Michael Love stories, Page 138
Allegheny Valley, Leechburg Little League programs benefit from donation
Through Play Ball Pittsburgh!, a partnership between the Tull Family Foundation, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Pitch In For Baseball & Softball, 16 organizations in a four-county area in the Pittsburgh Region recently received a donation of new baseball and softball equipment. Included in that group were the Allegheny Valley Little...
Gateway softball looks forward to WPIAL playoffs
It was quite the interesting final week of the Section 2-5A schedule for the Gateway softball team. The Gators, battling for one of the final WPIAL playoff spots from the section, did their part with convincing wins over Penn Hills and Oakland Catholic. They also watched how things progressed with...
Plum girls lacrosse again earns WPIAL playoff berth
The Plum girls lacrosse team has qualified for the WPIAL Class AA playoffs for the second year in a row. Now, the Mustangs hope to make history with their first postseason win. Coach Kayla Platt said her team impressed her with the way it battled through the regular season to...
Riverview edges Apollo-Ridge to clinch WPIAL playoff berth
Round one goes to the Raiders. The Riverview and Apollo-Ridge softball teams met Thursday at Riverside Park in Oakmont for the first of two Section 2-2A matchups between the teams in the span of four days. With the rematch looming Monday, the Raiders scored a run in the bottom of...
Upper St. Clair ends Sewickley Academy’s WPIAL-title streak in boys tennis
The Sewickley Academy boys tennis team’s 15-year WPIAL-title streak came to an end Thursday when it lost to Upper St. Clair in the first round of the Class AAA playoffs. In a battle of the Panthers, USC scored a 3-2 victory to advance to the quarterfinals and a meeting with...
Henderson, Burrell blank No. 1 Deer Lakes in Section 1-3A
Jack Henderson wanted to finish the game. The pitch-count rules, however, didn’t permit him to do so. But the Bucs junior fashioned a gem against Deer Lakes on Wednesday before he exited the game with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Henderson limited a potent Lancers lineup to...
Runners Yourish, Shemanski set sights on WPIAL track medals
Deer Lakes senior Josh Yourish and Freeport junior Sidney Shemanski are two of the top middle distance runners in the state. Success from both previous seasons and this spring have put targets on their backs as ones to beat with the WPIAL championships two weeks from today. Both, however, are...
Battle of Quaker Valley duos caps WPIAL doubles tournament
It was guaranteed that a Quaker Valley team would win the WPIAL Class AA doubles tennis championship Tuesday at the Oxford Athletic Club in Wexford. Quaker Valley’s John Watters and Zach Albert topped teammates Potter Oliver and Will Siriani 6-3, 6-2 to claim the championship. Both teams advance to the...
Matchups set for WPIAL team track and field finals
Sixteen track and field teams remain alive for WPIAL titles after Tuesday’s semifinal meets determined the finalists for the championships Monday at Peters Township. All four meets will begin at 4 p.m. The four defending champions — the North Allegheny and Riverside boys and the Butler and Shenango girls —...
No. 2 Leechburg rebounds from 1st loss, defeats No. 3 Springdale
The Leechburg softball team had a quick turnaround after suffering its first loss of the season, a nonsection setback to Apollo-Ridge on Monday. The Blue Devils came back Tuesday and took advantage of the opportunity to get back on track with a 12-2 victory over Springdale in a Section 3-A...
Quaker Valley doubles teams to meet for WPIAL title
It will be an all-Quaker Valley final Tuesday afternoon for the WPIAL Class AA boys doubles tennis championship. Zach Albert and John Watters will face Potter Oliver and Will Sirianni at 2 at the Oxford Athletic Club in Wexford. Both squads captured three victories Monday. Albert and Watters scored a...
Belle Vernon’s Martin wins four events at annual Mid Mon Classic
Belle Vernon’s Hunter Martin captured four individual titles, and the Leopards won the boys team title Monday at the Scott Frederick Mid Mon Classic at Charleroi High School. Martin placed first in the 110-meter hurdles (15.12 seconds), the 300 hurdles (42.46), the long jump (20 feet, 7.5 inches) and the...
