High School category, Page 856
Ligonier Valley softball still unbeaten, defeats ‘scrappy’ Serra CatholicVideo
After craning her neck to watch the softball stay just fair and sail over the left-field fence, Ligonier Valley pitcher Maddie Griffin turned her attention to the baserunner. Serra Catholic’s Lexxie Fite connected for a two-run homer in the fourth inning Friday evening for the first runs allowed by Griffin...
Freeport softball comes through in clutch in win over Burrell
Friday’s windy, chilly weather that featured spots of rain at Freeport Community Park seemed to include everything but lightning. It was Freeport that provided the lightning – two-out lightning in particular. The Yellowjackets scored seven of their eight runs after two were out and Freeport held on to defeat Burrell,...
Fox Chapel’s Eli Yofan picks up first Division I offer
Over the past three years, Fox Chapel junior Eli Yofan has shown what he is capable of on the basketball court. He led the Foxes to back-to-back No. 2 seeds in the WPIAL Class 6A playoffs and has helped them put together two straight 20-plus win seasons. Yofan averaged 22.4...
Ousted coach Eric Kasperowicz reapplies to lead Pine-Richland football team
Pine-Richland already has at least one applicant to coach the football team next fall, and it’s someone who knows the program very well. It’s Eric Kasperowicz. Two days after losing his job, Kasperowicz confirmed Friday that he has reapplied. The Pine-Richland administration stirred controversy Wednesday when it declined to renew...
Hempfield on track to hire Penn-Trafford grad Mike Brown as football coach
Hempfield will vote Monday to name Mike Brown as its next head football coach. Brown is the recommended candidate to replace Rich Bowen, who resigned after nine seasons. Brown, a Penn-Trafford graduate, has been a defensive assistant at Robert Morris and Greensburg Central Catholic. He played safety at Mercyhurst. Bowen...
Pine-Richland board member resigns amid backlash over football coach’s firing; parents call for reinstatement
A Pine-Richland school board member resigned his post without explanation Friday amid community uproar over the school district’s decision to fire championship-winning football coach Eric Kasperowicz earlier this week. The school board held a special online meeting at noon Friday to accept the resignation of first-term school board member Ben...
Cowboys QB Ben DiNucci supports Eric Kasperowicz after coach’s surprise firing at Pine-Richland
Ben DiNucci lives 1,200 miles from Pine-Richland but was stunned when word reached him in Texas that his high school football coach had been fired. “At first, like anybody else, I was wondering what the heck was the reasoning or logic behind it?” he said. Now an NFL quarterback with...
Mark Madden: Pine-Richland’s shameful firing of Eric Kasperowicz deserves better than ‘no comment’
Pine-Richland High School fired Eric Kasperowicz after eight seasons as football coach. He won two state championships and four WPIAL titles, including one of each this past season. Kasperowicz was 85-18. He’s beloved by his players and known for his professionalism. Plenty of Kasperowicz’s players got football scholarships. Kasperowicz wasn’t...
High school scores, summaries and schedules for April 15, 2021
High schools Baseball Thursday’s results Class 5A Section 4 Bethel Park at Albert Gallatin, ppd. Class 4A Section 2 Beaver 9, New Castle 8 Class 3A Section 1 Ellwood City 6, Freedom 2 Class 2A Section 2 Laurel 8, South Side 6 Section 3 Serra Catholic 10, Shady Side Academy...
High school roundup for April 15, 2021: Pitzer slugs South Fayette past Upper St. Clair
Tyler Pitzer singled, doubled and tripled and Ryan McGuire drove in two runs to lead South Fayette to a 9-3 nonsection baseball victory over Upper St. Clair on Thursday afternoon. Jake Dunay singled, doubled and drove in a run for the Lions (8-1). Jake Casey doubled for Upper St. Clair...
Ringgold nets OT winner, moves on to PIHL Class B final showdown with Neshannock
It was an overtime thriller as Ringgold defeated Bishop Canevin, 4-3, at RMU Island Sports Center on Thursday, to advance to the PIHL Varsity B Playoff Championship. After nearly four periods of hockey, Ringgold cashed in for the winner with 1 minute, 36 seconds left in the overtime frame. Rams...
What to watch for in WPIAL sports for April 16, 2021: Surging Pine-Richland softball faces test
Back in 2019, the most recent WPIAL softball season, Norwin finished as tri-champions in Section 2-6A along with Hempfield and North Allegheny. The Knights were 10-4 in the section and 12-7 overall. In that same section, Pine-Richland finished in sixth place, missing the playoffs with a 4-10 section record, 4-11...
