Don Rebel stories, Page 112

History is being made in Happy Valley this week as the WPIAL sends a record 10 baseball and softball teams to Penn State to compete in the PIAA championships. This is the fourth year the PIAA has crowned six championships in both baseball and softball. In 2017, the WPIAL sent...

In most games, Bethel Park’s Eric Chalus is one of two, maybe three seniors in the starting lineup. While 2022 looks bright, Chalus has made sure the future is now for the Black Hawks. Thanks to his outstanding pitching and strong stick in the batter’s box, the Kent State recruit...

For the second season in a row, the Serra Catholic baseball team had its hopes of a WPIAL championship crushed in a one-sided loss to Seton LaSalle. However, like in 2019, the Eagles are flying high in the state playoffs, a journey that actually began in the WPIAL Class 2A...

What a year for the Beaver softball team. The Bobcats have already won a WPIAL championship and are now two wins away from adding state gold to their diamond treasures. At the top of the list of reasons the Bobcats are district champions and are still playing in mid-June is...

If it is an unwritten rule that teams that finish in third place in their section, four games behind the section champion, aren’t still playing in mid-June, then the exception to that rule is the 2021 Canon-McMillan softball team. The Big Macs entered the district playoffs with a 7-9 overall...

Monday is the final stop on the Path to Penn State. The PIAA baseball and softball semifinals are scheduled for Monday with six of the games to be seen or heard on Trib HSSN. The WPIAL has seven baseball teams and eight softball teams playing in the final four. District...

There is a golden light at the end of the tunnel as the high school baseball and softball season concludes this week, putting an end to the 2020-21 high school sports season on the TribLive High School Sports Network. We have coverage of the semifinals and possibly the state championship...

In a season like no other due to the covid-19 protocols, the South Fayette boys lacrosse team enjoyed a season like no other. “This season was very special,” South Fayette coach Shawn Leydig said. “We knew we had a lot of leadership and talent returning from our upperclassmen. The team...

In the 2018 and 2019 seasons, the Chartiers Valley softball team finished second to last in its section with a combined record of 7-23. What a difference two years make, or in this case, one season. The Colts softball team went from a struggling horse to a magnificent stallion under...

It took the next-to-last power rankings before we had new No. 1 teams in baseball and softball. North Allegheny bumps Franklin Regional from the top spot in baseball, and Beaver is the new No. 1 softball team after more than two months of Bethel Park being on top. Serra Catholic...

When it comes to the Trib HSSN state softball rankings, the winds of change are going to happen in June. Some classes had little change, and those winds were like a cozy breeze. Others, however, underwent major changes with gale-force winds blowing district champions out of the PIAA postseason. The...

We have reached the final four in the 2021 PIAA postseason and the penultimate Trib HSSN state baseball rankings as we prepare for the final week of the season. As expected in the first two round of the state playoffs, there were plenty of changes as teams that missed out...

All year, Beaver junior Peyton List has been dominant in the pitcher’s circle. She entered Thursday’s PIAA quarterfinal softball game against Elizabeth Forward with a 13-0 record and an ERA of 0.45. However, in the state playoffs, List is proving that Peyton’s place is also in the batter’s box. List...

Thursday is the second round of the 2021 PIAA baseball and softball playoffs, weather permitting. Nineteen WPIAL baseball and softball teams qualified for the state playoffs, and after one round, the district still has 12 teams left in the baseball postseason and 11 teams remaining in the softball playoffs. Softball...

History could be made Tuesday in the PIAA lacrosse semifinals. In the 12-year history of the state lacrosse playoffs, no WPIAL has won a PIAA championship. In fact, no District 7 team has even reached the finals. The WPIAL sends one boys and one girls team to the final four...

In opening-round PIAA playoff games following its previous four WPIAL championships, the West Greene softball team has cruised into the state quarterfinals by a combined score of 40-5. So few people outside of District 5 runner-up Shade gave the Panthers much chance against the 2017 and 2018 Class A state...

A total of 38 WPIAL baseball and softball teams hit the ground running for state gold as the Path to Penn State begins Monday. Weather permitting, the first round of the PIAA baseball and softball playoffs begin throughout the state. The 12 newly crowned WPIAL champions will play somewhere inside...

It was a championship performance for the ages. Bethel Park junior catcher Sandra Soltes had three hits, two home runs including a grand slam, three runs and eight RBIs in the Black Hawks’ 9-2 win over Canon-McMillan to win the WPIAL Class 6A softball crown. “My performance to me has...

Every once in a while, the stars align and a special group of young athletes comes up through the program to make good teams great and great teams champions. The sign of a strong program is when that special group comes and goes, yet the titles keep coming. Take as...

The district gold rush has come to an end. Now, with two weeks left in the season, the focus turns to the chase for state gold on the TribLive High School Sports Network. We have coverage of the first round and quarterfinals of the PIAA baseball and softball playoffs as...

Shenango had a fantastic regular season, winning 16 of 18 games, including the final 14 while outdistancing the rest of a tough Section 2-2A by two games. They were the No. 2 seed in the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs and beat Northgate, Neshannock and Carmichaels on the road to the...

Billy Cook was sitting in unfamiliar territory last week. He was calling the shots as New Castle head coach in a WPIAL baseball championship game. Turns out he had the best seat in the house to watch history play out at Wild Things Park in Washington. Senior pitcher Rocco Bernadina...

For five years, the South Fayette girls lacrosse team has been trying to break on through to the other side of consistently playing competitive matches. Mission accomplished. “I feel like this is finally the season that proved us as a competitor as opposed to being the new team,” coach Connie...

There were major changes this week in half of the softball classifications and minimal movement in the other three classes on the brink of the 2021 PIAA softball playoffs. In Class 6A, 5A and 3A, there were 10 teams that fell out of Trib HSSN state softball rankings from last...