High School category, Page 637
High school roundup for June 13, 2022: Neshannock baseball, softball reach state title game
Giovanni Valentine singled with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning to send Neshannock to a 2-1 victory over Burgettstown on Monday, earning a berth in the PIAA Class 2A championship game. Grant Melder led off the ninth with a single, Dom Cubellis followed with a double...
Clearfield softball stuns WPIAL champion Beaver, ending 42-game winning streak
LORETTO – Beaver’s 42-game winning streak and hopes for a second consecutive PIAA Class 4A softball title ended shockingly Monday in a semifinal round game at St. Francis University. District 9 champion Clearfield scored single runs in the sixth and seventh innings, both with two outs, and rallied to stun...
WPIAL approves new basketball sections without addressing public-private concerns
The WPIAL considered some radical ideas such as splitting public and private school basketball teams into separate sections, but ultimately decided that’s a debate for another day. The WPIAL board on Monday accepted the basketball committee’s recommendation to stick with the status quo approach and approved new sections for the...
Valley school board removes interim tag, names Kim Johnson full-time AD
For two months this spring, Kim Johnson balanced her duties as a ninth-grade honors biology and AP biology teacher at Valley High School with newly gained responsibilities as the interim athletic director after the resignation of Muzzy Colosimo in March. Through her work with the spring sports teams and advanced...
Sally Ackerman returns to St. Joseph, this time in a new role
Sally Ackerman coached the girls basketball team at St. Joseph for five years from 2013-14 to 2017-18. The Spartans advanced to the WPIAL postseason four times, the PIAA playoffs once and compiled a 71-48 record during that span. Ackerman, also the girls JV coach at St. Joseph from 2010-13, has...
Westmoreland County Senior Spotlight: Norwin’s Aaron Schmook
Aaron Schmook ended his high school athletic career by earning a medal at the PIAA track and field championships. He finished eighth in the javelin. He also played linebacker for the Knights, averaging 6.6 tackles. Schmook recently announced he accepted a scholarship to Kent State. While his season didn’t end...
A-K Valley senior spotlight: Burrell’s Isabella Leger
Isabella Leger spent her four years at Burrell running for the cross country team and the track and field team. When Leger wanted to join the teams, her parents thought she was joking because she had severe asthma. Nonetheless, she stayed persistent in the sport and, after her sophomore year,...
Thomas Jefferson’s Jordan Mayer commits to Wisconsin
About two months after restarting his recruiting process, Thomas Jefferson’s Jordan Mayer committed Sunday to Wisconsin. The 6-foot-5, 230-pound tight end and defensive end is a senior in the fall. His commitment to the Badgers followed a decision in April to decommit from Boston College, his original college choice. Rivals...
High school sports schedule for June 13, 2022
High schools Baseball PIAA playoffs Class 6A Semifinals Monday’s schedule Hazleton (22-1) vs. Liberty (25-2) at Creekview Park, Stroudsburg, 4 p.m.; Warwick (21-2) vs. Cumberland Valley (18-6) at Wenger Field, Fredericksburg, 6:30 p.m. Class 5A Semifinals Monday’s schedule Selinsgrove (22-2) vs. Archbishop Wood (20-4) at Walter Stump Stadium, Pine Grove,...
Trib HSSN Softball Team of the Week: Week ending June 12, 2022
On April 27, the Seneca Valley softball team lost a third straight game, dropping its record to 5-6. Since then, the high-flying Raiders have been unstoppable. Seneca Valley has won 10 straight games, including a WPIAL championship and a pair of PIAA postseason victories. So what changed? “This is my...
Trib HSSN Softball Player of the Week: Week ending June 12, 2022
The Laurel softball machine is used to playing in June. You have to go back to 2017 to find the last time a Spartans season ended before the PIAA postseason. However, in the last three seasons, Laurel entered the state playoffs as WPIAL champion. That run ended a few weeks...
Trib HSSN Baseball Team of the Week: Week ending June 12, 2022
Every team in every sport sets goals at the start of the season. Some of the top programs run dry on ink from checking them off as the season winds down. For other, well, there’s wait until next year. The Burgettstown baseball program has done a lot of waiting, now...
Trib HSSN Baseball Player of the Week: Week ending June 12, 2022
The calendar has turned to June. It’s time for the Black Hawks to stretch their wings and fly high across the state, gathering baseball victories in their travels. A year after losing a heartbreaker in the WPIAL title game, only to regroup and go on to win a PIAA championship,...
