Doug Gulasy stories, Page 2
Softball playoff preview capsules: Games of Tuesday, May 14
Softball Class 3A First round 7-Freeport (10-3) vs. 10-Ellwood City (11-6) 4 p.m. Tuesday at North Allegheny Winner plays: 2-South Allegheny (16-2) on May 20, site/time TBD Coaches: Sam Ross, Freeport; Gary Rozanski, Ellwood City Players to watch: Tori Radvan, Jr., P, Freeport; Ariana Garroway, Sr., C, Ellwood City Extra...
A-K Valley HS lookahead: Week of May 13-18
Monday Boys lacrosse Fox Chapel opens the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs with a game at Upper St. Clair. The Foxes advanced to the quarterfinals last season. Girls lacrosse Back in the postseason, the Plum girls open the WPIAL Class AA playoffs with a game at Mars at 7:30 p.m. Boys...
Knoch considering replacing grass with turf at stadium
Mother Nature rained plenty on Knoch’s parade last fall. More significantly, on its football and soccer games, too. As one of a small number of schools in the WPIAL’s highest classifications with a grass field, the extra moisture caused problems the district is looking into addressing. The South Butler School...
St. Joseph hires Plum’s Hart Coleman as new boys basketball coach
Hart Coleman first became familiar with St. Joseph’s boys basketball program when he brought his Plum team to the Spartans’ summer league in 2018. He liked what he saw enough that when the coaching position opened up, he went after it. St. Joseph hired Coleman last week as its boys...
Alle-Kiski Valley notebook: Sharrow, Cutright to race in WPIAL hurdle prelims
At least one race at this week’s WPIAL track and field championships could come down to a pair of competitors from the Alle-Kiski Valley. Burrell senior Kaylen Sharrow goes into Thursday’s meet at Slippery Rock as the top seed in the girls Class AA 300-meter hurdles, with Deer Lakes senior...
A-K Valley teams snap long playoff droughts, but will inexperience matter?
Kurt Krebs asked his St. Joseph baseball players for a show of hands recently, seeking those who were alive in 2001, and got a positve response from three. The Spartans baseball coach was attempting to illustrate the length of the school’s WPIAL playoff drought, but he actually was off by...
Freeport baseball surprised with top seed in WPIAL Class 3A playoffs
A thrilling victory in Wednesday’s season finale gave Freeport more than just a section championship. Turns out it also provided quite a boost for the postseason. The Yellowjackets, fresh off that walk-off win over Deer Lakes that secured the Section 1-3A title, learned Friday they received the No. 1 seed...
Quartet of A-K Valley softball teams awarded 1st-round bye in playoffs
The release of the WPIAL softball playoff brackets Thursday brought some welcome news to Burrell. The Bucs, fresh off their first outright section title since 2011, received the reward of the No. 3 seed in the Class 3A field. The first-round bye that came with it held a logistical importance....
Kiski Area baseball uses dramatic win over Armstrong to qualify for playoffs
Ryne Wallace arrived to Kiski Area’s do-or-die section finale 15 minutes before first pitch because of advanced placement tests, but the senior got there in plenty of time to place the Cavaliers in the playoffs. Wallace’s bases-loaded single in the bottom of the ninth inning scored Ethan Guercio, giving Kiski...
A-K Valley campus clippings: Iellimo, Keibler help Mount Aloysius baseball advance
A pair of Alle-Kiski Valley natives helped Mount Aloysius win a wild game at the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference tournament. Sophomore Jeremy Iellimo (Valley) and redshirt junior Sam Keibler (Kittanning graduate) had three hits each for the Mounties on Monday as the team rallied from an early nine-run deficit to...
Highlands’ Johnny Crise adds Robert Morris football offer to basketball offer
Johnny Crise doubled up on his Robert Morris scholarship opportunities. The Colonials’ football program offered the Highlands junior on Tuesday evening, a year after the school’s basketball program gave him his first offer. Blessed and thankful to have received an offer from Robert Morris University #NoTomorrow pic.twitter.com/S3KUCJvjGf— Johnny Crise (@Crise_20)...
Cincinnati Bengals claim former Pitt RB Darrin Hall off waivers
Darrin Hall is taking a tour of the AFC North. The Cincinnati Bengals claimed the former Pitt running back off waivers Tuesday, a day after he was released by the Cleveland Browns. NEWS: #Bengals acquire HB Darrin Hall on Waivers?: pic.twitter.com/f82tn4Bj8f— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) May 7, 2019 Hall, a...
