Michael Love stories, Page 26

Riverview baseball coach Bill Gras said the mood was somber — as would be expected — after his team’s 1-0 loss to No. 2 Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in the WPIAL Class 2A quarterfinals May 20 at Seneca Valley. The Raiders and Chargers played scoreless baseball into the...

2024 WPIAL Class 4A softball championship No. 1 Elizabeth Forward (19-1) vs. No. 2 Hampton (17-4) 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Cal (Pa.)’s Lilley Field On the air: Trib HSSN How they got here: Elizabeth Forward defeated No. 9 West Mifflin, 10-0, in the quarterfinals; and No. 4 Chartiers Valley, 7-2,...

2024 WPIAL Class 2A softball championship No. 1 Neshannock (21-0) vs. No. 2 Bentworth (17-2) Noon Thursday at Cal (Pa.)’s Lilley Field How they got here: Neshannock defeated No. 9 Riverside, 11-1, in the quarterfinals; and No. 5 Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, 5-0, in the semifinals. Bentworth defeated...

There was no greater compliment Tony Despotakis could pay Richard “Dick” Dilts than to compare him to Vince Lombardi. The former Kiski Area football coach shared many similarities to one the NFL’s greatest coaching minds. “He was a big fan of Lombardi, and he studied Lombardi and his coaching style,”...

Because of the forecast of rain at Cal (Pa.)’s Lilley Field, Wednesday’s Class 6A, 3A and 1A softball champ­ionship games were postponed and moved to Friday. The game times also were changed. The Class A title game between No. 1 Union and No. 3 Chartiers-Houston will be at 11 a.m.,...

Adam Jackowski shook off some early rough patches and started to cruise. The South Allegheny sophomore, who surrendered two runs on five hits and a pair of walks while throwing 61 total pitches over the first three innings of Tuesday’s WPIAL Class 3A consolation game against Burrell, settled down after...

2024 WPIAL Class A softball championship No. 1 Union (20-1) vs. No. 3 Chartiers-Houston (16-2) 11 a.m. Wednesday at Cal (Pa.)’s Lilley Field How they got here: Union defeated No. 8 Jefferson Morgan, 11-2; and No. 5 West Greene, 10-0. Chartiers-Houston defeated No. 6 Jeannette, 16-0; and No. 2 Carmichaels,...

Burrell baseball players were given the day off last Wednesday, one day after a tough 2-1 loss to Avonworth in the WPIAL Class 3A semifinals at North Allegheny. The brief respite from the rigors of the postseason gave them a chance to recharge and refocus. The immediate focus for the...

Monroeville’s CCAC Boyce baseball team started the 2024 season 3-11. Austin Long, who returned to the program last fall after having previously coached Boyce in 2018 and 2018, said he saw the team come together more in the second half of the schedule, and they went 9-10 over their final...

The third time didn’t end up being the charm for the Gateway boys volleyball team against No. 1 Mars in the WPIAL Class 2A quarterfinals May 16. “There’s no way around it; Mars has an exceptional, disciplined program that is littered with legitimate athletes,” Gateway coach Phil Randolph said. “Not...

Deer Lakes senior outfielder Ryan Cochran’s fielding and hitting made Section 3-3A coaches stand up and take notice this spring, and the Lancers veteran was awarded in a vote as the section’s MVP. Cochran led Deer Lakes with an average of better than .450 throughout the season and fronted the...

The Plum softball team has grown to not appreciate the field at Gateway High School, considering a trio of recent playoff fates there. Three years ago, as the No. 3 seed for the WPIAL Class 5A tournament, the Mustangs were shut out by Fox Chapel. Last year, in the No....

When Trinity’s Logan Daniels tallied a two-run single for the final runs of a three-run top of the 11th inning in a WPIAL Class 5A first-round playoff game May 15 at Gateway, No. 5 Plum had its collective backs against the wall. The Mustangs did the best they could to...

Burrell senior Allison Smola and Freeport senior Erin Schaeffer have lined up against each other numerous times in the 100-meter hurdles throughout their high school track and field careers. The rivals were together again in the finals at the WPIAL Class 2A championships May 15 at Slippery Rock University. Smola...

Kiski Area senior Eliza Miller will run the 1,600 meters Friday morning and the 800 meters Saturday afternoon at the PIAA Class 3A track and field championships at Shippensburg. John Peterman will be there to watch her compete in her final high school event before heading off to Duquesne. For...

Sophomore third baseman Jack Dolan was the hero for Avonworth on Tuesday in its WPIAL Class 3A baseball semifinal game against Burrell at North Allegheny. He singled to center with one out in the bottom of the eighth to score right fielder Alex Rowe to give the Antelopes a come-from-behind...

The Our Lady of the Sacred Heart baseball team won 11 games in a row to close the regular season. During that stretch, the No. 2 Chargers scored 130 runs and allowed just 15. OLSH didn’t have nearly the offensive success Monday in its WPIAL Class 2A quarterfinal matchup with...

Dani Mo is moving up in the world. Literally. The local professional wrestler, also known to friends and family as Danielle Morrison, a Bethel Park graduate and Delmont resident, plans to set a world record Thursday by wrestling in a match at the highest elevation in history. The match is...

Dino Nadarevic went from non-WPIAL qualifier to a double PIAA qualifier in the span of 12 months. The Gateway junior put the work in, and last week at Slippery Rock University, he produced a pair of medal-winning performances. Nadarevic said he’s excited for the opportunity to return to his standards...

It’s been more than a month since Adam Memije punched his ticket to the PIAA Class 3A boys tennis singles tournament at the Hershey Racquet Club. It is, in a way, a redemption story for the Gateway junior after he fell short of making it to states last year. “That...

Jarrett Heilman graduated from Mercyhurst on May 11, closing out four years of academic studies at the Erie university. The Freeport product, who also fashioned a standout three-year collegiate pitching tenure with the Lakers baseball team, now is searching for a place to conclude that career with one year of...

Normally, Michael Braun would’ve had about three hours in between WPIAL runs in the 1,600 meters and the 3,200. But this time, the Freeport junior’s distance events were separated by about 15 hours. Braun and many other individuals and relays waited a day to finish out their events at the...

SLIPPERY ROCK — Mother nature spared Slippery Rock University for the first four hours of Wednesday’s WPIAL track and field championships with the sun coming out and temperatures rising to near 70 degrees. But showers, thunder and lightning arrived about 3:30. The adverse weather caused the WPIAL to suspend competition...

WPIAL softball playoffs Class 3A Quarterfinals 11-Freeport (11-6) vs. 4-Mohawk (15-5) 6 p.m. Thursday at Seneca Valley Winner plays: Winner of 1-Avonworth (12-3)/9-Yough (8-4) in semifinals (date/site/time TBD) Players to watch: Addy Caruso, Freeport; Addy Moskal, Mohawk Extra bases: Freeport made the most of its return to the WPIAL playoffs...

Eliza Miller has a faint memory of her first WPIAL event as a freshman in the fall of 2020 amid the ongoing covid-19 pandemic. “I think it was a meet at Kiski against Norwin,” the Cavaliers senior three-sport standout said Tuesday on the eve of what will be her final...