Don Rebel stories, Page 118

The 1970s Pittsburgh Pirates were billed as Lumber and Lightning for their unique combination of power at the plate and speed on the basepaths. Nearly a half-century later, the West Mifflin softball team is having success on the diamond with the same mindset. The Titans hit two home runs, one...

Two of the top district girls lacrosse teams in Class AAA clash Friday for a share of first place in Section 2 in another battle of the academies. Sewickley Academy and Shady Side Academy are both 4-0 in section play, tied for first place with North Allegheny and Fox Chapel....

The winds of change that had the temps bouncing up and down last week were calm in the Trib 10 baseball rankings, but strong again in the district softball power rankings. Baseball had a couple of teams slide and some move up; however, all 10 teams are still feeling the...

Shenango and Laurel are neighboring school districts in Lawrence County. But geography isn’t the only category where these two schools are next to each other. In the WPIAL Section 4-2A softball standings, the Wildcats and Spartans are tied for first place with 5-1 records. Plus, in the latest HSSN softball...

The 2021 Trib HSSN state baseball rankings continue to be in a state of flux. There were wholesale changes in Class 3A, no change in Class 4A and something in between in the other four classifications. There also was a changing of the guard at the top of the rankings...

As last week went on, the mercury went down, and then it rose back up. The temperatures were a lot like the state softball rankings, where there was plenty of change in the air last week. A total of 11 teams lost their grip on a top 5 spot throughout...

As Shaler and South Fayette’s battled it out for a second straight day, the question became which team would blink first as their Section 3-5A game went into extra innings. It wasn’t a blink, but a twitch that brought home the winning run. Senior Braeden Campbell scored the game-winning run...

Franklin Regional enters the PIHL Penguins Cup Class AA championship game Tuesday with a six-game winning streak and having hoisted gold twice in the last four years. However, the Panthers will be the underdogs when they face off against Baldwin at the RMU Island Sports Complex on Neville Island. Baldwin...

California High School senior Payton Conte knows the game of baseball. His father Mike is in his 25th season as head coach at Cal (Pa.). However knowing the game and excelling at it are two different things. Check off both boxes for Payton. “His obvious strengths are his overall natural...

West Mifflin senior Lauren Yuhas was 8 for 10 in three games last week, with three home runs, eight RBIs and six runs scored. Some would call that outstanding. For one of the top hitters in the WPIAL, Yuhas calls it another week at the office. “Absolutely,” West Mifflin coach...

The last time the PIHL crowned a Penguins Cup Class AAA champion, North Allegheny skated away with its first title in six years in 2019. On Monday, North Allegheny has a chance to “defend” its title in the Penguins Cup Class AAA final when it faces off against Mt. Lebanon...

Coming into last week, the Hempfield team had split its first four Section 2-6A games and was 2-4 overall. The start was the opposite of the 4-2 start the Spartans enjoyed in 2019, a season in which they finished 11-10 and lost in the opening round of the WPIAL Class...

Here are the WPIAL girls lacrosse standings through April 18. The top six teams in each section will qualify for the district postseason. Only section records are shown. #-Clinched section championship *-Clinched playoff berth x-Eliminated from playoff chase Class AAA Section 1 Bethel Park, 4-0 Upper St. Clair, 4-0 Canon-McMillan,...

Here are the WPIAL boys lacrosse standings through April 18. The top six teams in each section will qualify for the district postseason. Only section records are shown. #-Clinched section championship *-Clinched playoff berth x-Eliminated from playoff chase Class AAA Section 1 Mt. Lebanon, 3-0 Upper St. Clair, 2-0 Bethel...

The puck stops here on our postseason hockey coverage with three days of district and state championship action on the TribLive High School Sports Network. We have the PIHL Penguins Cup championship games in Class AAA, AA, A and Class B on Monday and Tuesday, then all three Pa. Cup...

Not since spring 2017 has the Central Valley softball team enjoyed a winning season. So far, so good in 2021 thanks to a big 3-0 week. A lot of new players have led the Warriors to a 4-1 start in Section 3-4A and a 5-3 record overall. “We lost six...

The South Fayette hockey team finished at .500 for the season with a record of 8-8-2 and missed the PIHL Class AA playoff by only four points. All in all, that’s pretty good for a team that didn’t win its first contest until the sixth game of the season. “This...

It was a season like no other for the Chartiers Valley girls basketball team between shutdowns and record win streaks. However, the one thing that was very similar to recent seasons was that the Colts galloped to another WPIAL championship. “I said it before, but to win a WPIAL championship...

Two of the top teams in Section 3-3A collide in a Saturday softball special. While Southmoreland sits in first place with a 3-0 section record, the two teams hot on its trail meet when Mt. Pleasant hosts Waynesburg. The Vikings are 2-0 in the section and trail the Scotties (3-0)...

Back in the spring of 2019, top-seeded Chartiers-Houston faced Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in the first round of the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs and won easily to advance to the district quarterfinals. On Friday, the script was flipped. The Chargers remained undefeated with a 14-5 victory over the...

Back in 2019, the most recent WPIAL softball season, Norwin finished as tri-champions in Section 2-6A along with Hempfield and North Allegheny. The Knights were 10-4 in the section and 12-7 overall. In that same section, Pine-Richland finished in sixth place, missing the playoffs with a 4-10 section record, 4-11...

As section play kicked into full gear and Mother Nature cooperated, there was plenty of action on the baseball and softball district diamonds since the inaugural HSSN power rankings were released last week. There was some shuffling of the deck in baseball, but only one team fell out of the...

The top two teams in WPIAL Class AAA boys volleyball are set to square off for the first of two meetings in the regular season Thursday. Top-ranked and defending champion North Allegheny hits the road to battle No. 2 Seneca Valley. First place in Section 2-AAA is up for grabs...

Only minor changes were made in the second week of the 2021 Trib HSSN state baseball rankings. One team from each class lost its footing and dropped out of the top 5, thus opening the door for six new teams to join the state diamond elite. Out are Souderton, Bethel...