Other Local category, Page 64
Passion for golf grows into career for Norwin grad Vonderkall
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...
Penn Hills baseball team finds success in 1st Pony League season
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...
Director Meehan makes North Park Triathlon family affair
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...
Hannastown Golf Club brings out best from Westmoreland County and beyondVideo
Do the math on this one. Longtime accomplished amateur golfer Sean Knapp lives in Oakmont. He has played some of the best courses in the country. He won a national championship — the U.S. Senior Amateur — two years ago. The 57-year-old Knapp has been one of the country’s top...
Golf notebook: Quaker Valley graduate Chris Tanabe holds on to win amateur title
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 comes up short in title game
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...
Quaker Valley grad Tanabe leads Pennsylvania Amateur after 2 rounds
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 blanks Hopewell; qualifies for Great Lakes Regional
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 beats Yough, claims 37th state title
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...
Knoch graduate R.J. Makowski earns master instructor status at taekwondo championships
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...
Iron City Homecoming wrestling event a fundraiser for Bruce and Carol Sammartino Foundation
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...
Beadling SC 16U boys fall in USYS National Championship for 3rd straight year
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...
Hempfield East Legion team loses to Swoyersville at state tourney
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...
Yough rallies, will face West Point for Little League Softball U11 state title
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...
Pitt alum Sheldon Jeter helps U.S. team win 3×3 title
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...
Plum native Pat McAfee to serve as ESPN college football analyst
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...
Seven-run inning carries Hempfield East to victory at state legion tourney
A seven-run third inning erased an early deficit and helped Hempfield East rally for an impressive 11-5 victory against South Parkland in the Pennsylvania American Legion tournament at Showers Field in DuBois. It was Hempfield East’s second consecutive victory in the tournament. It will play Swoyersville, which defeated Hopewell, 8-1,...
West Point beats Yough in Pennsylvania Little League Softball 11U tourney
West Point wasted no time getting on the scoreboard in the winner’s bracket of the Pennsylvania Little League Softball 11U Tournament on Sunday. Sparked by Ella Berkebile’s three-run homer in the first inning, West Point rolled to a 19-3 victory against Yough in three innings at home. West Point advances...
Latrobe’s Hanna Green qualifies for world championships in 800 meters
Hanna Green represented the Red, White and Blue quite well. The elite runner from Latrobe posted a second-place finish in the 800-meter run Sunday night at the Toyota USA Track & Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. Green, who was a standout at Virginia Tech after graduating from Latrobe in...
Medals just part of rewards for A-K Valley athletes at National Veteran Wheelchair Games
The summer of 2020 will mark the 40th annual National Veteran Wheelchair Games, and multiyear participants, Alle-Kiski Valley residents Jerry Baylor, Brenden Beck and Mark Rosensteel, are planning to be a part of the milestone games. All hope to have as much success — or even more — next July...
Plum Junior Legion loses but stays alive in double-elimination state tournament
The Boyertown Grizzlies scored a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to pick up a 5-4 walk-off victory over Plum Post 980 in a first-round game Saturday at the PA Youth Legion Baseball State Championship in Homer City. Plum (22-6-1) still is alive in the double-elimination tournament and...
West Point, Yough Little League softball teams headed for showdown
It will be a Westmoreland County showdown at 6 p.m. Sunday in the Pennsylvania Little League Softball U-11 tournament at West Point. Yough, which defeated Loyalsock, 6-1, and Greencastle-Antrim, 17-3, on Saturday will face returning state champion West Point. The host defeated Greater Wyoming on Friday, 11-1. Riley Miller tossed...
Hempfield East opens state legion tournament with a victory
Hempfield East got three RBIs from Noah Sweeny and four pitchers scattered nine hits in a 6-2 victory over Paxton on Saturday during Day 1 of the Pennsylvania American Legion tournament at Showers Field in DuBois. It was a pair of three-run innings — one in the first inning and...
FIBI wraps up, Sarver turns attention to next year
With the 25th Freeport International Baseball Invitational in the books, event officials already are turning their attention to next summer’s event. FIBI president Chuck Sarver said before the final pitch was thrown and the last of the famed hoagies were sold at the concession stand, talk began of setting the...
Kings of the Court brings community basketball to New Kensington
Andrew Cressler hasn’t played a college basketball game in five years, but the Plum graduate and former standout at Seton Hill and Pitt-Johnstown still enjoys the opportunity to mix it up on the court in a competitive environment. He is one of the more veteran players in the Kings of...
