Michael Love stories, Page 10

Things started out well for Ligonier Valley in a Section 1-3A softball game Monday at Deer Lakes High School. The Rams tallied three runs in the top of the first as Natalie Bizup and Abby Springer paced the early uprising with an RBI apiece. But the homestanding Lancers rallied from...

A pair of top-five boys volleyball matchups in Class 3A highlighted the WPIAL section slate last Thursday as North Allegheny topped Butler, 3-0, and Seneca Valley swept Pine-Richland. Those four teams remained at the top in the latest Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association’s WPIAL boys top-10 rankings released Monday morning....

Emotions were flowing April 22 when Emma Kennedy and her Slippery Rock softball teammates took the field for a doubleheader at IUP. The Crimson Hawks program’s “Strikeout For Cancer” event that day honored those who have battled cancer, who are battling cancer or who have died from the various forms...

Mareana Pilyih made a seamless transition from high school bowling at Plum, where she was a two-time WPIBL Most Valuable Player honoree, to the collegiate game at Saint Vincent College. As a freshman this past fall and winter, she led the Bearcats with a 191.3 average over 105 games with...

When the Riverview baseball team has earned a win this season, the players have presented one of their own with a WWE championship belt signifying that player’s impact on the victory. The belt has been distributed numerous times since the Raiders’ first win March 19. The Raiders completed a dominating...

Last year, the Knoch softball team went 10-2 in section play. Their only two losses were to undefeated champion Indiana by scores of 2-0 and 7-0. Senior Grace Hensch said she and the other returning players kept those games in mind because of what the losses meant to their section...

Frank Caliguri has a lot on his mind with the Pittsburgh Karate Championships just a day away. While there is so much to get done before Saturday’s annual event at the Quality Inn in New Kensington, he knows the preparations are in good hands. “Everything is on track,” Caliguri said...

Kiski Area’s Lauren Ciuca broke 11 minutes in the 3,200-meter run at last week’s Butler Invitational. Her time of 10:59.76 set a school record and put her on the awards podium in third out of 64 who ran the event that day. She wasn’t too far behind the winner, West...

The Shaler softball team had allowed just two runs over its first six Section 1-5A games. Plum got one of those runs in a loss to the Titans on April 4. The Mustangs tried to solve Shaler starter Bria Bosiljevac and gain a measure of revenge for the setback at...

WPIAL boys volleyball is just three weeks away from the start of the playoff tournaments, and teams in both Class 3A and Class 2A continue to position themselves for runs to the postseason. They also are making moves throughout the weekly Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association top-10 polls, which were...

Austin Lockhart leapt 43 feet, 3 inches in the triple jump at last year’s WPIAL Class 3A track and field championships at Slippery Rock. It wasn’t his best distance of the season. That was a 44-5 at a regular-season invitational. But his top jump in his WPIAL debut earned him...

Adam Memije and Advaita Sircar could meet at some point in the PIAA Class 3A singles tennis tournament May 23-24 in Hershey. Memije, a Gateway senior, and Sircar, a sophomore from North Allegheny, already know a lot about each other. They faced each other in the WPIAL finals for the...

When the Apollo-Ridge softball players came to practice Tuesday, coach Ashtin Kirkwood said she saw a team in good spirits despite a loss to South Allegheny the day before. The first meeting between the Section 2-2A leaders went to the Gladiators, who rallied from a two-run deficit with a big...

Jessica Garland honed her skills as a high school soccer coach the past decade as an assistant to her father, Rich, at her alma mater, Franklin Regional, and for the past five seasons at Mt. Pleasant. She now is getting her chance as a head coach. Garland on Monday evening...

Jill Catanzaro stepped down Monday as coach of the Riverview girls basketball team after four seasons at the helm. The decision, she said, was a difficult one because of her love of the game, her love of coaching and love of Riverview and its athletes. But when she thought about...

South Allegheny used a big fourth inning to turn around its fortunes against Apollo-Ridge in a key Section 2-2A softball matchup Monday at Apollo-Ridge High School. The Gladiators collected just five hits in the game, but they were opportunistic at the plate, and strong defense and the pitching of junior...

North Allegheny and Shaler didn’t budge from their top spots as the Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association released its latest WPIAL boys volleyball top-10 rankings Monday morning. The Tigers remained No. 1 in Class 3A and capped the week with a runner-up finish at the prestigious Koller Classic on Saturday...

Nolan Boehm is making his mark this spring for the Chatham baseball team. The Gateway graduate was third for the Cougars in hitting at .308 (20 for 65) through 20 games. He recorded two doubles, two triples, 12 runs batted in and 11 runs scored through a doubleheader split with...

The Gateway boys volleyball team has been adjusting to both a move up to Class 3A and a new lineup dynamic with the loss of a majority of last year’s squad to graduation. But Gators coach Phil Randolph likes what he sees from his players in the early part of...

Members of the Plum baseball team knew coming into the season that it would be a dogfight at the top of Section 1-5A, and the Mustangs were right there in the mix after the first two Section 1-5A series. They took care of business in the opening home-and-home section set...

The Plum girls flag football team worked out and practiced for the better part of three months to be ready for the opening weekend of its second season, a showcase event March 29 involving high school and college teams at Saint Vincent College. The Mustangs, led by a group of...

The Deer Lakes boys volleyball team is turning around its fortunes this spring, both in section play and beyond. The Lancers, 1-15 a year ago, head into Monday’s nonsection match with Section 3-2A leader Seton LaSalle at 7-2 overall and 3-1 in Section 1 play. “The players came into the...

High school baseball in the All-Kiski Valley is in its fourth week, while college teams have been knocking it out of the park for nearly two months. The Pirates, despite their inauspicious start, are giving baseball fans something to talk about in the early season. While those games are in...

The Knoch softball team had won five straight by shutout and had scored 59 runs in those games before Monday’s nonsection home matchup against North Catholic. The Knights quickly found out that the game with the Trojanettes wouldn’t turn out the same way. North Catholic broke open a tie game...

Alle Scarpa struck out the first 10 Freeport batters she faced in Monday’s Section 1-4A matchup at Freeport Community Park. The 11th batter, Yellowjackets third baseman Addyson Caruso, doubled to left. She stole third to put the tying run closer to home plate with one out in the fourth. But...