Michael Love stories, Page 109

Nathan Milsom loves to challenge himself. The athletic director in the Carlynton School District for more than a decade fills his plate with his duties with the Cougars athletic program, work as the president of several conferences, his involvement with the WPIAL basketball committee and as the veteran head coach...

Born out of the cancellation of the spring high school season and the summer American Legion schedule, the Monroeville Gators, a group of players from Gateway and one from South Fayette, have mixed the fun of playing summer baseball with a focus on winning games in the Western Pennsylvania Baseball...

A pair of Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division football rivals are ranked in the Division II top 25 by a pair of national college preview magazines. Slippery Rock is No. 9 in the Street & Smith’s poll and No. 11 in the Lindy’s Sports rankings. Both preseason lists were...

As winter turned to spring, Noah Rhoades looked to the upcoming Plum baseball season with excitement. Getting back on the field and playing with his friends gave him a renewed energy. Plans also included a trip to New York this summer as part of this year’s Plum Cooperstown team. But...

The Meadows Casino Racetrack Hotel in Washington County announced Friday that onsite race wagering temporarily will be suspended starting at 11:59 p.m. Friday night. Live racing at the 5/8-mile harness track will continue, though public access to the racetrack and racing operations will be prohibited. Live harness racing currently is...

More than a decade ago, Ray Heim tore it up on the asphalt racing track at Lanier National Speedway in Braselton, Ga., and the Pittsburgh area native, who lived in West Deer and Verona and graduated from Riverview, enjoyed numerous top finishes. His son, Corey, watched on at the track...

The Shady Side Academy Indian mascot, in use since 1936, will be discontinued effective immediately, the school announced Wednesday. The school’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously Tuesday evening to discontinue the use of the mascot. Board of Trustees chairman Jonathan Kamin, a 1991 Academy graduate, said the recent discussion and...

Hopes for Minor League Baseball in 2020 officially ended Tuesday as Major League Baseball announced that it will not provide its affiliated teams with players amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The move affects more than 150 such clubs, including Pittsburgh Pirates affiliates in Indianapolis (Class AAA) and Altoona (Class AA)....

Doug Goodman is more than 40 years removed from his time at Edinboro University. But the Freeport graduate and Fighting Scots football and track and field standout recently has spent a lot of time reminiscing about his collegiate accomplishments. Goodman, a 1977 Edinboro graduate, is the elder statesman of the...

A six-run fifth inning turned out to be the difference for Plum in an 11-7 victory over the Independent Players in Western Pennsylvania Baseball League action Monday at Valley High School. It was the second time in as many games to start the season that Plum (2-0, 2-0) tallied 11...

Denny Ayres is getting ready to attend West Virginia with a mechanical and aerospace engineering course of study. College baseball is not in his plans. He hoped successful high school and American Legion seasons would be part of his final year before moving on to Morgantown. Those plans were dashed...

From the time she stepped on the soccer field at Freeport in fall of 2016 to when she put on her Yellowjackets girls basketball uniform for the final time this season, Sidney Shemanski was a difference maker. As a freshman, she became a starter in basketball and soccer, helping lead...

When Andre Carter came to Leechburg in August 2018 to coach the girls basketball team, he noted player development as one of his strengths. Now, as he gets ready to take over as the athletic director after Mark Jones announced he is retiring after 15 years in the position, the...

Highlands baseball coach Jeff Campbell was heartbroken knowing his players were not going to have their high school season when schools were shut down in late March in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The disappointment continued when the American Legion season was scrapped. But when the Western Pennsylvania Baseball League...

Tanner Nulph first helped the Summer Rams at the plate in Wednesday evening’s Western Pennsylvania Baseball League game at Valley High School. The rising Highlands junior then brought it home from the mound in his team’s 4-3 victory over the Independent Players. Nulph drove in three runs with a single...

After a long coronavirus hiatus and a successful 2020 season debut last Friday, Lernerville Speedway turns to an annual tradition as it hosts the 14th annual World of Outlaws Late Model Series Firecracker 100 Weekend. The three days of racing begins Thursday and runs through to Saturday’s main event that...

Plum and Jeannette didn’t let the threat of rain spoil their Western Pennsylvania Summer Baseball League opener Tuesday evening at Buster Clarkson Field in Jeannette. The showers that fell on the region in the late afternoon dissipated as the game began, and Plum’s experienced squad showed its strength with an...

Alaina York began a summer job Monday as a nursing assistant at UPMC Presbyterian. The next couple of months will build on her experiences studying nursing at Robert Morris. While she makes strides towards her career field, the Burrell graduate also is focused on her opportunities for the Robert Morris...

The Summer Rams, a team consisting of players from the Highlands High School baseball team, earned a top-five finish at the seventh annual Atlantic Coast Baseball Open this past weekend at Wild Things Park in Washington. “We hadn’t practiced much,” coach Jeff Campbell said. “We had gotten on the field...

John Russo has been involved with the Latrobe Little League for two decades and is in his second year as the organization’s president. Like many of his counterparts, he has been through it all the past couple of months as the covid-19 pandemic and government-imposed safety restrictions threw a wrench...

As winter turned to spring, Joe Graff was excited about how the 2020 Pittsburgh National Adult Baseball League was coming together. Then the coronavirus pandemic threw the league, as well as so many other entities, into doubt. But with Gov. Wolf putting southwestern Pennsylvania into the green phase of recovery...

On May 21, East Carolina’s athletic department announced it would reduce the number of athletic programs because of budget restructuring efforts in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic. The women’s swimming program was one of the sports affected, and it left recent Kiski Area graduate Naomee Miller scrambling. Miller signed...

The West Hempfield baseball players gathered for their first practice Wednesday. The team doesn’t have to wait long for its season debut in the Westmoreland County American League. “We’re just ready to put our cleats on and swing the bats,” said Mitch Miletics, one of more than a dozen players...

Saint Vincent College Bowling has scheduled a plastic ball tournament July 12 at Lincoln Lanes in Latrobe. The tournament is open to anyone. The format will feature individual competitors, and each will bowl four games in the qualifying rounds. The lowest score will be dropped, so everyone will have a...

First Tee Pittsburgh’s summer youth golf program will begin July 6, and families are able to register now. The sessions for ages 5 to 18 feature various classes and programs at 10 locations throughout Western Pennsylvania. The First Tee of Pittsburgh, according to president and CEO Eric Amato, is the...