Michael Love stories, Page 136
PIAA lacrosse matches postponed again
A quartet of WPIAL-champion lacrosse teams will attempt to play their PIAA first-round matchups Friday after Mother Nature again prevented them from taking the field Thursday afternoon and evening. Mars will host three of the four squads in a tripleheader starting at 2 p.m. with the Oakland Catholic girls putting...
Freeport baseball reaches PIAA playoffs for 1st time since 1998
For the first time since 1998, a Freeport baseball team has earned a spot in the PIAA playoffs. Yellowjackets starter Jarrett Heilman outdueled Keystone Oaks starter Sammy Tortorella, and Freeport plated the game’s only run on a Bradyn Clark single in the bottom of the second for a 1-0 victory...
State singles title ‘a great finishing touch’ for Fox Chapel’s Shymansky
Robby Shymansky made it to the PIAA Class AAA singles final as a freshman, but he was prevented from capturing the gold medal he sought. Three years later, the Fox Chapel senior was back in the championship match. This time, he was not to be denied. Shymansky, one of a...
La Roche’s Professori selected to All-America baseball team
D3baseball.com released its All-America teams Tuesday, and La Roche senior Joe Professori, a Pine-Richland graduate, is a member of the first team. The second baseman is the seventh Redhawk to earn All-American status and the second to make the nation’s first team. Professori, in addition to his All-American status, was...
Freeport turns the page, sets sights on PIAA tournament berth
The Freeport baseball team turned to a magic elixir to help it move on from last Wednesday’s loss to section rival Steel Valley in the WPIAL Class 3A semifinals. Chicken wings. “We ate for about an hour Thursday and kind of forgot about that game and loosened back up a...
Knoch softball team 1 win from 1st berth in state tournament
The Knoch softball team had its eyes on a WPIAL 4A title, but a 4-0 semifinal loss to Elizabeth Forward last week curtailed that goal. However, the Knights knew their season wasn’t over and turned their focus to making the state playoffs for the first time in program history. Knoch...
Shymansky, Peters Township duo get WPIAL back to top at state tennis championships
Latrobe graduate Chad Kissell was the most recent WPIAL Class AAA boys tennis singles player to win a PIAA title. He captured the state crown in 2015. Fox Chapel’s Robby Shymansky wanted to be the next in line. He was in position last year, as well as in 2016 and...
Quaker Valley tops Freeport to reach PIAA Class AA boys lacrosse playoffs
The Freeport boys lacrosse team started the WPIAL Class AA playoffs as the No. 12 seed, but the Yellowjackets battled their way to an opportunity for a spot in the state playoffs. The Yellowjackets, led by six goals from junior midfielder Garret Schaffhauser, pushed No. 3 Quaker Valley to the...
Plum softball team reflects on special season, tough ending
It wasn’t the way the Plum softball team expected its season to conclude. The Mustangs shared the Section 2-5A title, won 15 regular-season games and picked up the No. 2 seed for the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs. The players and coaches hoped and prepared for a deep postseason run. However,...
Freshman Walsh lifts Shady Side Academy to WPIAL girls lacrosse title in double OT
For Shady Side Academy’s Molly Walsh, the wait was worth it. The Upper St. Clair and Shady Side Academy girls lacrosse teams returned to Robert Morris on Friday to complete their WPIAL Class AAA championship game suspended Thursday because of bad weather. With just five seconds left in the second...
WPIAL athletes hope to join PIAA track and field record lists
The PIAA track and field championships begin Friday morning at Shippensburg University, and athletes from the WPIAL will be going after titles, medals and season and career bests. Several of them also hope to challenge for a state record in their event. The WPIAL currently holds 14 state records across...
A-K Valley boys lacrosse preview capsules: Game of Friday, May 24
WPIAL Boys Lacrosse Class AA Third-Place Consolation 12-Freeport (9-8) vs. 3-Quaker Valley (10-4) 4 p.m. Friday at Robert Morris Winner plays: District 3 champion Hershey on Tuesday at a site and time to be determined Coaches: Dave Riley, Freeport; Chip Hansen, Quaker Valley Players to watch: Sean Fennell, Sr., attack,...
Highlands’ Thimons in race to get to PIAA track medals podium
It’s déjà vu for Cj Thimons. Last year, the Highlands junior placed fourth in the Class AAA boys 800-meter run at the WPIAL championships and earned the No. 10 seed for the PIAA meet at Shippensburg. Thimons repeated his fourth-place finish in the event at WPIALs last week at Slippery...
