Other Local category, Page 23
After year on bench, Hempfield grad Emma Hoffner making mark for Ohio U softball teamVideo
Throughout her time as a softball player, Emma Hoffner grew accustomed to watching games from behind the plate. An accomplished catcher at Hempfield and in travel ball, Hoffner had the best spot to not only watch the action but to exercise a degree of control over it: calling pitches, making...
Penn Hills grad Yasmine Logan finding comfort, success at Ohio U
Building relationships and the ability to maintain them is something Yasmine Logan came by honestly. The 2020 Penn Hills graduate learned through life communication is easier when things are direct. When Logan went to Ohio University to play softball, not much changed about her approach. When things need to be...
Mt. Lebanon grad Colby Sorsdal goes to Lions in Round 5
Mt. Lebanon graduate Colby Sorsdal started five seasons and 46 games at William & Mary, but his football career is far from finished. .@WMTribeFootball @colby_sorsdal is a day 3 prospect who wasn’t invited to the combine was has 4 critical components; he has size, he has experience , moves very...
Plum graduate puts down tennis racket, picks up competitive bodybuilding
Carson France put himself on the map in athletics as a tennis player at Plum, where he represented the Mustangs at No. 1 singles and qualified for the WPIAL singles championships before graduating in 2015. He continued his education and his tennis career at Duquesne. He doesn’t look like a...
Rain cancels racing at Lernerville Speedway
Mother Nature has put a halt to Friday’s racing schedule at Lernerville Speedway. Rain is expected to continue throughout the day and into the evening, and track officials have canceled the Fab4 Revved Up with Marburger Farm Dair events. Next Friday, May 5, Fab4 will return, weather permitting, featuring the...
Latrobe’s Deshawn Redfield captures Golden Gloves championship
After years of battling on the football field, Deshawn Redfield found himself chasing after his No. 1 dream. Redfield grew up watching boxing with his family and made the decision to start training at Ground Zero in Latrobe while he was in college. His training has paid off. On April...
Franklin Regional grad Auston Kranick making strides in professional soccer
Playing in front of his team’s home fans last year in the U.S. Open Cup, Auston Kranick sought reaffirmation and comfort in his surroundings. Was this really happening? Had his lifelong dream of playing professional soccer actually come true? The Flower City Football Club player took in the scenery and...
Passion kicks off season at D.C. looking for 21st playoff berth
The Pittsburgh Passion have accomplished something the Steelers and Penguins have not: qualified for the playoffs for 20 consecutive seasons. Coach Teresa Conn, in her 12th season, hopes team will make it 21 after the team completes its six-game schedule in the Women’s Football Alliance. The Passion opens the season...
Bigger purses to propel drivers as Lernerville Speedway opens 56th year of racing
When the gates open at Lernerville Speedway to begin the 56th year of racing Friday night, the drivers entering them will have a little more incentive. Track officials announced Tuesday there will be a purse increase for 2023 Fab 4 weekly racing. The 410 sprint car and Super Late Model...
Hundreds of competitors registered for Pittsburgh Karate Championships
The Pittsburgh Karate Championships made a triumphant return last year after a nearly decade-long hiatus. More than 300 competitors of all ages flocked to the Quality Inn in New Kensington to compete and celebrate a myriad of martial art styles and practices. Event organizers, led by Caliguri’s Academy of Martial...
Washington Wild Things to host 3rd celebrity softball game
The Washington Wild Things baseball club, in conjunction with The Coury Firm, will host its third Three Rivers Celebrity Softball Game on July 15 at Wild Things Park. Dorin Dickerson, who will be inducted Saturday into the Western Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, will host the event. A portion of...
Desire to work, learn helps Penn-Trafford grad Anthony Sherwin blossom for Bucknell baseball teamVideo
Bucknell baseball coach Scott Heather remembers watching Penn-Trafford’s Anthony Sherwin at a recruiting showcase. It was during batting practice, and Sherwin was in the outfield shagging balls with several other players. Though it wasn’t really a drill designed for fielding grounders, anytime one came to the outfield, Sherwin, Heather said,...
Lower Burrell author Girardi takes up cause of girls sports in her works
Tamara Girardi writes fictional sports stories that are based on her observations of the sometimes polarizing, always changing landscape of female sports. Things she has seen, heard about and even experienced are woven into the fabric of seven books the Lower Burrell author has published in the last year. The...
