High School category, Page 885
Franklin Regional tops Mars in suspended Class 5A playoff game
A WPIAL Class 5A baseball quarterfinal between top-seeded Franklin Regional (17-1) and No. 8 Mars (13-7) that started Friday night had to be finished Saturday afternoon after a bank of lights went out at North Allegheny. The delay did not bother Franklin Regional’s Chris Pagano and Timmy Quinn. Pagano was...
George Guido: Fox Chapel hall welcomes new class
A person who showed leadership skills during his high school years and parlayed that into a 6-1/2 year tenure as an Army Ranger will be among six inductees at this year’s Fox Chapel Area School Sports Hall of Fame induction banquet. The 24th event will take place June 5 at...
Former Kiski Area coach Chuck Tursky to get Ferrante award
Chuck Tursky dedicated his life to helping high school students and athletes. It’s something he learned from his high school coaches — football coach Chuck Wagner and wrestling coach Randy Taylor — at Riverview. “They did a lot for me,” Tursky said. “It’s my time to pay it forward.” Tursky...
Top-seeded Hopewell defeats Deer Lakes in WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinals
Heading into its WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinal matchup against top-seeded Hopewell, the Deer Lakes baseball team knew it had a big challenge. The Vikings had gone to the WPIAL championship two years ago and came into Saturday afternoon’s game at North Allegheny losing five games all season. Despite playing from...
Bethel Park girls lacrosse celebrates 1st section title since ’12
Bethel Park, Mt. Lebanon and Upper St. Clair battled for first place in Section 1-AAA in girls lacrosse all season. So perhaps it was only fitting the three South Hills rivals ended up in a three-way tie atop the standings, all with 9-1 records. The Black Hawks clinched a share...
Riverview’s distance relay looks forward to PIAA meet
Mason Ochs knew he had another long race ahead of him — the individual 3,200-meter run — at Wednesday’s WPIAL Class AA championships when he anchored the 3,200 relay in the morning’s heated temperatures under sunny skies. But the Riverview senior didn’t take it easy and rolled through his 800...
After upset loss, Plum softball turns attention to promising future
The Plum softball team hoped for a long stay in the playoffs as it kicked off the WPIAL Class 5A tournament against Fox Chapel in the first round May 18 at Gateway. The Mustangs, the No. 3 seed in the bracket, came into the game winners of nine in a...
Norwin baseball turns up offense at right time
Norwin had made a habit out of eking one-run baseball games, which is fine with the coaching staff, as long as the Knights are winning. Some expected another tight finish when the Class 6A No. 3 Knights hosted Franklin Regional, the state’s top-ranked team in Class 5A, in a late-season...
Quick corrections lead North Allegheny’s Taylor to WPIAL triple jump title
There’s plenty about junior Dwayne Taylor that impresses North Allegheny’s track and field coaches: He’s 6-foot-5 with long limbs and the speed of a sprinter. Taylor has all the physical tools needed to be one of the state’s top jumpers. But it’s quiet conversations at practice that make coach John...
North Journal notebook: North Hills’ Apodaca takes 2nd in javelin
North Hills junior thrower Alec Apodaca earned a silver medal in the javelin at the WPIAL Class AAA championships May 19, at Slippery Rock University. Seeded 10th entering the meet, he unleashed a toss of 168 feet, 4 inches to qualify for the PIAA championship meet Saturday. Butler’s Landon Kretzer...
Franklin Regional baseball works to ‘flush’ late-season loss
For Franklin Regional baseball coach Bobby Saddler and his players, it must have been like having the theme from “Psycho” pierce their ears. Ree, ree, ree. The Panthers’ first loss of the season hit hard, like a stabbing pain. Norwin, the third-ranked team in Class 6A at the time, roughed...
Joy, pain for Hampton track team at WPIAL meet
Two Hampton seniors showed at the WPIAL Class AAA track and field championships that a fraction of an inch or a hundredth of a second can be the difference between elation and heartache. Gage Galuska shocked Butler star Guinness Brown to win the 400-meter title by one-hundredth of a second,...
Power-hitting Hampton softball squad cools down at inopportune time
The most prolific home run-hitting Hampton softball team in at least two decades picked a lousy time to go quiet. The Talbots, who this season hit a “mind-boggling” number of home runs, struggled down the stretch and saw their year end with a 10-0 five-inning loss to top-seeded Penn-Trafford (15-4)...
Shady Side Academy baseball looks to future after bounce-back season
Two years ago, the Shady Side Academy baseball team won less than 30% of its games, including two of 12 section matchups. But after a year off because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Bulldogs completely flipped the script. In the 2021 season, the Bulldogs won eight of their 10 section...
