Dave Mackall stories, Page 25
Indiana pushing for winning season
Like so many coaches, Brandon Overdorff has so many questions. Are we big enough? Are we strong enough? Are we fast enough? Can we compete? Indiana, currently the easternmost WPIAL member school, is preparing to chase another winning season, something that has escaped the Indians in Overdorff’s first three years...
East Allegheny eyes another playoff chance
Not long ago at East Allegheny, the concept of regularly playing football in the postseason was but a dream. It rarely happened. Anymore, though, just making it there isn’t enough. “We’ve gotten the program to where we’re getting to the playoffs. We even won a game (in 2017),” coach Dom...
Turowski siblings turn in big day at Westmoreland Junior Amateur, with Nicholas Turowski winning
The siblings, three years apart, sat within earshot of one another, along with some others in the field, while awaiting the official results of the annual Westmoreland County Golf Association Junior Amateur Tournament. That’s not to say Alex and Nicholas Turowski didn’t already know who would finish atop the leaderboard...
Seton Hill baseball shifts focus to NCAA regional tournament
A disappointing weekend of baseball at Seton Hill couldn’t keep the Griffins down for long. Of course, being rewarded with a top seed in the NCAA Division II regionals helped with the pain of losing out on a conference title. But a trip to the ice cream stand was just...
Hempfield baseball team rolls into WPIAL title game with win over Norwin
Hempfield is headed to a WPIAL baseball championship game for the first time in school history. Christian Zilli had three hits, four RBIs and closed out Hempfield’s 12-2 rout of Norwin following Jake Kramer’s strong start for the third-seeded Spartans in the Class 6A semifinals on Tuesday at Latrobe. Hempfield...
Seton Hill baseball falls to Bloomsburg in PSAC championship series
Home runs have been a friend of Seton Hill baseball this season, but the long ball came back to haunt the Griffins in their bid for a third Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship in five years. Bloomsburg homered five times to produce all its runs, and the Huskies won the...
Seton Hill, Bloomsburg split first 2 games of PSAC finals, setting up Saturday showdown
Down a game in the best-of-3 championship series, Bloomsburg rode freshman Michael Standen’s five-hitter to a convincing 9-2 victory over No. 6 Seton Hill on Friday in the second game of a doubleheader in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament at SHU Baseball Complex. Anthony Viggiano hit a grand slam,...
Seton Hill baseball sweeps Mercyhurst, moves to PSAC championship series
The No. 7 Seton Hill baseball team was staring at only its fifth loss of the season Sunday when Jack Oberdorf stepped to the plate against Mercyhurst in the top of the ninth inning. One swing of the bat gave the Griffins a three-run lead in the second game of...
Kollar stellar as Seton Hill blanks Gannon in PSAC quarterfinals
In high school, right-hander Jared Kollar routinely faced pressure situations. He was the winning pitcher in WPIAL and PIAA championship games in 2017 as a senior at Latrobe. Four years later, as a college senior at Seton Hill, Kollar took the mound Wednesday for just the third time after returning...
Latrobe baseball team makes most out of few chances in win over Penn-Trafford
Latrobe’s offense took a break Thursday, but the Wildcats baseball team still managed to beat Penn-Trafford for a second consecutive day. Latrobe scored all its runs in the first inning without a hit, and Rayce King and Tommy Ciesielski combined on a five-hitter as the visiting Wildcats won, 3-1. The...
Duquesne loses bid for NEC title in overtime loss to Sacred Heart
Football in the ‘Burgh on a Sunday usually means a fall date with the Pittsburgh Steelers. On this particular spring Sunday afternoon during a season of uncertainty, college football was the showcase on the Bluff. But the home team did not prevail. Sacred Heart forced Duquesne quarterback Joe Mischler to...
Southmoreland softball team charges out of gate
If Southmoreland needed an early-season hint as to its softball team’s chances in Class 3A of the WPIAL, it may have gotten it this week with victories over Class 4A schools in its first two games. What’s more, the Scotties outscored Greensburg Salem and Uniontown by a combined 17-3. But...
Southmoreland baseball driven to turn close losses into wins, playoff berth
When the Southmoreland baseball team began preparing for a return to the diamond following last season’s covid-related layoff, coach Al Govern privately asked each player to come up with a goal. In every case, he said, the players offered a similar response. “It’s the playoffs or bust this year,” Govern...
