Michael Love stories, Page 45

As the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds for the WPIAL Class 5A softball playoffs, Thomas Jefferson and Plum, many expected, would play a close and competitive first-round game. That is what played out May 15 at Gateway High School. The Jaguars grabbed a two-run lead before Plum rallied to...

A couple of months ago, a hurdle was a foreign object to Gateway senior Derrick Jones. The first-year member of the Gators boys track and field team gave the event a try, and he quickly made strides, both figuratively and literally as he got more and more comfortable sailing over...

Kerry McKinney Mills is in quite the celebratory mood. In addition to Saturday’s induction into the Alle-Kiski Valley Sports Hall of Fame, the 2001 Deer Lakes graduate who earned 11 letters in soccer, basketball and track and field, turns 40 on Sunday and will mark the milestone occasion with many...

France will be back. Chuck Sarver, president of the Freeport International Baseball Invitational, said Friday that planning continues to move forward for this year’s event July 25-29 on fields throughout the Alle-Kiski Valley. A team from the same town and league in France that was represented last year will return...

The Carmichaels softball team scored 10 or more runs in 13 of its 16 regular-season games. The Mighty Mikes offense was mighty again Thursday in a WPIAL Class A quarterfinals game against Leechburg at Gateway. The No. 2 seed pounded out 16 hits as eight of the nine in the...

Riverview senior Amberson Bauer finished fourth in the Class 2A boys WPIAL cross country championships in November. On the podium, he looked up at Eden Christian’s Seth Aiken, who won the title. But on Wednesday at the WPIAL track and field championships at Slippery Rock, it was Aiken up at...

WPIAL softball playoffs Class 3A Quarterfinals 4-Burrell (12-5) vs. 5-Mohawk (12-4) 5 p.m. Thursday at Montour Winner plays: Winner of 1-Avonworth (18-1)/8-Central Valley (10-8) in semifinals (site/date/time TBD) Players to watch: Pyper Ferres, Burrell; Lydia Cole, Mohawk Extra bases: The Bucs took down perennial power Mt. Pleasant, 4-1, in the...

Fifty-four. That is the number of top eight seeds earned by Alle-Kiski Valley athletes for Wednesday’s Class 3A and Class 2A track and field championships at Slippery Rock University. Four. That is the number of A-K Valley No. 1 seeds who are the most hunted as the day of competition...

WPIAL softball playoffs Class 4A quarterfinals 6-Knoch (11-8) vs. 3-Chartiers Valley (17-2) 5 p.m. Wednesday at North Allegheny Winner plays: Winner of 2-Montour (13-3)/7-Indiana (16-4) in semifinals (date, site, time TBD) Players to watch: Lizzie Danik, Knoch; Madison Crump, Chartiers Valley Extra bases: Knoch is in the WPIAL quarterfinals for...

The Thomas Jefferson softball team possesses a gold chain with a dollar sign in sparkles designated for those who hit home runs. Jaguars junior center fielder Zoe Krizan had that chain around her neck Monday afternoon at Gateway because she was money in the bottom of the seventh for the...

WPIAL softball playoffs Class 3A First round 8-Central Valley (9-8) vs. 9-Deer Lakes (10-5) 5 p.m. Tuesday at Montour Winner plays: Winner of 1-Avonworth (17-1)/16-Seton-LaSalle (5-9) Thursday (site/time TBD) in quarterfinals Players to watch: Maddie Kee, Deer Lakes; Macy Littler, Central Valley Extra bases: Deer Lakes owns the Alle-Kiski Valley’s...

For more than two decades, Rich Macura served as an assistant coach in a number of scholastic boys basketball programs. He learned from a who’s who of mentors in the sport and passed on his knowledge to hundreds of athletes ready to make a name for themselves on the hard...

WPIAL softball playoffs Class 5A 8-Thomas Jefferson (13-5) vs. 9-Plum (10-6) 3 p.m. Monday at Gateway Winner plays: Winner of 1-Armstrong (16-1)/16-Upper St. Clair (8-8) Wednesday (time/site TBD) in quarterfinals Players to Watch: Taylor Lorish, Plum; Olivia Stock, Thomas Jefferson Extra bases: Plum is in the WPIAL playoffs for the...

Former Gateway student-athlete Macey Crawford made strides this spring on the women’s track and field team at West Virginia as she continued to make a comeback from leg issues which kept her from competing for nearly a year. Crawford, a 2020 Oakland Catholic graduate, competed as a true freshman two...

Markus Cestra started his fifth-year season for the IUP baseball team in an offensive hole. The Plum graduate and Crimson Hawks infielder began the 2023 campaign 1 for 13 through four games. But in his fifth game, a victory over Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East foe East Stroudsburg, he broke...

For the second time in three seasons, the Plum baseball team was able to add to its section-title banner in the main gymnasium. The Mustangs earned a share of the Section 1-5A title, finishing 9-3 after a doubleheader split with Fox Chapel on May 8 and 9. Penn-Trafford also finished...

Shaler in Class 3A and Latrobe in Class 2A are the top seeds as the WPIAL released the boys volleyball playoff brackets Friday afternoon. “Before the pairings were even released, I knew there were a lot of good teams in our bracket and there would be a lot of interesting...

Burrell and Deer Lakes made deep runs in the 2022 softball postseason. The Bucs and the Lancers hope for repeat performances, and they now know where this year’s playoff journeys will begin. Burrell is the No. 4 seed in the Class 3A bracket, and Deer Lakes owns the No. 9...

Second place in Section 1-3A was on the line Wednesday as the Deer Lakes and Burrell softball teams met at Bon Air Elementary in Lower Burrell. It was the second matchup between the teams in three days. The Bucs won a low-scoring two-run affair Monday. The rematch was not as...

The Highlands softball team had its back against the wall in a must-win situation as it hosted Indiana in its Section 1-4A finale Monday afternoon. The Golden Rams controlled their own destiny for a WPIAL playoff spot, but they had to win. The Indians led by five runs in the...

The final week of the WPIAL boys volleyball regular season is here as teams fight for the few remaining openings to both the Class 3A and Class 2A playoffs. With that, the Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association released its final top-10 polls and players of the week for the 2023...

Margo Malone was no stranger to running marathons, but Sunday’s 26.2-mile race on the streets of Downtown Pittsburgh was her first in her hometown. Hearing the cheers from the thousands of spectators who lined the course and the loud response heading down the home straightaway, the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team...

Kefimba Cisse is in the home stretch of preparation for the WPIAL Class 3A track and field championships May 17 at Slippery Rock. The Gateway junior distance standout is ramping up his training as he hopes to cut times in his events. As a practicing Muslim, Cisse had his season...

The Gateway baseball team hoped for positive results as it closed out the Section 1-5A slate with series against Penn-Trafford and Penn Hills. The Gators came into the week seeking to build off a 15-0 victory over Woodland Hills on April 28 which snapped a slide that reached nine games...

Natalia Burris was in select company over the weekend. The Plum sophomore and a USA Gymnastics Level 9 competitor joined six others on a regional team that was to compete at the Eastern Nationals on Sunday in Kissimmee, Fla. The seven selected for the Region 7 squad at the Level...