High School category, Page 224

JOHNSTOWN — This wasn’t the way the Penn-Trafford baseball team wanted to end its season, especially on a questionable call in the top of the seventh inning. That call left both teams wondering if a ball down the left-field line was fair or foul in a 3-2 win for Hollidaysburg...

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....

When Eden Christian Academy coach Mark Feldman named his starting pitcher for the PIAA Class A baseball quarterfinals, he threw a curve at Avella. Then Warriors sophomore Brady Hull spent most of the afternoon baffling Eagles hitter with his nasty curve. Hull struck out 11 Avella batters, seven caught looking...

It is always a special occasion when a player drives in six runs. It is even more special when the occasion is the PIAA quarterfinals and the player also has a spectacular outing in the pitching circle. It truly was Shelby Telegdy’s day. At the plate, she went 4 for...

Carson Franc kept working on his pitches and believing his time on the mound could come, despite having thrown very few innings all season. The Avonworth sophomore turned out to be right, he was ready and his Antelopes are headed to the state semifinals after grinding out another extra-innings win....

Aliquippa’s Jamar Allen, an all-conference football player who transferred from North Hills, was ruled ineligible Thursday by the WPIAL. The WPIAL held an eligibility hearing for the rising junior and found “the transfer had some athletic intent to it,” WPIAL executive director Scott Seltzer said. The ruling left Allen ineligible...

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...

The first round of the PIAA boys volleyball and boys and girls lacrosse playoffs Tuesday delivered some surprises involving WPIAL teams. In boys volleyball, perennial state power North Allegheny, winners of four straight state championships between 2018-2022, lost in the opening round for a second straight year. The Tigers fell...

High schools Baseball PIAA playoffs Class 6A Quarterfinals Thursday’s schedule Downingtown East (18-6) vs. LaSalle College (22-3) at Neumann University, 4 p.m.; Hazleton (20-4) vs. Neshaminy (21-3) at DeSales University, noon; Hempfield Landisville (19-5) vs. Erie McDowell (15-7) at Showers Field, 11:30 a.m.; Downingtown West (19-5) vs. Wilson West Lawn...

Welcome to quarterfinals Thursday in the PIAA diamond playoffs. WPIAL teams are hoping to rebound after Black Monday. District 7 baseball and softball teams were falling left and right, including four recently crowned WPIAL baseball champions and one softball winner. Combined, the WPIAL baseball teams in the first round were...

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...

PIAA baseball playoffs Class 5A Quarterfinals Penn-Trafford (21-3) vs. Hollidaysburg (15-6) 4 p.m. Thursday at Sargents Field at Point Stadium, Johnstown First round: Penn-Trafford 3, Lower Dauphin 2; Hollidaysburg 4, Franklin Regional 2 Winner plays: Winner of Monsignor Bonner (18-8)/Bethel Park (16-7-1) Monday in semifinals (time, site TBD) Coaches: Lou...

A hall of fame enshrinement ceremony this weekend one state over will include three Jeannette football legends. Late coach Joe Mucci and former star quarterbacks Dick Hoak and Terrelle Pryor will be inducted in the National High School Football Hall of Fame during a ceremony Saturday at Umstattd Hall at...

High schools Baseball PIAA playoffs Class 6A Quarterfinals Thursday’s schedule Downingtown East (18-6) vs. LaSalle College (22-3) at Neumann University, 4 p.m.; Hazleton (20-4) vs. Neshaminy (21-3) at DeSales University, noon; Hempfield Landisville (19-5) vs. Erie McDowell (15-7) at Showers Field, 11:30 a.m.; Downingtown West (19-5) vs. Wilson West Lawn...

Nick Sichak completed his hat trick with the game winner out of a net-front scramble 48 seconds into overtime to lift WPIAL runner-up North Allegheny to a 9-8 victory over District 3 champ Wilson West Lawn in the PIAA Class 3A boys lacrosse first round Tuesday. Cohen Renninger scored with...

The Road Warriors are ready for their next excursion. But is their bus? When Penn-Trafford was preparing to leave Myrtle Beach at the beginning of what has been a historic baseball season, the team bus broke down and the Warriors were left standing by for a ride. What was another...

The PIAA has announced sites and times for the the state softball quarterfinals with 10 WPIAL teams still in contention for a title. Thursday’s playoff schedule includes two all-WPIAL matchups in a tripleheader at Gateway. In Class 4A, Chartiers Valley plays Elizabeth Forward at 2 p.m., and Bentworth faces Laurel...

The PIAA has announced sites and times for the next round of the state baseball playoffs with only eight WPIAL teams having survived to reach the quarterfinals. The schedule for Thursday includes an all-WPIAL matchup in Class A: Eden Christian faces Avella at Washington & Jefferson’s Ross Memorial Park in...

The WPIAL has finalized its postseason plans for next football season and on Tuesday revealed a new system for choosing wild card teams. Rather than rely on tiebreaking formulas such as Gardner Points, the WPIAL will empower its football committee to choose those at-large qualifiers. That’s a big change since...

The WPIAL released updated football schedules Tuesday that put defending state champion Aliquippa back in Class 4A for next season, but that move also affected about two dozen other schools. The new schedules were issued after a ruling last month by a Beaver County judge. The WPIAL removed the Quips...

Mt. Lebanon senior David Shields, a talented left-handed pitcher and outfielder, was named Monday as the Gatorade Pennsylvania Baseball Player of the Year. Shields is the first WPIAL player to win the award since Latrobe’s Zach Kokoska and Plum’s Alex Kirilloff won in consecutive years in 2017 and ‘16. A...

High schools Baseball PIAA playoffs Class 6A First round Monday’s results Downingtown East 9, Ephrata 2 LaSalle College 7, Plymouth Whitemarsh 4 Hazleton 1, Central Bucks East 0 Neshaminy 4, Liberty 0 Hempfield Landisville 12, North Penn 2 Erie McDowell 1, Mt. Lebanon 0 Downingtown West 11, Central 1 Wilson...

While the diamond state playoffs kicked off Monday, the PIAA boys volleyball and lacrosse postseasons begin in earnest on Tuesday. The North Allegheny boys volleyball program won four straight PIAA Class 3A championships between 2018-2022 with no season in 2020 due to covid-19 outbreak. However, for the second straight spring,...

In the third annual PIHL hockey girls division championship game, the Southwest and West teams played a close game to the very end. With 37 seconds left in regulation, Southwest forward Kayla McCarthy scored the game-winning goal and senior Alexa Carney added an empty net goal with eight seconds left...

Cooper Scharding allowed one run over six innings and Carson Franc had a double and a pair of RBIs to lead WPIAL champ Avonworth to a 6-1 victory over Martinsburg Central (16-8) in a PIAA Class 3A first-round baseball game Monday. John Dolan and Alexander Rowe added two hits and...