Bill Beckner stories, Page 81
Norwin junior Pons makes Miami (Ohio) his football choice
Norwin’s Jackson Pons will continue his football career at Ben Roethlisberger’s alma mater. Only he will be playing on the defensive side of the ball. Pons announced Sunday his commitment to Miami (Ohio) of the Mid-American Conference, where he will line up at safety. The stress of the recruiting game...
Franklin Regional grad Auston Kranick making strides in professional soccer
Playing in front of his team’s home fans last year in the U.S. Open Cup, Auston Kranick sought reaffirmation and comfort in his surroundings. Was this really happening? Had his lifelong dream of playing professional soccer actually come true? The Flower City Football Club player took in the scenery and...
Westmoreland high school notebook: Latrobe’s Havrilla pulls double duty
Maybe it has something to do with nets. Playing two sports in the same season is challenging enough, but how about two in one day? Latrobe senior Josh Havrilla made it happen last Tuesday. In the frigid afternoon, he joined teammate August Lawrence in the championship match of the Section...
Westmoreland athletes of the week: Greensburg Salem’s Gionnah Ruffner, Norwin’s Nolan Ryan
Gionnah Ruffner School: Greensburg Salem Class: Junior Sport: Softball Claim to fame: Ruffner, a center fielder, is helping to keep the Golden Lions in the playoff race in WPIAL Section 2-4A. She went 4 for 5 with a double, triple and three runs in a 12-3 win over Laurel Highlands....
Norwin notebook: Track standouts climb medal stand
The Norwin boys track and field team finished second and the girls were third at the Lady Spartan/Wildcat Invitational at Latrobe. Ashley Laukus won the high jump with a mark of 5 feet, 3 inches, while Nataiah Robertson-Dutrieuille captured the long jump in 16-11.25, and Hannah Shaw won the pole...
Murrysville Star notebook: Matchups with rival Armstrong highlight Franklin Regional softball schedule
Franklin Regional softball players might not come out and admit it, but they had two section games circled on their calendars since the start of the season. Those games were against Armstrong, the WPIAL Class 5A champion and PIAA runner-up who has placed in the Panthers’ section this year. Franklin...
Ciara Camacho takes a bite out of Kiski Area in Franklin Regional win
After the softball game ended, Ciara Camacho scooped up her puppy, “Chubbs,” and cradled him as she headed for the family vehicle. The friendly “Frug,” a French Bulldog and Pug mix, fussed a little bit, but his owner secured him tightly. Camacho, Franklin Regional’s sophomore catcher and leadoff hitter, also...
Grant slam: Greensburg Salem first baseman Smith drives in 7 runs in bounce-back win
He wasn’t in a slump by any means, but Greensburg Salem junior first baseman Grant Smith wanted desperately to snap back after a sub-par effort in the first game of a Section 4-3A baseball series against McGuffey. Collectively, so did the Golden Lions, who had an eight-game winning streak stopped...
Armed with a deep pitching staff, Hempfield thrives in 3-game series
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he used to be a pitcher, or that he enjoys the chess-match nature of the new three-game series in WPIAL Class 6A baseball. “The thing that really gets you is how, when you go home after a game, you have...
Westmoreland County baseball notebook: Hempfield’s Tim Buzzard hits career milestone
There was some “Buzz” around Hempfield last week. Spartans’ coach Tim Buzzard recorded a milestone win when the Spartans blanked Baldwin, 10-0, for a three-game sweep. The victory was No. 200 of his career. Buzzard is in his 15th season leading Hempfield. He is 200-114 overall. Tourney time Latrobe likes...
Hempfield softball team rights ship, beats North Allegheny
Hempfield is back on track. Though the Spartans are not out to assign blame for a loss to Norwin earlier this week that could strip them of their No. 1 ranking — more credit goes to Norwin’s hitters — they were willing to shake things up a bit to right...
Westmoreland softball notebook: Latrobe’s Kraynick swinging hot bat
Latrobe senior left fielder Hayden Kraynick has found her groove at the plate. She has been on an offensive tear lately for the Wildcats (9-1, 4-1), who have been piling up runs and have the look of a WPIAL contender in Class 5A. Latrobe scored 39 times in its last...