Alle-Kiski notebook: Playoff fates await Kiski Area, Knoch baseball
It might not be the most ideal situation, but it’s certainly the most dramatic. Kiski Area’s baseball playoff fate will come down to Wednesday as the Cavaliers (8-9, 5-6) host Armstrong in a winner-take-all game for the final Section 1-5A playoff berth. The situation arose after Armstrong (8-8, 4-7) rallied...
From ‘Baby Shark’ to great white, Heilman develops into reliable ace, leader for Freeport
Jarrett Heilman first heard “Baby Shark” in ninth-grade social studies, when teacher Daniel Stell played the children’s song and its accompanying dance over the projector in the classroom. And when he threw a complete game later that afternoon in a junior varsity game against Knoch, a phenomenon was born. “I...
Former Plum star Kirilloff off to hot start for Minnesota Twins’ Double-A affiliate
A wrist injury kept Alex Kirilloff out for the entire month of April. His performance since his return is backing up his breakthrough 2018 season. The former Plum baseball star is hitting .412 (7 for 17) in the five-game small sample size since his debut last week for the Pensacola...
Highlands, St. Joseph baseball teams end long WPIAL playoff droughts
Highlands and St. Joseph share the same stretch of road in Harrison Township, and until Monday they also had long WPIAL baseball playoff droughts in common. But the neighboring schools got the monkey off their backs on the same afternoon, as St. Joseph beat Section 3-A rival Leechburg, 10-0, in...
A-K Valley campus clippings: Knoch grad earns MVP in PAC Tournament
Celia Knappenberger turned in an MVP performance to lead Saint Vincent to the Presidents’ Athletic Conference championship. The freshman from Knoch threw 16 shutout innings Friday as the Bearcats won three consecutive games to claim the PAC title on their home field. Knappenberger began the day by pitching a five-hit...
A-K Valley H.S. lookahead: Week of May 6-12
Monday Baseball Kiski Area needs either a win or an Armstrong loss to clinch its first WPIAL playoff berth since 2016, and the Cavaliers (8-8, 5-5) will get their first opportunity as they visit second-place Gateway. The Gators (12-5, 8-2) edged Kiski Area in extra innings earlier this season. In...
Morgan Camerlo has fond memories of win in 2018 Pittsburgh Half Marathon
Morgan Camerlo won’t defend her title in the Pittsburgh Half Marathon on Sunday. She won’t run a single mile down the streets of Pittsburgh, let alone 13.1. As a matter of fact, she won’t even be in the same state. She will be running, though. The Freeport native and St....
Alle-Kiski Valley high school notebook: Burrell softball keeps rallying
Burrell is developing a penchant for softball comebacks. The No. 2 Bucs’ rally from a three-run deficit for a 5-4 Section 1-3A win Monday gave them three late-inning, multiple-run comebacks this season. All three came over Burrell’s biggest rivals, giving the Bucs a pair of wins over Deer Lakes and...
Pitching, defense help Norwin avenge Section 2-6A loss to Plum
Norwin wanted a fast start against Plum given what happened in their first Section 2-6A meeting this season: six innings of scoreless ball, followed by a Plum walk-off in the seventh. The Knights got just what they desired and maybe even a bit more than they bargained for. Nick Fleming’s...
Emily Cochran battles through back issues to help Mount Aloysius softball to postseason
Back pain plagued Emily Cochran during her high school softball career — badly enough that she considered giving up the sport. She kept plugging away through multiple procedures, through various treatments and along the way rediscovered her love for the game. And now the former Highlands standout is finding happiness...
Kiski Area’s Palla twins commit to play soccer at Morehead State
Kiski Area’s Palla twins will stick together at the Division I soccer level. Juniors Christa and Sidney Palla committed Thursday to play women’s soccer for Morehead State. The midfielders both earned all-section honors as juniors, even though Sidney Palla missed much of the season with a torn ACL suffered before...
Motivated by last season’s playoff defeat, Fox Chapel girls lacrosse chasing WPIAL title
A regular-season victory can’t fully erase the sting of a playoff loss, but Fox Chapel’s girls lacrosse team still felt plenty of satisfaction after a two-goal win over Sewickley Academy last week. The result kept the Foxes unbeaten in Section 2-AAA with the regular season winding down, and it came...
Indiana gets top seed in WPIAL Class AA boys tennis playoffs
A new team will win the WPIAL Class AA tennis championship this season after Sewickley Academy’s move up to Class AAA, and Indiana will slot in as the favorite to take the crown. The Little Indians, the Section 3-AA champion, received the top seed for the WPIAL Class AA playoffs,...
