Michael Love stories, Page 91

Plum players had to wait a week to get the bad taste of a 5-0 loss to Section 1-5A rival Franklin Regional out of their mouths. The Mustangs had section games Friday against Woodland Hills (covid) and Monday against Kiski Area (rain) postponed. So Plum was more than ready Wednesday...

Mackenzie Borkovich logged most of the pitching innings as a freshman for Fox Chapel in 2019. She hoped to make a jump last year as the Foxes sought a return to the WPIAL playoffs after a one-year hiatus. But the covid-related cancellation of the 2020 season dashed all hopes for...

The Alle-Kiski Valley will be well-represented Tuesday at the WPIAL Class AA singles championships as Highlands senior Gabe Norris and Valley sophomore Nicholas Bussard and senior Thomas Albert will take to the court at Shady Side Academy. For the 10th-seeded Norris, the No. 1 singles player for the Golden Rams,...

The Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association released its Week 3 boys volleyball rankings Monday morning, and for the second week in a row, there is a new team at the top of Class AA. Ambridge, on the strength of a 3-2 win over rival North Catholic in a Section 1-AA...

David Clark loves the competition on the tennis court with twin brother, Nathan. Nathan is the No. 1 singles player for the Gateway boys tennis team, but David is not far behind at No. 2. “It’s definitely competitive, but it drives us,” said David Clark, who wrestled for the Gators...

With 19 seniors and a high level of experience up and down the lineup, the 2019 Gateway boys lacrosse team made history. With the highest-ever playoff seed (No. 7), the Gators hosted a playoff game for the first time and rolled past Sewickley Academy before falling to No. 2 Hampton...

Chuck Curtis played football for the New York Giants in 1957 before beginning a football coaching career that lasted for 30 years. He coached as an assistant at Southern Methodist University in the mid-1960s and helped play a part in giving more black student-athletes the chance to get recruited to...

Cal Fisher continues to produce for the Penn State men’s volleyball team. Earlier this week, the Riverview graduate was named the Off the Block National Opposite (Hitter) of the week for his play in the Nittany Lions’ weekend series at nationally ranked George Mason. Fisher led Penn State, ranked No....

The Plum boys volleyball team is hopeful for a run at a berth in the WPIAL playoffs this spring, and the Mustangs will go after it in a new classification with a new coach at the helm. It is a rebirth of sorts for the team, which now calls Class...

Freeport third baseman Autumn Powell grounded out to second base for the first out of the second inning of Friday’s Section 1-4A opener at Highlands. The grounder scored catcher Natalie King, who had walked and moved to third on a pair of wild pitches. The small-ball run was a humble...

Spectators at the March 29 nonsection game between Fox Chapel and Burrell were treated to a double pitching gem. Foxes junior Mackenzie Borkovich and Burrell softball Katie Armstrong dueled for 10 innings before Fox Chapel won in the bottom of the 10th, 1-0, on a throwing error. Borkovich, who shook...

Maya Borghol hit a home run in a March 23 scrimmage against Kiski Area. The trip around the bases, the Freeport senior center fielder said, was confirmation the power she displayed during a breakout freshman season still was there. Lingering issues after back surgery in 2018 took away most of...

The Kiski Area hockey team is headed back to the PIHL Penguins Cup Class A semifinals. For the second year in a row, the No. 2 Cavaliers will play in the final four after posting a 5-0 victory over No. 7 Greensburg Salem in a quarterfinal contest Monday at Belmont...

The Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association released its Week 2 boys volleyball rankings Monday morning, and there is a change at the top in Class AA. North Catholic, No. 3 in last week’s top 10 poll, has taken over the No. 1 position, unseating Seton LaSalle. The teams went head-to-head...

The BMC Cheer Team Rampage based out of Brandy Marie Gymnastics in Sarver captured a national championship title at the Encore Championships Pittsburgh Division I and II event March 20 and 21 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. The team performed routines for judges both days in the L2...

Gateway track and field head coach Tom LaBuff is used to spending the spring coaching Gators athletes to top finishes at meets and invitationals. So, it took some time for him, his fellow Gateway coaches and the athletes to process last spring’s season cancellation by the PIAA amid growing covid...

Valley News Dispatch Girls Basketball Player of the Year Kennedie Montue, Plum 5-11, Sr., Forward In Plum’s season-opening win over Mars, Kennedie Montue scored 29 points. Two nights later, she scored 30 as the Mustangs nearly upended Upper St. Clair. Montue then hit for 30 as Plum rolled past Kiski...

After being denied an opportunity to compete and defend section championships last spring, members of the Riverview boys and girls track and field teams got back to competition March 27 at the Altoona Igloo Invitational. It was the first glimpse of what Riverview coach Dave Illnicki hopes are productive seasons....

While there are many things Valley softball coach Carrol Perroz is concentrating on this season, planning a senior-day ceremony isn’t one of them. A youthful Vikings squad will take the field made up primarily of sophomores and freshmen. There are no seniors and just one junior is on the 17-player...

When looking for silver linings in what was an otherwise frustrating turn of events with the sudden cancellation of high school sports last spring, Valley baseball coach Jim Basilone knew that he would have nine players returning with varsity experience gained in either 2018 or ’19. Now, with the 2021...

After a most unprecedented regular season with more changes and ups and downs than one can count, the PIHL has reached the Penguins Cup varsity playoffs. The brackets for the Class AAA, Class AA and Class A and Class B tournaments have been revealed, and quarterfinal games throughout the region...

Seniors Kelsey DuVall and Kassandra O’Hara own varsity starting experience, and that experience, along with their leadership, is being called upon to help guide a group of eight freshman on a roster of 11 for the St. Joseph softball team this spring. “We kind of know how each other works...

Only one senior was lost from the 2019 St. Joseph baseball team that finished 8-8 overall and suffered a heartbreaking 7-6 loss to Union in the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Class A playoffs. Expectations were high for the Spartans entering last season, but all of the hopes and goals were...

After winning just two games in 2019, the Springdale baseball team had high hopes to move up the ladder last year with an experienced group. But the covid pandemic squashed those hopes before they had the chance to be realized. Now back on the field, the Dynamos are working to...

There was a great deal of excitement surrounding the Springdale softball team after a rather youthful group posted 13 wins in 17 games and made the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Class A playoffs in 2019. That run came after the program posted 15 wins in the previous nine seasons combined....