Other Local category, Page 63

Hempfield East’s American Legion Post 981 baseball team boarded a charter bus Tuesday morning at Westmoreland Mall and headed west on a new journey. The team, pioneers for District 31 and Region 7, are headed to Charleston, Ill. to participate in the American Legion Baseball Great Lakes Regional beginning on...

After leading her moh-BEEL!USA team to a championship this season, Maddy Grimm was recognized with a postseason accolade in the American Softball Association. The burgeoning, four-team professional league announced its all-ASBA players and Grimm was a clear first-team selection. A third baseman who hails from Ligonier Valley and Kent State,...

JJ Matijevic is leaping and hip-bumping teammates, smiling and chomping on wads of gum as he revels in one of the hottest streaks of his professional baseball career. He looks like a kid enjoying the game again. Matijevic, a corner infielder and outfielder for the Corpus Christi Hooks, the Double-A...

Katie James used home-course advantage to raise a golf trophy Monday. James captured the 12th Western Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur Championship on her home course, Fox Chapel Golf Club, with a steady-as-she-goes round of even-par 73. Sewickley Heights Golf Club’s Madison McDanel, of Central Valley, was a shot back at 74...

Palmer Jackson is one of those rare, up-and-coming amateur golfers who has the uncanny ability to capture lightning in a bottle. Just when you thought the recent Franklin Regional grad from Murrysville couldn’t get any better on the course, he started another hot streak. Some might say Jackson’s favorite club...

High school athletes across the WPIAL are beginning preparation for the fall scholastic sports season. All will pursue a championship and try to earn a college scholarship with the hopes of turning pro and making the big bucks. Kiski Area rising junior Nick McGuire has them all beat. In a...

Authorities say a car flipped over the infield fence at a central Pennsylvania speedway and struck a track volunteer, killing him. The Cumberland County coroner’s office said two Sprint car drivers crashed into each other while rounding a turn at Williams Grove Speedway just before 9:30 p.m. Friday. Coroner Charles...

HARTFORD, Conn. — Jack Heath made a 40-foot birdie putt from the fringe on the par-4 18th hole for an 8-under-par 62 and a one-stroke victory Friday in the Boys Junior PGA Championship. “I knew if it went in, I would most likely win, and it went in,” Heath said....

Mt. Pleasant’s Sam Napper won the Tri-State PGA Isaly’s Junior Boys Player of the Year honors for the 17-18 Division on Thursday at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort Mystic Rock Golf Course. Napper shot a 5-over par 77 to edge Meadville’s Ryan Ferry, who shot a 6-over 78. Todd Hangliter of Seven...

Sometimes all it takes is a tiny spark to launch a career path. For 1996 Norwin grad Chris Vonderkall, the spark came early and caught fire. He let his passion for golf lead the way. “As a kid, I was doing a book report and I did it on Arnold...

The Penn Hills 13U travel baseball team includes a strong nucleus of players that has played together many years and continues to have success as it navigates different age groups every season. This summer, the team has participated in four tournaments, winning three in its first year in the Pony...

The Janney and the Y North Park Triathlon took place July 27-28 at North Park, and for the ninth consecutive year, Matt Meehan kept the event humming as director of both the kids’ competition Saturday and the adult competition Sunday. Meehan’s journey as the race’s director began in 2006 as...

Chris Tanabe’s biggest win prior to Wednesday was winning the PIAA Class AA title in 2016. Now, the 2017 Quaker Valley graduate has the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s Amateur championship on his resume. The Bucknell junior fired a 1-over-par 71 during the final round to finish at 5-under 205 and hold...

Hempfield East’s attempt to become the first Westmoreland County American Legion baseball team since Lower Burrell in 1965 to win a state championship came up short Wednesday. Despite outhitting Swoyersville for second consecutive game, Hempfield East committed two costly errors in the fourth, resulting in a 2-1 loss at Showers...

Chris Tanabe shot a 5-under-par 65 on Tuesday during Round 2 of the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s 106th annual Amateur Championship and takes a three-shot lead into the final round Wednesday at Aronimink Golf Club near Newtown Square. The 2017 Quaker Valley grad will be a junior at Bucknell in the...

Hempfield East American Legion baseball team continues to make history. Thanks to their win against Hopewell and Swoyersville’s 3-2 victory against South Parkland, Hempfield East has qualified for the Great Lakes Regional tournament in Charleston, Ill. on Aug. 7. Hempfield East bounced back from a tough loss on Monday to...

West Point trailed for the first time in the Pennsylvania Little League Softball 11U tournament Tuesday and needed a spark. Pitcher Riley Miller provided it. Miller, who will be a seventh-grader at Hempfield Middle School, struck out the side in the second inning, and West Point erupted for 14 consecutive...

When R.J. Makowski began his pursuit of taekwondo master instructor status one year ago, he initially thought it would be a similar feeling to when he achieved his six black belt degrees in the Korean martial art. But when the owner of Makowski Martial Arts in Sarver reached the final...

Heroes get remembered but legends never die, and Friday at Pro Sports in Monroeville, Northeast Wrestling, The Pros of Wrestling and superstars from World Wrestling entertainment will come together to honor one of Pittsburgh’s greatest legends, Bruno Sammartino, with a fundraiser for the Bruno and Carol Sammartino Foundation. Iron City...

For the third straight year, the 16U Beadling boys soccer team fought its way to the United States Youth Soccer Championship this past weekend in Overland Park, Kan. But, also for the third straight year, the team comprised of players from the Pittsburgh area fell just short of the ultimate...

An error and a walk led to three unearned runs in the fourth inning, which was enough for Swoyersville to defeat Hempfield East, 4-1, in an American Legion winners’ bracket game at the state tournament in DuBois. Hempfield East pitcher Lance Dailey was a tough-luck loser. He allowed only two...

Westmoreland County will be home of the Pennsylvania Little League Softball 11U champion in 2019. That’s because Yough punched its ticket to the title game 6 p.m. Tuesday against defending champion West Point. Yough needed four runs in the top of the seventh inning and held on to edge Loyalsock...

Sheldon Jeter is bringing home a gold medal from the Pan American Games. The Pitt and Beaver Falls alum helped the USA men’s 3x3 basketball team to a championship at the Games, played at the Coliseo Eduardo Dibo in Lima, Peru. Jeter, a member of the Maine Red Claws, an...

Pat McAfee, the former All-Pro punter with the Indianapolis Colts who has been involved several years in such media ventures as a podcaster, in-studio guest for the NFL Network and an on-air personality for WWE, now will serve as a color analyst for ESPN’s Thursday night college football. Both McAfee...