Michael Love stories, Page 27
Gateway sports 2023-24 year in review: Boys tennis team continues to find success
The 2023-24 school year featured a number of standout moments for the Gateway School District athletic programs. With section titles, WPIAL medals and trips to states, individuals and teams produced top results and raised the level of pride for those who support the Gators in black and gold. Here is...
Neil Walker WPIAL Baseball Showcase gives athletes chance to shine
Norwin rising junior Jakob Howard toed the rubber Friday morning at No Offseason Sports in Russelton and fired 10 to 12 pitches in front of more than 40 local and regional college coaches. A right ankle injury suffered a month ago during the high school season had healed, and, he...
Laurel gets its revenge, and another shot at Neshannock, with win over Bentworth
Bentworth and Laurel met for the second time in two weeks Thursday in a PIAA Class 2A quarterfinal at Gateway. The first matchup went the way of the Bearcats in a low-scoring, one-run classic in the WPIAL semifinals. Monday’s rematch featured a few more runs — and a different result....
Plum, 29 student-athletes, 2 coaches honored with Positive Athlete Western Pa. Awards
Plum athletic director Drew Karpen was not surprised with the number of student-athlete nominations for the Positive Athlete Western Pennsylvania Awards. A total of 30 from parents, coaches, community members and school administrators were given to Positive Athlete, and that number, in addition to the positive quality of the stories...
Riverview football standout Carlo Buzzatto excited to compete on global stage
Carlo Buzzatto graduates Thursday with the Riverview Class of 2024. It closes one chapter of his life before he makes the transition to St. Francis (Pa.). But before he heads to the Loretto campus and joins the Red Flash football team, he will get the chance to represent the United...
Burrell baseball battles in PIAA 1st round loss to Fairview
The Burrell baseball team went down swinging in the seventh inning of Monday’s PIAA Class 3A first-round game against District 10 champion Fairview at Mercyhurst. Down by seven, the Bucs tallied three runs on three hits in the final inning off of Tigers reliever Aari Fox and had two runners...
Burrell returns to PIAA baseball playoffs for 1st time since 2010
Current Burrell baseball players were 4 years old or younger when the program made its most recent trip to the PIAA playoffs. The year was 2010, and the Bucs, the WPIAL Class 2A runner-up to Beaver Falls, won a first-round contest at Slippery Rock over District 10 Sharpsville. Burrell returns...
Gateway’s Dino Nadarevic caps season with PIAA shot put medal
Last year, Dino Nadarevic didn’t make the WPIAL championship meet as he was starting out throwing the shot put and discus in his first season with the Gateway track and field team. It’s been a whole new ballgame for Nadarevic this spring, and this season of firsts concluded May 24-25...
Gateway boys tennis concludes season with PIAA singles, doubles medals
In a way, it was déjà vu for Gateway in the PIAA Class 3A doubles tournament at the Hershey Racquet Club. Last year, the Gators team of Zidaan Hassan and Adam Memije made it to the semifinals where the duo fell to the twin-brother combination of Aidan and Tyler Mahaffey...
Riverview relay falls just short of medal at PIAA championships
Members of the Riverview track and field teams competed in five events at the PIAA Class 2A championships in Shippensburg, and the boys 3,200-meter relay came the closest to making it onto the medals podium. Junior Holden Deasy, sophomore Braden Longstreth and juniors Christopher Barnes and Micah Ivy came in...
Freeport International tournament link brings French girl back to area to hone baseball skills
Last July, during the busy week of the Freeport International Baseball Invitational, a youth team from France, the Hawks of La Guerche de Bretagne, played several competitive games with a number of local clubs from the Alle-Kiski Valley. Greg Penfornis, the manager of the team, noticed the talent level of...
Chartiers-Houston captures 9th WPIAL softball championship
The Chartiers-Houston softball team saw its goal of a WPIAL Class A championship dashed last year with a loss to eventual champion Union in the semifinals. There was no stopping the Bucs against the Scotties this time around. Chartiers-Houston, behind 11 hits from its potent offense and the pitching of...
Riverview baseball team reflects on WPIAL playoff run
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 preview: Elizabeth Forward vs. Hampton
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 preview: Neshannock vs. Bentworth
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...
Longtime Kiski Area football coach Dick Dilts, remembered for lifelong impact, dies at 93
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,”...
WPIAL postpones Wednesday’s softball championship games
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 leads South Allegheny baseball past Burrell in WPIAL consolation game
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 preview: Union vs. Chartiers-Houston
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,...
Recovered after tough WPIAL playoff loss, Burrell baseball team refocused for PIAAs
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...
CCAC Boyce baseball falls just short in district championship series
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...
Gateway boys volleyball players earn all-star honors after WPIAL playoff exit
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...
A-K Valley high school notebook: Deer Lakes’ Cochran named section MVP
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...
Plum softball team look ahead to promising future after 1st-round loss
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....
Plum baseball uses early playoff exit as learning experience
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...