Senior pitcher comes full circle, leads Norwin into 6A contention
Gradually, it all started to come back for Alyssa McCormick. The movement. The rhythm. The velocity. And don’t forget the most important part: the wins. The Norwin senior stepped back into the pitching circle after spending last year in the outfield. Offseason work had her sharp and ready to deliver...
Belle Vernon’s Bailey Parshall becomes Penn State’s all-time leader in Ks
With an extra year of eligibility, it was just a matter of time before Bailey Parshall took over the Penn State softball record book. That time came Tuesday in University Park. They call her “Queen B” but Parshall is more like “Queen K.” The fifth-year pitcher broke two program records,...
Westmoreland County campus clippings: Hempfield’s Uncapher, Derry’s Perry shine in heptathlon
Clarion senior Jenna Uncapher (Hempfield) and sophomore Leah Perry (Derry) competed in the heptathlon at the Messiah Multi. Uncapher opened the Messiah Multi with a fifth-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.89 seconds. She tied for fourth in the high jump (1.50 meters) and won the...
Norwin softball team holds strong to topple No. 1 Hempfield
Norwin took it personally last year when Hempfield issued four intentional walks in a WPIAL Class 6A softball quarterfinal loss. The Knights made Hempfield pay for it when the Spartans tried it again. In the teams’ first meeting since the playoffs, Alyssa McCormick launched a grand slam in the third...
Westmoreland County campus clippings: Saint Vincent men’s volleyball posts 1st playoff win
New athletic programs usually need an adjustment period — give or take five years — before they start thinking postseason wins. But the Saint Vincent men’s volleyball program, which began playing competitive games just four years ago, is ahead of the curve. The Bearcats posted their first playoff win, taking...
Westmoreland high school notebook: Mt. Pleasant swim coach honored
Sandy Felice will tell you she does not have to do much to get her swimmers ready at Mt. Pleasant. The coach is well aware the team has assembled some of the top talent in the state. But sometimes the accolades go to the person in charge. Felice was honored...
Lower Burrell author Girardi takes up cause of girls sports in her works
Tamara Girardi writes fictional sports stories that are based on her observations of the sometimes polarizing, always changing landscape of female sports. Things she has seen, heard about and even experienced are woven into the fabric of seven books the Lower Burrell author has published in the last year. The...
Norwin notebook: After slow start, baseball team finds footing
After a slow start, the Norwin baseball team is regaining its footing. The Knights opened the season with four straight losses but rebounded by winning two out of three games against Baldwin in a three-game Section 2-6A series. Chris Slatt went 3 for 4 with a double and three RBIs,...
After taking lumps last season, Norwin boys lacrosse taking steps forward
Norwin missed out on the WPIAL Class 3A boys lacrosse playoffs last year, but there is optimism around the team that a postseason return could be imminent. A young team is growing into its uniform. “We believe we have a great group with quality leaders, young talent and solid veterans,”...
Waldier earns Yough softball team walk-off win over Mt. Pleasant
Yough had plans to bring in sophomore Adoria Waldier as a relief pitcher as its Section 3-3A softball game against Mt. Pleasant stretched into the later innings. Neither team was giving an inch. Groundouts and popouts became routine as Yough freshman Sydney Bergman and senior Sophia Smithnosky of Mt. Pleasant...
Canon-McMillan baseball overpowers Norwin behind Andrew Kocan’s 2 homers
Brawny and powerful, Andrew Kocan is an intimidating presence at the plate. The Canon-McMillan senior first baseman — all 6-foot-4, 285 pounds of him — is headed to Virginia Military Institute to play football. An offensive lineman and defensive end, Kocan did the lead-blocking for the baseball team Thursday, launching...
Coaches rave about new 3-game series for WPIAL Class 6A baseball
Let’s play … three? The WPIAL went to three-game series this season in Class 6A baseball, and the change has been met with warmth from local coaches who must develop pitching depth to stay sharp and earn sweeps or series wins. Baseball long has been a chess match, and the...
Westmoreland County baseball notebook: Franklin Regional off to hot start in Section 1
Only one Westmoreland County baseball team is situated among the top teams in the Trib top-5 rankings. Franklin Regional remains third in this week’s Class 5A rankings. The Panthers (7-2, 3-1 Section 1) have only one section loss, a 3-1 setback against Gateway. They return to section play Monday against...
