Bill Beckner stories, Page 30

It was a long day at the ball yard for Mt. Lebanon and Hempfield as the middle game of their Section 2-6A series flirted with dusk. By the time the sun went down, Mt. Lebanon was in first place by itself. “It was one of those last-man-standing kind of games,”...

Junior softball pitcher Melanie Mienke (Plum) etched her name into the Pitt-Greensburg record book. The veteran righthander became the Bobcats’ all-time leader in strikeouts when she fanned 11 in a 6-3 victory over Wells Express. Her total climbed to 241. The previous record was held by Marley Lafferty, who pitched...

No matter how up or down the Penn-Trafford softball team is each year — usually up — it has a tendency to play tight games at Franklin Regional. It’s like clockwork, that short trip to Murrysville. “We’ve had some crazy games here,” Penn-Trafford coach Denny Little said. “I don’t know...

Amarah McCutcheon School: Southmoreland Class: Senior Sport: Softball Claim to fame: McCutcheon is one of the premier power hitters in the WPIAL, and she proved it with a career-high three home runs in a 15-0 win over South Allegheny. In that game, the Scotties launched seven homers, including four in...

Jeannette soccer star Jordan Taylor will take his goal-scoring prowess to the NCAA Division II level. The senior forward committed to play at Wheeling (W.Va.), which competes in the Mountain East Conference. Taylor, a shifty scoring machine since he first took the pitch four years ago, finished his prep career...

Norwin had a number of athletes competing at the Tri-State Coaches Association Championships at West Mifflin. Most of them made it to the medal stand. Luke Denny won the 400-meter run in 50.53 seconds, and Nick Puskar was the pole vault champion (19-1), while the Knights’ 1,600 relay of Nicholas...

It is a chance to play the game he loves on a national stage and, at the same time, pay his respects to genealogy. Norwin senior Griffin Bartos has himself a win-win situation. Bartos was selected to the Hungarian national team that will play in the World Box Lacrosse Championships...

For a team that struck out 19 times against Brentwood earlier this week, Greensburg Central Catholic looked pretty confident at the plate when it finally got to play rival Jeannette after multiple postponements. “We didn’t strike out once today,” Centurions coach John Boyle said. Instead, every hitter in the lineup...

More than a dozen pro scouts crammed together above the brick backstop at Norwin and raised their radar guns in tandem each time Mt. Lebanon’s David Shields kicked up his leg to throw a pitch. They aimed through the chain-link fence and zapped each glove-popping delivery. A top-50 MLB draft...

The team concept in sports is often overstated and cliche, trendy at times and even hyperbolic. But the Latrobe baseball program thrives on it. You might say the Wildcats have cornered the market on taking one for the team. In fact, the word “Team” is stitched into or printed on...

Jeannette took its lumps the last three seasons, which meant the Jayhawks were due to dish out some payback. Perhaps patience has played the biggest part in this team’s turnaround. After winning just four games last season (4-13), three the previous year (3-10) and two the year before that (2-13),...

Kelly Morrisey has been looking to contribute more to the Serra Catholic softball batting order, but the sophomore said she fell into a lull of late. A bump-up from the No. 6 spot to No. 3 in the lineup has done wonders for her confidence and has her barreling the...

Grace Stein acknowledges she had a freshman season to remember for Jeannette softball. She wears a badge of pride. But it’s the encore the super sophomore wants to focus on now. If there is a rising star in the WPIAL who is resting on her laurels, it is not Stein....

It’s been a sister act this season for several county softball teams. Take Franklin Regional where junior Ciara Camacho is helping her freshman sister, Celina Camacho, make inroads to the varsity game. While there are numerous siblings playing together in the area, some of the notable ones include senior Maggie...

Derry has a strong presence on the Penn State men’s volleyball team. It also loomed large at postseason award time. A pair of Derry alums — a high-energy hitter and his veteran coach — are taking home some top-notch hardware. Grad student John Kerr was named the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball...

Everything was going right for Franklin Regional. Until it wasn’t. And Fox Chapel wasn’t ready to pack it in. Down to two outs with two strikes and trailing by a run, the third-ranked Foxes waited for the Panthers to give them an opening in the top of the seventh. When...

The bounceback was better than the fallback. Hempfield softball was anxious to take the field again after it was no-hit for the first time in 11 years. Champing at the bit, the No. 2 Lady Spartans saw Riley Miller and Julia Varhola combine for a one-hitter and Maggie Howard produce...

The Franklin Regional boys golf program reached a crescendo a few years ago when it produced a PIAA individual champion and then won a WPIAL team title. Big-time recruit Palmer Jackson went from states to Notre Dame, and a number of other Panthers alums moved on to play collegiate golf....

Coaching college football the last decade has taken James “J.J.” Eckels up and down the recruiting trail. Over rivers and through woods just to get that nibble on the line from a potential commit. For some reason, his stops at Mt. Pleasant struck him as different. The school seemed to...

Penn-Trafford football announced its 2024 hall of fame class, which will be honored in the fall. The newest inductees are Devin Austin (2015), Luke Graham (2010), Jerry Lavelle (1983), Kirk Rogers (2001) and Mike Simpson (2000). Dan Tarabrella will be inducted as a coach, and the 1961 Penn Joint Indians...

Grace Iwig School: Hempfield Class: Senior Sport: Track & field Claim to fame: Iwig, who competes in a pair of events that involve clearing a bar (pole vault and high jump), brought home first- and second-place finishes at the South Hills Classic. She won the high jump with a mark...

After reaching the WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinals last spring, the Norwin boys volleyball team has a taste of playoff success. Now, the Knights are looking to push farther right on the bracket. Five starters are back to help make that happen in senior libero Lucas Churchfield, senior outside hitter Jackson...

Franklin Regional’s Kegerreis brothers made a lasting impression when they played for the Panthers. When the team needed an extra-base hit, maybe a home run, they often came through. While both went off to play college baseball, they redirected their path at the next level. Freshman Louie Kegerreis, who hit...

Pitt it it for Chase Kranitz. The former Norwin wrestling standout is leaving Buffalo after his redshirt freshman season and will compete for the Panthers. Kranitz, and several of his Bulls teammates, left the program after learning that John Stutzman was not returning as head coach. Kranitz went 19-11 this...

Practice ends on a pleasant afternoon, and Greensburg Central Catholic sophomores Ian Shipley, Anthony Grippo and Tyler Samide begin to play with an unwound baseball, its spider web-like strings flowing in the breeze while seeming to stretch from home plate to the fence. GCC sure does know how to knock...