Sports category, Page 698
Kiski Area grad Logan Bechtold bumps up in weight to help Saint Vincent wrestling win PAC title
By the time the Presidents’ Athletic Conference wrestling championship reached the finals, the outcome was all but decided. Saint Vincent, in the first year of its second incarnation, had seven wrestlers competing for titles, making the result almost anticlimactic. But once their title was made official via public address announcement,...
Mark Madden: Penguins need change at trade deadline, but options are limited
Nobody should be mad about the Pittsburgh Penguins for falling apart. It’s organic and was inevitable. The Penguins made the playoffs every year from 2007-22. They were legit Stanley Cup contenders every year from 2008-18, winning three times and reaching another final. Great teams in capped leagues ultimately go splat....
Difficult to miss the 7-man class of quarterbacks on 1st day of Pitt’s spring drills
Add about 20 degrees to the morning temperature and you’d have a difficult time believing Pitt didn’t start summer drills Monday morning on the South Side. The sun was shining, the grass was green and coaches’ sharp words filled the air. Coach Pat Narduzzi brought his 110-man team outside Monday...
Phillies sign ace Zack Wheeler to $126 million, 3-year deal
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Phillies have agreed with ace Zack Wheeler on a three-year contract worth a reported $126 million, and his $42 million average salary would be the highest in franchise history. The Phillies announced that Wheeler had agreed to the new deal Monday. The Phillies scheduled an 11...
Westmoreland County campus clippings: Saint Vincent’s Jaden Gales named PAC’s MVP
A player who puts the power in power forward, Jaden Gales made his presence known every time he took the basketball court this season for Saint Vincent. Whether he was throwing down an alley-oop dunk, running wide and finishing a break or swatting a shot into the second row, Gales...
For Penguins players, trades are an accepted but inconvenient way of life
Lars Eller was already a little off-kilter. Having made a flight across the continent with the Washington Capitals to sunny Anaheim, Calif., on Feb. 28, 2023, he was dealing with jet lag and a three-hour time difference. And the phone call he received the morning of March 1 didn’t help...
Tim Benz: Penguins’ poor western trip allows Kyle Dubas to operate guilt-free at trade deadline
If there is one member of the Pittsburgh Penguins who is happy about the team’s rotten 1-3 western road trip, it’s general manager Kyle Dubas. OK, maybe not happy, exactly. Anyone associated with the team had to be near embarrassment with the way the last game-and-a-half of that swing went...
First Call: Diontae Johnson appears to dismiss trade talk; Steelers checking out Pitt lineman
Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Diontae Johnson seems less than thrilled about some recent trade rumors. At the NFL Scouting Combine, the Steelers spoke with a former Pitt Panther and a stud wide receiver. A former WPIAL star had a banner night in the NBA, and the Robert Morris men’s hockey team...
Madden Monday: Don’t rule out Penguins signing Jake Guentzel, trading Marcus Pettersson
As the NHL trade deadline looms on Friday, Mark Madden of 105.9 The X and TribLive has picked up a few interesting rumors about the Pittsburgh Penguins. He shared them during this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast. The first one is that, despite a wide sense of resignation that the Penguins...
Kevin Gorman’s Take 5: Injuries an issue for Pirates’ bullpen, Skenes has ‘splinker’ and more
The most troubling sign for the Pittsburgh Pirates wasn’t that right-handed reliever Dauri Moreta surrendered a three-run homer in the ninth inning Sunday against the Baltimore Orioles. It was that after Moreta spiked a slider in the dirt, he clutched his right elbow. And his next pitch, a full-count fastball,...
Penguins blasted by Oilers in 3rd consecutive loss
The Pittsburgh Penguins concluded their four-game road trip through Western Canada and Seattle on Sunday with a lopsided 6-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place in Edmonton. Finishing the trip with a 1-3-0 record — with all three losses coming in consecutive games — the Penguins’ record dropped...
U.S. shakes off shocking loss, advances to Women’s Gold Cup semis with a win over ColombiaVideo
LOS ANGELES — Jenna Nighswonger and Jaedyn Shaw scored in the first half, and the United States rebounded from its loss to Mexico with a 3-0 victory over Colombia on Sunday night to advance to the semifinals of the CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup. Lindsey Horan also converted a penalty in...