Trib 10: Top teams keep spots as baseball, softball power rankings shuffle
As section play kicked into full gear and Mother Nature cooperated, there was plenty of action on the baseball and softball district diamonds since the inaugural HSSN power rankings were released last week. There was some shuffling of the deck in baseball, but only one team fell out of the...
A-K Valley baseball notebook: Plum captures back-to-back section victories in exciting fashion
The Plum Mustangs have gotten off to a perfect section start, and they’ve done so in a dramatic way. After two wins over Armstrong on April 3 to start their section schedule, the Mustangs earned two comeback victories over Mars this past week to stay undefeated in Section 2-5A play....
Fox Chapel baseball opens season with resiliency, confidence
Heading into this season, Fox Chapel baseball coach Jim Hastings wasn’t sure how his roster would shape up after a year off due to the coronavirus pandemic. He only had one player returning with varsity experience, but he knew that he had a few players with talent and he had...
Southmoreland baseball taking remarkable resurgence in stride
When Southmoreland upset No. 5 Waynesburg to open the WPIAL baseball season, the Scotties did not have a ticker-tape parade through downtown Scottdale. When the Scotties beat the same Raiders team two days in row, the observance again was slight. A few fist- and chest-bumps sufficed — for now. “Nothing...
Sam Salih resigns as Greensburg Central Catholic girls basketball coach
As a behavioral specialist and former pro player, Sam Salih brought a unique combination of mental and physical training methods to Greensburg Central Catholic’s girls basketball program. But he will be taking his philosophies elsewhere after resigning as the Centurions’ coach after three seasons. Salih said he is leaving the...
Football coach Eric Kasperowicz: ‘No bullying or hazing took place’ at Pine-Richland
A day after being fired, former Pine-Richland football coach Eric Kasperowicz pushed back against any allegation of hazing or bullying in his program, while his assistants described a toxic relationship with the school’s administration. The school district informed Kasperowicz on Wednesday his contract wouldn’t be renewed for a ninth season...
WPIAL awards $1,000 scholarships to 20 scholar-athletes, cancels luncheon
The WPIAL/James Collins Scholar-Athlete Program luncheon was canceled again this spring because of the pandemic, but the $1,000 scholarships will be awarded as planned. The WPIAL announced 10 boys and 10 girls scholarship recipients Wednesday during the league’s annual meeting with school administrators. This is the second year in a...
High school scores, summaries and schedules for April 14, 2021
High schools Baseball Wednesday’s results Class 6A Section 1 Butler 6, Central Catholic 4 Seneca Valley 5, Pine-Richland 0 Section 2 Hempfield 14, Baldwin 4 Mt. Lebanon at Norwin, ppd. Class 5A Section 1 Kiski Area 5, McKeesport 4 Penn-Trafford at Gateway, ppd. Section 2 Armstrong 6, Hampton 5 Section...
High school roundup for April 14, 2021: Mt. Lebanon softball tops Canon Mac in thriller
Elizabeth Kubancek’s third hit of the game was a walkoff two-run double in the bottom of the seventh inning to carry Mt. Lebanon to a 7-6 victory over Canon-McMillan in Section 1-6A softball Wednesday afternoon. Deidre Flaherty doubled and homered and Kate Borza had a double and an RBI for...
What to watch for in high school sports for April 15, 2021: Top 2 teams meet on court
The top two teams in WPIAL Class AAA boys volleyball are set to square off for the first of two meetings in the regular season Thursday. Top-ranked and defending champion North Allegheny hits the road to battle No. 2 Seneca Valley. First place in Section 2-AAA is up for grabs...
South Fayette’s Patterson, North Catholic’s Scheller crowned WPIAL tennis champs
The WPIAL crowned a pair of boys tennis singles champions as South Fayette’s Jacob Patterson outlasted Shady Side Academy’s Colin Gramley for the Class AAA title, and North Catholic’s Nicolás Scheller made quick work of Quaker Valley’s Mike Sirianni. Patterson jumped out to an early lead in what turned into...
A-K Valley softball notebook: Plum breaks out bats in return to action
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...
Yough softball hitting all the right spots in early going
Yough softball coaches and players often talk about their pitchers “hitting spots.” By design, the concept is meant to produce groundouts, pop flies and strikeouts up and down the opponents’ batting order. It is a staple of coach Art “Dutch” Harvey. When a pitch sign is given, the players listen....
