Michael Love stories, Page 107

The Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Softball League’s 15th fall season is scheduled to begin Labor Day weekend. League officials are planning to start on time, but they also are monitoring upcoming announcements from the PIAA and other possible rulings from school districts and local and state government officials that might throw...

Emily Carter is heading west to continue her cross country and track and field pursuits. The Bethel Park senior distance running standout has verbally committed to Oklahoma State in the Big 12. Carter said she informed the Oklahoma State coaches Wednesday and posted announcements of her decision on social media...

The Allderdice girls soccer team will not hold conditioning workouts for two weeks after one of its players tested positive for covid-19. Pittsburgh Public Schools announced the move in a release, stating that the asymptomatic athlete notified the district Thursday of the positive test result. It said the student trained...

The PIHL hopes to begin its 2020-21 season in early October, but league officials and teams are waiting for clarity on certain issues before going full speed ahead. While many of the programs have been working out on and off the ice in anticipation of a season, PIHL commissioner John...

One day after Robert Morris University athletics announced it plans to move its football season to the spring in connection with the Big South Conference postponing its fall sports seasons, the remaining Colonials fall sports teams found out they will not play this fall. The Horizon League, of which RMU...

The Pittsburgh chapter of the National Adult Baseball Association continues with its playoff tournaments this week, and league president Joe Graff said the postseason is an extension of a successful regular season despite the challenges of the covid-19 pandemic. “Everybody really worked together through everything from the start in June...

On the heels of the Big 12 board of directors’ announcement to proceed with the fall sports seasons, West Virginia on Wednesday morning announced its updated 2020 football schedule. “When the Big 12 announced a revised 10-game season, we knew that the schedule would change and there would be some...

Whether it has been because of injury recovery or lack of match opportunities through the entirety of the coronavirus pandemic, Bjorn Fratangelo has missed competitive tennis. But the Plum native is refocusing his efforts toward a couple of tournaments next month as he hopes to get back in a professional...

Max Matolcsy wanted to wait until his birthday to announce his college decision. The Plum senior football standout followed through with his wish Saturday morning as he posted to Twitter a verbal commitment to Penn in the Ivy League. Matolcsy said Penn was there from the start of the recruiting...

Richard “Dick” Dilts and Frank Morea were opponents on the football field in high school in the mid 1940s. Dilts played at Butler, and Morea represented Vandergrift. “We had a little verbal confrontation on the field one time, and later in college (at Slippery Rock), I heard his voice,” said...

Jeroen Walstra, the all-time winningest coach in the history of men’s soccer at Point Park University, announced his retirement Thursday. Walstra coached the Pioneers men’s team, which included many WPIAL alumni among numerous international standouts, for the past 13 seasons (2007-19) and also served as the Point Park women’s coach...

When Ben Smith raced at Pittsburgh International Race Complex for the first time in 2017, he had a lot of momentum on his side with top finishes throughout the first half of that year’s MotoAmerica KTM RC Cup motorcycle series schedule. The Downingtown, Pa., native and rising sophomore at Penn...

Registration is open for the 2021 Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon. “We’re excited to get people back to the start line in May,” said Troy Schooley, CEO of P3R, the organization that puts together the Pittsburgh Marathon each year. “Hopefully, we are able to do that. Registration has been open...

Mark Ackerman’s journey both in and out of sports the past three decades has brought him home to western Pennsylvania. The 1987 Latrobe graduate continues to settle into his role as the new athletic director at Eden Christian Academy. His career as an athletic administrator and a coach for both...

The Summer Rams (Highlands) baseball team saw its run in the Western Pennsylvania Summer Baseball League playoffs come to an end in the quarterfinals Monday evening. Garrett Greco singled home Martin Marion in the bottom of the seventh to lead Belle Vernon to a 3-2 walk-off victory at John Divirgilio...

The Western Pennsylvania Youth Football League announced Monday morning it has canceled its 2020 season. A message on Twitter said the decision was made after the league’s board of representatives expressed and discussed concerns over several months and also presented ways to possibly have a season amid the ongoing coronavirus...

Mike Wilder knows the track at The Meadows very well. The harness racing veteran and Washington resident also knows what it is like to compete for one of the sport’s premier championships. Wilder, who owns more than 8,000 career victories, had previously recorded a trio of fourth-place finishes in the...

When one door closed, another opened for the Plum 12U Cooperstown baseball team. When the team found out its spring Cooperstown, N.Y., tournament trip was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, it hoped to find other opportunities to compete. One opportunity came in the form of a tournament at the...

The Summer Rams (Highlands) baseball team stayed alive in the Western Pennsylvania Summer Baseball League playoffs Thursday evening with a come-from-behind 8-6 victory over Thomas Jefferson in a second-round game halted after six innings because of darkness. The umpires made the decision to call the game, and after a rules...

USA Swimming in late June released a comprehensive plan for a return to competition for local clubs throughout the country after the national organization halted events in March in the wake of the burgeoning coronavirus pandemic. Racer-X, a member of Allegheny Mountain Swimming, is one of the first clubs in...

The Irwin Area summer baseball team doubled its pleasure Thursday evening at Gateway High School, and it now is just two wins away from a Western Pennsylvania Baseball League tournament title. It started with an 11-0 victory over Plum and completed the sweep with a 5-2 quarterfinal win over the...

Despite the absence of one of harness racing’s fastest and most decorated horses, Saturday’s $375,000 Delvin Miller Adios Pace for the Orchids at the Meadows in Washington is shaping up to be a competitive race. Papi Rob Hanover was the likely favorite after setting a world record (1:47.1) for 3-year-old...

Playing their first game in more than two weeks, the Summer Rams (Highlands) topped Bethel Park, 9-5, on Wednesday at Gateway High School in a first-round contest in the Western Pennsylvania Summer Baseball League playoff tournament. The Summer Rams, now 9-6 overall this summer, advance to the second round and...

After two seasons away from coaching high school hockey, Cory Sakolsky is back. The Plum and Cal (Pa.) graduate and former Butler assistant and head coach is the new man in charge at Shaler, and he is excited to see where the Titans program can go. “I’ve not seen any...