High School category, Page 907
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....
Trib HSSN State Baseball Rankings for April 14, 2021
Only minor changes were made in the second week of the 2021 Trib HSSN state baseball rankings. One team from each class lost its footing and dropped out of the top 5, thus opening the door for six new teams to join the state diamond elite. Out are Souderton, Bethel...
Backed into a corner, Penn-Trafford powers past Connellsville
Penn-Trafford softball coach Denny Little said he didn’t need any motivational speech prior to Wednesday’s first-place showdown with No. 1 Connellsville. His team knew what to do. Junior pitcher Mia Smith pitched her best game of the season and battery mate senior Emma Little went 3 for 4 with a...
Indiana, Chartiers Valley roar into Penguins Cup finals in Class A
It didn’t take long for Indiana to take control Wednesday in its PIHL Class A semifinal matchup with Freeport. The Indians peppered Freeport freshman goaltender Tyler Lang with shots from the first whistle and took a lead six minutes into the game with a goal from Tanner Agnello. They added...
North Allegheny softball makes short work of Hempfield
Call it stunning. Call it uncharacteristic. Hempfield softball coach Bob Kalp is calling it what it was. “A bad, bad day at the office,” Kalp said after his team was flattened Wednesday by visiting North Allegheny, 15-3, in five innings at Robert Kalp Field. No. 3 Hempfield (4-3, 1-2) was...
Pine-Richland fires football coach Eric Kasperowicz 5 months after winning state title
In the span of eight years, Pine-Richland football coach Eric Kasperowicz built the Rams into one of the WPIAL’s best programs with four WPIAL championships and two state titles. Stunningly, that run ended Wednesday. Only five months removed from their latest state championship celebration, the team’s coaches received an email...
Westmoreland softball notebook: Southmoreland returns to winning ways
Southmoreland is off to its best start in five years and could be a challenger to Mt. Pleasant — a section opponent, it just so happens — in Class 3A. The Scotties (5-0), ranked No. 2 behind Mt. Pleasant, had scored at least six runs in every game, including an...
Fox Chapel strikeouts specialist Borkovich exceeding expectations
Mackenzie Borkovich logged most of the pitching innings as a freshman for Fox Chapel in 2019. She hoped to make a jump last year as the Foxes sought a return to the WPIAL playoffs after a one-year hiatus. But the covid-related cancellation of the 2020 season dashed all hopes for...
WPIAL approves spring championship sites, adopts split schedule for individual track meet
The WPIAL individual track and field championships will be run midweek this spring and have a split schedule, with Class 2A starting first and 3A later in the day. Those were among the changes approved Wednesday when the WPIAL board finalized championship sites for spring sports, a list that features...
WPIAL rules Birch brothers ineligible after transfer from Jeannette to Gateway
Two high-profile transfers now are in limbo. The WPIAL board voted Wednesday to deny athletic eligibility to brothers Brett and Brad Birch, football standouts who transferred last month from Jeannette to Gateway. The WPIAL’s decision was based solely on paperwork, executive director Amy Scheuneman said, after Jeannette administrators flagged the...
