. They don’t know what it is like to...
2023 WPIAL Class 5A consolation game preview: Penn-Trafford vs. Plum
WPIAL Class 5A consolation game Penn-Trafford (14-6) vs. Plum (14-8) 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Ross Memorial Park, Washington & Jefferson, Washington Winner: Advances to PIAA playoffs as third-place team from WPIAL. The loser is done for the season. Players to watch: Dylan Grabowski, Penn-Trafford; Dan Macioce, Plum Extra bases: Penn-Trafford...
2023 WPIAL Class 6A softball championship preview: Hempfield vs. Seneca Valley
WPIAL Class 6A softball championship 2-Hempfield (17-3) vs. 1-Seneca Valley (17-1) 4:45 p.m. Wednesday at Lilley Field, Cal (Pa.) On the air: Trib HSSN (video) How they got here: Hempfield defeated No. 3 Norwin, 8-5, in the semifinals; Seneca Valley defeated No. 5 Pine-Richland, 7-2, in the semifinals. WPIAL titles:...
2023 WPIAL Class 4A softball championship preview: Montour vs. Belle Vernon
WPIAL Class 4A softball championship 4-Belle Vernon (17-4) vs. 2-Montour (15-3) Noon Wednesday at Lilley Field, Cal (Pa.) On the air: Trib HSSN (video) How they got here: After a first-round bye, Belle Vernon defeated No. 5 West Mifflin, 2-1, in the quarterfinals and No. 1 Elizabeth Forward, 10-1, in...
Coach Basciano instills sense of togetherness that helps Latrobe baseball reach WPIAL final
Maybe it was his late father Norm’s influence, the way he was raised in the game that made him this way. Or perhaps he has planted and cultivated his own, personal culture over his two decades as Latrobe’s baseball coach. Whatever the case, Matt Basciano has another winner on his...
Westmoreland WPIAL softball consolation capsule: Game for Tuesday, May 30, 2023
WPIAL Class 2A softball consolation game Greensburg Central Catholic (13-3) vs. Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (14-4) 2 p.m. Tuesday at Gateway Winner: Advances to the PIAA playoffs. The loser is finished for the season. Players to watch: Isabella Marquez, Greensburg Central Catholic; Leann Walzer, Our Lady of the...
2023 WPIAL Class 4A baseball championship preview: Latrobe vs. Hopewell
WPIAL Class 4A baseball championship 5-Latrobe (17-6) vs. 14-Hopewell (11-11) 4 p.m. Tuesday, Wild Things Park, Washington On the air: Trib HSSN (video) How they got here: Latrobe defeated No. 12 Kiski Area, 7-6, in the first round, No. 4 Chartiers Valley, 4-2, in the quarterfinals and No. 1 Montour,...
Westmoreland County campus clippings: Hempfield grad Jake Boord named All-American
Jake Boord became the first All-American in the Allegheny College men’s track and field program in a decade. The Hempfield graduate and Gators junior finished fourth in the javelin at the NCAA Division III Championships in Pittsford, N.Y. The two-time national qualifier improved over his 12th-place finish from last season...
Westmoreland H.S. notebook: Streak of teams reaching WPIAL finals continues
With the Hempfield, Belle Vernon and Southmoreland softball teams, along with the Latrobe baseball team, reaching the WPIAL finals, a local streak continues. Westmoreland has had a baseball or softball team in the championships every season since 2014, which means every season since the beginning of six classes. (There was...
Westmoreland H.S. athletes of the week: Belle Vernon’s Maren Metikosh, Latrobe’s Logan Bradish
Maren Metikosh School: Belle Vernon Sport: Softball Class: Senior Claim to fame: Metikosh helped Belle Vernon upset the top-seeded team in the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals and reach the championship for the first time in five years. The outfielder belted a grand slam, one of three Leopards’ homers, in a...
Norwin notebook: Bella Brozeski captures WPIAL hurdles gold
Bella Brozeski overcame hurdles, literally, to capture a WPIAL championship. She was the lone district champion from Norwin. The senior ran to victory in the 300-meter hurdles at the WPIAL 3A finals at Slippery Rock with a winning time of 45.56 seconds. Sophomore Nick Puskar took home a silver medal...
Latrobe’s Sofia DeCerb named Kaitlyn ‘Moe’ Rosensteel Scholarship award winner
Latrobe senior Sofia DeCerb, one of the WPIAL’s top goalkeepers the past few years, was the recipient of the Kaitlyn “Moe” Rosensteel Scholarship, presented to a WPIAL female soccer player “who will be advancing into college to further her academic excellence while still playing the game she loves.” DeCerb, a...