Plum JO wrestlers place at state tournaments
A trio of Plum youth wrestlers — Nicholas Pifer, AJ Pifer and Ethan Schwartz — qualified for and took part in the Keystone State Tournament March 17-19, at IUP’s Kovalchick Center. AJ Pifer and Schwartz also qualified for the Pennsylvania Junior Wrestling State Tournament March 25-26, at Pitt’s Petersen Events...
Battle of Pennsylvania martial arts competition returns this weekend in Beaver Falls
Angelo Marziale began his journey in martial arts competition more than 40 years ago, and, since those early days, the 50-year-old Creighton resident and fifth-degree Shorin Ryu black belt has captured many championships near and far. A former student of Lower Burrell martial arts legend Frank Caliguri, Marziale continues to...
District 31 American Legion expands with addition of Somerset, Blairsville
Pennsylvania American Legion baseball in Westmoreland County this summer starts May 18 with a new look: The league has expanded to 12 teams. The league, one of the largest in the state, added two teams: Blairsville, which gives the league three teams from Indiana County; and Somerset, which formerly competed...
With eye toward MMA career, Greensburg native Mataeo Garner makes pro boxing debut
When Mataeo “Top Ape” Garner, 26, of Greensburg, competed in his first jiu-jitsu tournament at 21, he knew his future would be in combat sports. “My favorite part of the process was just learning, I guess I would say, like learning about my game,” Garner said. “Knowing that I have...
At age 35, Springdale’s Jordan Zlacki making strides in professional boxing career
As the middle child in a family of nine brothers and sisters, Jordan “The Croatian Warrior” Zlacki, 35, of Springdale always needed to be tough. Whether in Springdale or Florida, where he moved before high school, he would always get into scraps. “I got into my fair share of street...
West Mifflin native Logan Cooley one of 3 finalists for Hobey Baker Memorial Award
University of Minnesota forward Logan Cooley, a native of West Mifflin, was named one of three finalists for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, an honor that recognizes the top men’s player in college hockey. Joining him are fellow Minnesota forward Matthew Knies and Michigan forward Adam Fantilli. The award’s foundation...
Vandergrift native, GCC grad Warren Schaeffer rises into role as Rockies 3rd-base coach
If Vandergrift’s Warren Schaeffer keeps this up much longer, he will be able to say that literally half his life has been spent in professional baseball. Since summer 2007, Schaeffer has been employed by the Colorado Rockies organization. That’s a lot of games — and a lot of Opening Days....
Friendships put aside as fighters collide at Western PA Golden Gloves finals Saturday
Michael Williams and Brian Mowry know each other well as boxers who train at Boyce Gym in Plum. On Saturday, they will put friendship and camaraderie aside for 15 to 20 minutes as they face each other for the 203-plus pound open division championship as part of the Western PA...
Plum’s Austin Soboslay relishes experience at inline world championships
It’s not every day a roller hockey player gets the chance to play in an international tournament, but Plum’s Austin Soboslay earned that opportunity. A forward for Inferno Travel Hockey, based in Mt. Pleasant, he has played in multiple pro inline hockey leagues and tournaments and even competed in Toronto....
Deer Lakes grad Makayla Blair won’t slow down for West Liberty despite shoulder injury
A lot of coaches say they have players who will run through a wall for them. Few coaches have players who actually have done it. West Liberty softball coach Herb Minch has one who (almost) ran through a wall. Last season during a game at Concord, Deer Lakes grad Makayla...
Yough’s Odelli, Penn-Trafford’s Lichota helping to lead turnaround for John Carroll softball
Jess Lichota and Kaylyn Odelli grew up playing softball in Westmoreland County. Their paths occasionally crossed during scrimmages, and they had heard each other’s names mentioned. But it wasn’t until they were 150 miles from home that they formed a connection. Lichota (Penn-Trafford) and Odelli (Yough) are among the players...
Sewickley Academy grad coming into her own with Swarthmore lacrosse team
The Swarthmore College women’s lacrosse team was on spring break recently in Clearwater, Fla. The Garnet took anything but a break, however, from their hot start to the 2023 season. And one of the team leaders for Swarthmore is Sewickley Academy graduate Elizabeth Zack, a 5-foot-7 sophomore attacker. In the...