Minor league report: Nailers snap losing streakVideo
Goaltender Taylor Gauthier made 30 saves on 31 shots for the Wheeling Nailers in a 4-1 home win against the Cincinnati Cyclones at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, W.Va. on Sunday. The result boosted Gauthier’s record to 21-15-1. Forward Evan Vierling scored two goals for Wheeling (31-23-1-1), which snapped a four-game...
Family ties link group of NFL Combine invitees to famous fathers
INDIANAPOLIS — Joe Alt had the perfect role model. He grew up in Minnesota, became a big-time recruit and joined a major college football program. He made the same seamless transition from tight end to dominant left tackle. And now, he could be eight weeks away from becoming a first-round...
Kyle Larson again wins at Las Vegas; Chevrolet stays undefeated
LAS VEGAS — Kyle Larson won his second consecutive race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday to keep keep Chevrolet undefeated and give Hendrick Motorsports its second victory in the first three NASCAR Cup Series races of the season. Larson won for the third time in his career at...
Eckroat leads by stroke over van Rooyen, after rain sends Cognizant Classic to a Monday finishVideo
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Austin Eckroat left PGA National with a share of the lead Saturday. He left with the outright lead Sunday. He will have to come back to finish the job. A Monday finish awaits at PGA National after the final round of the opening event on...
Chris Mortensen, an award-winning reporter who covered the NFL, dies at 72
Chris Mortensen, the award-winning journalist who covered the NFL for close to four decades, including 32 as a senior analyst at ESPN, died Sunday morning. He was 72. ESPN confirmed Mortensen’s death on Sunday. There was no immediate word on the cause or place of death. “Mort was widely respected...
Catcher Ed Ott, a leader of the Pirates’ 1979 World Series champions, dies at age 72
A tough catcher and respected leader for the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 1979 World Series champions, Ed Ott never missed a chance to celebrate a reunion with his old “We Are Family” teammates. “It’s still a family. It doesn’t matter what ball field or city or country we’re in,” Ott said in...
Saint Vincent club hockey team qualifies for national tournament, to delight of former coach
His euphoric acclamation was a clear sign Mike Ziemianski couldn’t have been prouder. The former longtime Saint Vincent coach was overcome with emotion in the moments after the school’s recent club hockey victory over IUP, securing the program’s first College Hockey East playoff championship and third trip to the American...
You can debate whether Pitt deserves an NCAA bid, but there’s no questioning Bub Carrington’s freshman season
The numbers connected to Pitt’s quest to land an NCAA Tournament berth paint hopeful and discouraging scenarios at the same time. 7: That’s good. Pitt has seven victories on an opponent’s home floor, as many as No. 4 Tennessee, No. 9 North Carolina, No. 12 Creighton and No. 18 South...
Martin Perez efficient in Pirates debut, joins Aroldis Chapman in preaching postseason hope
Martin Perez asked Pittsburgh Pirates pitching coach Oscar Marin for more time in live bullpens before he made his first spring training start, vowing that he would be ready. Perez lived up to his promise. The left-hander mixed his cutter and changeup to allow only one hit — albeit a...
For Robert Morris, Horizon League tournament is last chance to end disappointing season on positive note
Just over a year ago, Robert Morris hosted a Horizon League tournament game at UPMC Events Center in Moon for the first time since making the jump from the Northeast Conference ahead of the 2020-21 season. The Colonials put together a four-game winning streak toward the end of the regular...
PIAA releases sites, times for 1st round of 2024 girls state basketball playoffs
The brackets are set for the 2024 PIAA girls basketball state playoffs with first-round games scheduled for Friday and Saturday. There are 37 girls teams from the WPIAL ready to battle on the Road to Hershey. Since the expansion to six classifications seven years ago, six District 7 girls basketball...
PIAA announces sites, times for 1st round of 2024 boys state basketball playoffs
The PIAA has released the brackets for the 2024 boys basketball state playoffs with first-round games scheduled for Friday and Saturday. There are 36 boys teams from the WPIAL ready to battle on the Road to Hershey. Since the expansion to six classifications seven years ago, eight District 7 teams...
Iowa’s Caitlin Clark breaks Pete Maravich’s NCAA Division I scoring record
Caitlin Clark stood alone at the free throw line on Sunday and made the foul shots that left her standing alone atop the all-time NCAA Division I scoring chart. The flash and pizzazz of her game have made her the biggest name in all of college basketball. Yet it was...