Mother-daughter duos coach Bethel Park softball to spectacular season
The Bethel Park coaching staff is unique in WPIAL softball. It is made up of a pair of mother-daughter tandems. Heather Semplice-Scott is head coach; her daughter, Geana Scott, is an assistant and statistician. Donna DeCarlo, the team scorekeeper, and Carly Schoenstein, Donna’s daughter, are assistants. “It’s exciting to have...
What to watch for in WPIAL sports on May 22, 2021: Storied programs meet in 6A baseball
Central Catholic faces Hempfield, Mt. Lebanon meets Butler, and Norwin battles Seneca Valley in three of the four Class 6A quarterfinals baseball games slated for Saturday afternoon. They’re six schools with great baseball traditions that have only missed the playoffs a handful of times in the last decade and a...
Franklin Regional-Mars game suspended when lights go out at North Allegheny
A power failure in the left field light tower at North Allegheny’s baseball field forced Friday’s Class 5A WPIAL quarterfinal between top-seeded Franklin Regional and No. 8 Mars to be suspended with the score tied 5-5 with two outs in the top of the fifth inning. The game will resume...
High school scores, summaries and schedule for May 21, 2021
High schools Baseball WPIAL playoffs Class 6A First round Friday’s results Upper St. Clair 4, Canon-McMillan 3 Quarterfinals Saturday’s schedule North Allegheny (17-3) vs. Upper St. Clair (9-9) at Shaler, 2:30 p.m.; Mt. Lebanon (11-7) vs. Butler (13-6) at Shaler, noon; Norwin (13-3) vs. Seneca Valley (11-8) at West Mifflin,...
Upper St. Clair baseball downs Canon-McMillan in another come-from-behind win
Just call them the Cardiac Cats. Two weeks after scoring a run in the seventh inning to tie the game and another in the eighth to upset then top-ranked Norwin to clinch a WPIAL Class 6A playoff berth, Upper St. Clair worked its late magic again Friday to come back...
High school roundup for May 21, 2021: Serra Catholic tops Laurel in pitchers’ duel
Nico Eremic led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a triple and scored on a Michael Schanck groundout to lead No. 4 Serra Catholic to a 1-0 victory over No. 5 Laurel in a WPIAL Class 2A baseball quarterfinal pitchers’ duel Friday afternoon. Zack Karp threw a five-hit...
Penn-Trafford baseball team rallies from 5-0 deficit, but West Allegheny wins on walk-off walk
After trailing by five runs in the first inning, Penn-Trafford worked its way into a lead and needed three more outs to record a Class 5A quarterfinal win. But West Allegheny rallied for a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh to pull out a 7-6 victory on...
Alle-Kiski Valley WPIAL baseball playoff capsules for May 22, 2021
Today’s Games Class 3A Saturday 1-Hopewell (14-5) vs 8-Deer Lakes (10-6) 2 p.m. at North Allegheny Coaches: Morgan Singletary, Hopewell; Josh Tysk, Deer Lakes Winner plays: Winner of 5-Derry (12-4)/4-McGuffey (13-4), 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at West Mifflin. Players to watch: Lucas Arington, So., Hopewell; Justin Brannagan, Jr. OF, Deer Lakes...
Sophomore’s clutch hit carries Bethel Park past Shaler into Class 5A baseball semifinals
Some might consider Bethel Park sophomore John Chalus the little brother of a Division I baseball recruit, but he certainly wasn’t overshadowed Friday. Chalus drove in the winning run with a walk-off single in the seventh as second-seeded Bethel Park capitalized on a fielding error to beat No. 7 Shaler,...
Freeport hires new coaches for boys basketball, boys soccer
Two new coaches will be on the sidelines at Freeport next school year. The Freeport Area School Board on Thursday night hired Tahlon Kirkland to lead the boys soccer program and Sean Devinney to coach the boys basketball team. Both will be among the WPIAL’s younger coaches as Kirkland is...
Westmoreland high school baseball playoff capsules for May 22, 2021
Class 6A Saturday 2-Norwin (13-3) vs. 7-Seneca Valley (11-8-1) Noon at West Mifflin Coaches: Mike Liebdzinski, Norwin; Eric Semega, Seneca Valley Winner plays: Winner of 3-Hempfield (13-7)/6-Central Catholic (10-8) 4 p.m. Monday at Fox Chapel in the semifinals Players to watch: Jake Bazala, Sr., P, Norwin; Carter Beneigh, Sr., C/P,...