Deer Lakes softball reflects on impressive season
Deer Lakes softball coach Rick Cerra saw the pieces for a strong season and postseason run come together back in September, six months before preseason practices began. “Things were really falling into place, and we were really looking forward to having this team on the field,” Cerra said. His expectations...
Penn-Trafford softball notebook: Warriors have shot at redemption
The beauty of the state softball playoffs for many WPIAL teams lies in the chance for redemption. Lose to someone in the WPIAL championship; beat them in the PIAA tournament. Erase the past and advance at the same time. Penn-Trafford (20-3) gets another shot at Armstrong (22-4), the team that...
PIAA Class 5A softball semifinals capsule: Penn-Trafford vs. Armstrong
Monday’s game Penn-Trafford (20-3) vs. Armstrong (22-4) 2 p.m. at Mars Centennial School field, Mars Winner plays: Winner of 2-1 Pittston Area (23-0) vs. 1-2 Oxford (10-5) in championship, 4 p.m. Thursday at Penn State Coaches: Denny Little, Penn-Trafford; Doug Flanders, Armstrong Players to watch: Cam Ponko, Fr., 3B, Penn-Trafford;...
Sewickley Academy baseball collected wins, valuable experience during strong season
Sewickley Academy approached the WPIAL baseball playoffs with a “one game at a time” attitude. The Panthers ended up playing two games, defeating Avella, 7-4, in the Class A first round before losing to Rochester, 2-0, in the quarterfinals. SA finished in second place in Section 3-A and ended the...
Gateway softball hopes to build from progress made this spring
When one looks just at the scores of a majority of the games for the Gateway softball team this spring, thoughts might develop of a team that went nowhere in developing on the field. But first-year coach Donny Holl said that was far from the case in examining his youthful,...
Coach steps down after another playoff appearance for Quaker Valley baseball
The big news circulating out of the Quaker Valley baseball program is that veteran coach Dean Owrey has resigned. Owrey was hired in 2018 and served as the Quakers’ field boss for four seasons, including the pandemic-marred 2020 campaign. He led QV to three WPIAL playoff appearances and posted a...
Ashley DeVito built program, relationships during 7 seasons with Penn Hills girls soccer
Dayvona Hogan enjoyed being able to keep her eyes on the varsity girls soccer team’s practice while she played for the Linton Middle School team. Hogan would wait until practice ended and eagerly wander over to talk to varsity coach Ashley DeVito. There was a natural curiosity for Hogan, who...
Pine-Richland notebook: Girls lacrosse team finishes 4th in WPIAL
The Pine-Richland girls lacrosse team came within one goal of advancing to the PIAA playoffs, but ultimately, Upper St. Clair continued to be a thorn in its side. The Rams lost 12-11 to the Panthers in the WPIAL Class 3A consolation game May 26 at Robert Morris’ Joe Walton Stadium....
After winning share of section title, Pine-Richland looks forward to promising future
The 2022 season for Pine-Richland baseball culminated with a shared Section 1-6A title with North Allegheny for the Rams after a rare postseason miss in 2021. It was an accomplishment that bodes well for future seasons, but it also provided a nice sendoff for five seniors — Andy Swartout, Tyler...
What to watch for in WPIAL sports on June 13, 2022: Breaking down the road to the state finals for 12 baseball, softball teams
Get ready for Semifinals Monday in the PIAA softball and baseball postseasons. The WPIAL has seven softball and five baseball teams one win from playing for a state championship later this week at Penn State. So how do those numbers compare to District 7 teams reaching the final four since...
Penn-Trafford sophomore makes history with OT winner in 1st PIHL girls championship game
Kylie McKenzie found the puck and some open ice. Then she made history. With an open lane from the blue line in, McKenzie skated in and slipped a shot on goal that just went over the goal line for the winning goal in overtime in a 2-1 victory for Team...
High school scores, summaries and schedules for June 11, 2022
High schools Baseball PIAA playoffs Class 6A Semifinals Monday’s schedule Hazleton (22-1) vs. Liberty (25-2) at Creekview Park, Stroudsburg, 4 p.m.; Warwick (21-2) vs. Cumberland Valley (18-6) at Wenger Field, Fredericksburg, 6:30 p.m. Class 5A Semifinals Monday’s schedule Selinsgrove (22-2) vs. Archbishop Wood (20-4) at Walter Stump Stadium, Pine Grove,...