Coaches association releases latest WPIAL boys volleyball rankings
Less than two weeks remain in the WPIAL boys volleyball regular season, and some teams are jockeying for playoff positioning, while others continue to battle to stay alive in the playoff chase. The Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association, with votes from all 39 head coaches, released its latest Class AAA...
A-K Valley track and field teams gallop into WPIAL semifinals
The last time the Apollo-Ridge boys track and field team qualified for the WPIAL semifinals was in 2014 when the Tre Tipton-led Vikings won the section title and punched their ticket to the postseason. “We have a lot of guys who have become better throughout their career and throughout the...
Long commute, lifelong memories for Lower Burrell resident, UPJ coach Rukavina
It is 65 miles from Lower Burrell to Johnstown. Bob Rukavina, the coach of the Pitt-Johnstown men’s basketball team, makes the round trip several times each week. “My wife (Sharon) was a teacher at Riverview, and she retired a few years back,” said Rukavina, a Verona native and Lower Burrell...
Deep senior class leads Gateway boys lacrosse to 5-4 start
When the Gateway boys lacrosse team celebrated senior night before Thursday’s Section 1-AA game against Knoch at Antimarino Stadium, it was one of the longer ceremonies of that nature for any team in any sport this year. Nineteen seniors were honored, and it was an emotional time for a group...
Plum softball hopes to keep rolling down the stretch
The Plum softball team outlasted Mars in a nine-inning, Section 2-5A game April 17. The victory clinched a spot in the WPIAL playoffs. But coach Phil Dilonardo said the team hopes to keep rolling in the stretch run of the regular season. “We have some important games coming up, and...
Area athletes compete on first day of Penn Relays
Oakland Catholic senior Jayla Ellis earned a seventh-place medal in the high school girls long jump Thursday at the annual Penn Relays Carnival at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. She recorded a best leap of 18 feet, 4.25 inches. The winning jump covered 19-6. Ellis’ Eagles teammate, fellow senior Hannah Shupansky,...
WPIAL team track and field semifinals set
The WPIAL team track and field semifinal matchups are set, and the four defending champions — the North Allegheny and Riverside boys and the Butler and Shenango girls — now know what they will have to do to get back to the finals. The other participants now are aware of...
School discus record in hand, Kiski Area’s Jean Starr aims for bigger goals
The Kiski Area girls high school discus record had a target, figuratively speaking, on its back coming into this season. Senior Jean Starr wanted to put more than two decades of attempts by Cavaliers throwers to rest and establish herself as the record holder. At the Knoch Relays earlier this...
Quaker Valley doubles teams to play for section title
It will be an all-Quaker Valley battle for the Section 2-AA double championship Thursday. Zach Albert and John Watters will face Potter Oliver and Will Sirianni after both teams advanced through Wednesday’s first round, quarterfinals and semifinals. The two Quaker duos also will join the other two semifinal teams at...
Leechburg thrower Bret Kardos has lofty goals for shot put
Bret Kardos is on a mission. The Leechburg senior hopes to become the first track and field athlete in the five-year history of the Blue Devils program to qualify for the PIAA championships. Kardos, No. 1 this week in the Class AA boys shot put on the WPIAL performance list...
Track and field teams set for annual AIC section championships
After several weeks of head-to-head matchups in dual meets, the track and field teams from Section 7-AA gather Wednesday at Freeport High School to crown champions and award medals at the fifth annual Allegheny Interscholastic Conference individual championships. Individual athletes and relay teams from the host Yellowjackets, Burrell, Apollo-Ridge, North...
Quaker Valley track and field teams set for MAC championships
Members of the Quaker Valley boys and girls track and field teams will test their mettle Wednesday at the Midwestern Athletic Conference championships at Mars High School. All field events and the 100-meter dash preliminaries begin at 2 p.m. Medals will be awarded to the top six in each individual...
Knoch softball rolling through competition in Section 3-4A
The Knoch softball team dug itself a sizable hole in its Section 3-4A opener April 2 at Ambridge. The Knights trailed 6-1 after three innings and 9-4 heading to the seventh. But the team rallied in its final at-bat, scoring six runs to claim a dramatic 10-9 victory. Sophomore Bailey...