New league, new team for Ligonier Valley baseball
Ligonier Valley’s return to the WPIAL in baseball began on a triumphant note Friday in the program’s first game back in District 7, a 6-4 decision over Greensburg Salem. The outcome provided hope for the retooled Rams, who were forced to replace their entire starting lineup from the 2019 season...
Ligonier Valley softball wants status quo: Success
Every year, it seems, Ligonier Valley coach Mark Zimmerman appears optimistic about his softball team’s chances for a successful season. Most years, the Rams have succeeded. In fact, since 2006, not counting last season’s canceled schedule because of the coronavirus pandemic, Ligonier Valley advanced to the District 6 playoffs all...
St. Vincent women’s basketball tops W&J in PAC championship game
In a strange, compact college basketball season like no other, the Saint Vincent women aren’t complaining. Why would they? The Bearcats completed a short, five-week schedule with a perfect ending Saturday night, rallying for a 65-61 victory over visiting Washington & Jefferson to win their second Presidents’ Athletic Conference Tournament...
Derry softball to be tested early on by nonsection opponents
The message was clear. With an entire year to think things over, it’s time to make a move. Second-year Derry softball coach John DePalma, though he has yet to have coached the Trojans in a game because of the coronavirus shutdown last season, likely won’t have to wait much longer...
Section championship the goal for Derry baseball team
After planning to publicly do so last year before the pandemic canceled the schedule, the Derry baseball team will try again this season to honor the memory of the mother of one of its players by including her initials on the team’s hats. Wendy Jones, the mother of Sam Jones,...
Upper St. Clair holds off Norwin in Class 6A semifinal battle
The coaches — Upper St. Clair’s Pete Serio and Norwin’s Brian Brozeski — met at halfcourt with a mutual respect, it was clear, for each other’s program. The girls basketball game that just unfolded provided each with what’s sure to be a lasting memory. No. 2 Upper St. Clair, playing...
Trinity makes short work of Fox Chapel girls in Class 5A quarters
Top-seeded Trinity made short work of yet another girls basketball opponent Monday night, going on a first-half rampage that led to a second-half running clock in a 59-27 rout of visiting Fox Chapel in a WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinal game. The Hillers (20-1), who extended their winning streak to 16...
Surging Jeannette boys overwhelm Winchester Thurston in quarterfinals
Count Winchester Thurston boys basketball coach Justin Walther among the believers in surging Jeannette’s WPIAL title chances. “They’re loaded,” he said. “I think they’ve got a chance to win it all.” The Jayhawks won for the seventh time in a row Saturday at home in the Class 2A quarterfinals and...
Southmoreland girls rout Mt. Pleasant in Class 4A quarterfinals
Southmoreland reached the WPIAL semifinals in girls basketball for a second consecutive season by overwhelming visiting Mt. Pleasant, 54-23, in a Class 4A quarterfinal-round game Friday night. Maddie Moore scored 17 points, and Olivia Cernuto added 15 to lead No. 3 seed Southmoreland (15-4), which beat No. 11 Mt. Pleasant...
Robert Morris ousted from Horizon League tourney by Detroit Mercy
Robert Morris put up a fight but had no answer for the Horizon League’s leading scorer. Antoine Davis’ 46 points were too much for the Colonials to overcome in their first Horizon Tournament men’s basketball game, an 83-73 loss to Detroit Mercy on Thursday night at Calihan Hall in Detroit....
Robert Morris, Duquesne football teams ready to open spring season
As recently as 1978, Duquesne was playing college football as a club team, signing up students from every corner of the campus. Robert Morris didn’t even offer the sport until 1993, when Beaver Falls native Joe Walton, after whom the school’s football stadium is named, agreed to oversee the proposition...
Robert Morris basketball teams set for 1st Horizon League playoffs
As the Robert Morris men’s basketball team prepared to enter the sudden death portion of an unpredictable first Horizon League season, one theme pressed coach Andy Toole’s psyche. “Focus.” Toole’s bluntness spoke volumes as the seemingly outmanned Colonials, who have lost four of five overtime games in their first year...