Dates, times and locations set for WPIAL baseball championship and third-place games
The WPIAL baseball championship games, as well as the third-place consolation matchups, have been finalized with dates, times and locations. 6A Championship: Penn-Trafford vs. Pine-Richland, May 29, Wild Things Park, Washington, 7:30 p.m. Third-Place Consolation: North Allegheny vs. Bethel Park, May 28, Washington & Jefferson College, 7 p.m. 5A Championship:...
WPIAL finalizes dates, times and locations for softball championship and consolation matchups
The WPIAL on Thursday finalized and released the softball championship and third-place dates, times and locations in all six classifications. 6A Championship: North Allegheny vs. Hempfield, May 30, Peterswood Park, 4:30 p.m. 5A Championship: Connellsville vs. West Allegheny, May 29, Peterswood Park, 4:30 p.m. Third-Place Consolation: Penn-Trafford vs. Franklin Regional,...
Late surge lifts No. 1 Penn-Trafford past North Allegheny in WPIAL baseball semifinals
The Penn-Trafford baseball team is one win away from its first WPIAL championship. The top-seeded Warriors broke open a tie game with four runs in the fifth inning and added two more in the sixth en route to a 7-2 win over No. 4 North Allegheny on Wednesday in a...
Steel Valley baseball rallies past Freeport to reach WPIAL Class 3A final
The Freeport and Steel Valley baseball teams split their regular-season series in Section 1. The Yellowjackets and Ironmen met in the rubber match Wednesday with a trip to the WPIAL Class 3A championship game on the line. Steel Valley rallied from an early three-run deficit with five runs in the...
Hampton tops Quaker Valley boys lacrosse in WPIAL semifinals
The Quaker Valley boys lacrosse team saw its run to a WPIAL Class AA title cut short Monday evening with a 9-6 semifinal loss to No. 2 Hampton. But the Quakers, who came into the tournament as the No. 3 seed, are not done with their season. In fact, QV...
Keystone Oaks slugs past No. 3 Burrell in WPIAL quarterfinals
The Burrell softball team won its final 12 games of the regular season, captured the Section 1-3A championship and earned the No. 3 seed for the WPIAL playoffs. However, none of that mattered to Keystone Oaks on Monday in a WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinal matchup at Hampton Community Park. The...
WPIAL track and field champions earn top seeds for PIAA meet
Several WPIAL track and field champions are top seeds for the two-day PIAA championship meet Friday and Saturday at Shippensburg. The PIAA released the performance lists to its website, and Shady Side Academy’s Melissa Riggins owns the top seed for the girls Class AA 800-meter and 1,600 runs. Joining Riggins...
Senior scholar-athletes awarded scholarships from sports hall of fame
Kyah Russell was a standout on the tennis court for the Gateway girls team, and her dedication to the sport was matched by her dedication to academics. She will attend the University of Pittsburgh to pursue a nursing degree. Russell joins Penn-Trafford’s Tyler Horvat, Franklin Regional’s Mason Fishell and East...
Gateway trio qualifies for state track championships
Shelly Jones said she was happy with her performance at Thursday’s WPIAL Class AA championship finals at Slippery Rock. The Gateway senior, who had been dealing with an ankle sprain leading up the to meet, earned her best-ever WPIAL finish with a throw of 39 feet, 1 inch in the...
After winning WPIAL discus title, Plum’s Linhart looks forward to PIAA meet
Hunter Linhart will return to the place he recorded a career-best in the discus. The Plum senior had a top toss of 147 feet, 7 inches at last year’s PIAA Class AAA championship meet at Shippensburg. He placed 10th. Now, Linhart, the newly minted WPIAL discus champion — he bested...
Distance runner CJ Singleton continues to make history at St. Joseph
CJ Singleton made history in the fall as he became the first St. Joseph athlete to compete at the WPIAL and PIAA cross country championships. The freshman distance runner capped his first cross country campaign with a 20th-place finish in the Class A boys race at Hershey. Singleton added another...
Quaker Valley boys tennis team rolls into PIAA quarterfinals
The Quaker Valley boys tennis team continues its quest for a state championship Friday as it takes on District 3 runner-up Pequea Valley in the quarterfinals at 12:30 p.m. at the Hershey Racquet Club. The Quakers made quick work of District 6 champion Juniata in a 5-0 first-round victory Tuesday,...
