High School category, Page 471

The Hampton boys track and field team this season has a lot of question marks that might turn into exclamation points. The Talbots’ 47-boy roster is dotted with multi-sport athletes who are giving high school track a try for the first time. “These are all unknowns,” second-year coach Heather Dietz...

Fox Chapel softball coach Chris Olbrich thought his team’s results in the first week of April reflected how things would be in Section 1-5A play all spring. Coming off a double-digit loss to first-place Shaler, the Foxes turned things around totally to hand a hot Penn Hills team its first...

Jeremy Haigh is consistently working on his sleight of hand, but the sophomore pitcher for the Fox Chapel baseball team isn’t practicing a magic act. What he is trying to cobble together is a repertoire of pitches that will keep batters bamboozled in the box. Haigh doesn’t want to let...

Tom Phillips’ road to becoming one of the most accomplished volleyball coaches in WPIAL history began — oddly enough — on the race track at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver. “I was a dirt track race car driver for 15 years,” Phillips said. “I started at 17 (years old) as a...

Reese Skiba Class: Senior School: Freeport Sport: Track and field Report card: Freeport’s Reese Skiba won a pair of events Thursday at the Butler County Track and Field Invitational held at Freeport. She threw 33 feet, 6 inches in the shot put and 119-10 to set a personal and meet...

Amarah McCutcheon School: Southmoreland Sport: Softball Class: Junior Claim to fame: The standout shortstop came through in the clutch for the Scotties in a pitchers’ duel against Ligonier Valley. She hit a two-run, walk-off home run to beat the Rams, 2-0, for what she said was the most thrilling moment...

Of the 200-plus players selected for the annual Roundball Classic senior all-star basketball games, 36 hail from Westmoreland County schools. Rosters were revealed last week for the games set for May 18-20 at Geneva College in Beaver Falls. Lilly Palladino of Penn-Trafford, Norwin’s Tori Sydeski and Sarah Penrod and Brooke...

It’s been quite a positive last couple of weeks for Riverview senior distance runner Amberson Bauer. Last month, Bauer finalized his recruiting process by committing to run at Division I William & Mary. He then began April with a standout performance in the 800- and 1,600-meter runs at the season-opening...

The Plum girls lacrosse team hopes to continue its upward trend this spring, a year after the program captured its first WPIAL playoff victory. With a strong nucleus back from last year’s team which went 14-4 overall and 8-2 in section play, optimism abounds as the Mustangs get in to...

Norwin is one of the top boys volleyball teams in the WPIAL this season. Just ask the Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association. The well-regarded outfit had Norwin ranked No. 2 in Class 3A two weeks into the season. The Knights hope to live up to the raised expectations. Coach Mike...

In the last five years, the Norwin track and field teams have a combined record of 47-3 with nine section titles between them. The girls have won five straight section championships. Another spring season is here, and Norwin again expects to compete with the top teams — with a caveat....

The Norwin softball team continued its hot start with a 12-4 victory over Butler. Emma Novotnak homered and drove in three runs, Holy Cross commit Bailey Snowberger also homered, and Alyssa McCormick had three hits and three RBIs on March 29. The Lady Knights, who sat at 4-1, hit eight...

The North Allegheny softball players were individually asked by their coaches to pick one word to describe the program. It wasn’t a serious task, just a light-hearted word-association game. When a majority chose “family,” that certainly made coach Morgan Vescovi smile. “That’s so important for how much time these girls...

North Allegheny’s girls basketball team earned some postseason honors by Trib HSSN on April 5. Senior Jasmine Timmerson, a 5-foot-7 guard was named to the Terrific 10 all-stars. The Pitt recruit, scored 30 points in the WPIAL finals to win her third district title in four years. Timmerson averaged 16...

High schools WPIAL Baseball Friday’s results Nonsection Indiana 11, Derry 4 Slippery Rock 13, New Castle 5 South Allegheny 4, Ringgold 1 Cochranton at Shenango, ppd. Sto-Rox at Clairton, ppd. Saturday’s schedule Nonsection Union at Neshannock, 1 p.m. Softball Friday’s results Nonsection Jamestown 19, New Castle 6 Charleroi at Carmichaels,...

Jaxson Champ hit a go-ahead two-run single in the sixth inning to lead South Allegheny to a 4-1 victory over Ringgold in nonsection baseball Friday. Adam Jackowski pitched 3⅓ innings of scoreless relief, Mason Campano doubled and drove in a run, and Josh Horst tripled for the Gladiators (1-3). Eddie...

Penn State landed its first WPIAL running back recruit since Miles Sanders when Belle Vernon’s Quinton Martin committed to the Nittany Lions. Martin, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound junior, announced his decision Friday on Twitter. He chose Penn State from a list of college offers that included both Pitt and West Virginia,...

The Pennsylvania Junior Wrestling Youth State Championships were held recently at Petersen Events Center. Here is a look at the overall champions for each weight class and a list of wrestlers from Southwestern Pennsylvania who earned medals. There were 21 state champions from the Pittsburgh area. The Westmoreland County winners...

High schools WPIAL Baseball Thursday’s results Class 6A Section 1 Seneca Valley 11, Allderdice 0 Butler 8, Pine-Richland 6 Section 2 Hempfield 7, Central Catholic 3 Canon-McMillan 8, Mt. Lebanon 7 Norwin at Baldwin, ppd. Nonsection Ambridge 3, Sewickley Academy 0 Avonworth 17, Uniontown 2 Carmichaels 15, Bentworth 5 Charleroi...

Two weeks into the 2023 season, let’s look back at the end of the 2022 softball season. Two of the six PIAA champions from last spring finished with perfect records. District 2 champion Pittston Area completed a 25-0 season with a victory over Armstrong in the Class 5A championship game....

Before we debut the first Trib HSSN baseball state ranking for the 2023 campaign, we give you a little history lesson of the 2022 PIAA champions. Bethel Park was the only repeat state champion from 2021. The Black Hawks shut out Selinsgrove in Class 5A to win the program’s third...

Cleanup hitter Carson Shuglie slugged a first-inning grand slam, leading Hempfield to a 7-3 victory over Central Catholic in Section 2-6A baseball Thursday. Conner Burkey tripled, and Adam Hess and Dylan Firmstone each doubled for the Spartans, (4-3, 2-1), who won the last two games of the three-game series. Evan...

First-year Kiski Area baseball coach Michael Manning’s initial impression of his players was they were ready and willing to learn. At the same time, Manning also was learning, and he is starting to see the areas where the Cavaliers can have success. They have two top starting pitchers, Jake Smith...

Dan Palm said he was surprised but supportive when Craig Spisak resigned last year as Yough’s baseball coach to take the same position at Norwin. An assistant to Spisak since 2016, Palm saw the forest through the trees, and an opportunity with it. He decided to raise his game. Palm...

Freshman baseball players usually need an adjustment period. Time to get used to older teammates, harsher critiques and varsity pitching. But Franklin Regional freshman Luke Williams seems like he has been here before. The shortstop is having a remarkable debut season for the WPIAL Class 5A No. 3-ranked Panthers (7-1)....