Michael Love stories, Page 49
Return to Passion after 3-year hiatus ‘feels right’ for Plum graduate Lauren Ferragonio
The passion for the Pittsburgh Passion women’s football team never left Lauren Ferragonio. That desire to make a difference in the sport is what drives the Plum graduate and Penn Hills resident to put the pads and helmet back on and mix it up again after three years away from...
Shaler wins 1st WPIAL boys volleyball championship, ending North Allegheny’s title run
The Shaler boys volleyball team arrived at Peters Township High School as Thursday’s Class 2A championship game was taking shape. The players sat in the bleachers and watched North Catholic capture its first WPIAL title with a sweep of 10-time champion Ambridge. Shaler then went out and achieved a similar...
North Catholic tops Ambridge for WPIAL boys volleyball title in clash of Class 2A rivals
There were no secrets when section rivals Ambridge and North Catholic met Thursday evening at Peters Township to decide the WPIAL Class 2A boys volleyball championship. The Bridgers and Trojans split their season series, each winning in five sets. With the title on the line, North Catholic won the latest...
Freeport track and field duo ready to tackle PIAA championships
Before Reese Skiba and Isaac Wetzel can throw and run Friday and Saturday at the PIAA Class 2A track and field championships at Shippensburg, the Freeport duo will take one of the most important walks of their lives. The seniors will take part in commencement activities Thursday evening at Freeport...
One big hit enough for Avonworth to win pitchers’ duel over Burrell in softball semifinal
Avonworth cleanup hitter Leah Kuban fell victim to Burrell pitcher Katie Armstrong twice in Tuesday’s WPIAL Class 3A semifinal softball game at North Allegheny. She struck out against the Bucs senior to begin the bottom of the second and then went down on strikes to end the bottom of the...
Seton LaSalle erupts for 6-run 6th inning to surge past Riverview in Class 2A
Seton LaSalle collected four hits through five innings against Riverview starting pitcher Ben Hower in a Class 2A quarterfinal baseball playoff game Monday afternoon at Gateway. The No. 2 Rebels then erupted for six runs on five hits in the sixth inning off of Hower and Raiders reliever Enzo Lio....
A-K Valley WPIAL softball playoff capsule: Games for Tuesday, May 23, 2023
WPIAL softball playoffs Class 3A Semifinals 1-Avonworth (19-1) vs. 4-Burrell (13-5) 4 p.m. Tuesday at North Allegheny Winner plays: Winner of 2-Southmoreland (15-2)/3-Waynesburg Central (16-3) in championship game May 31 or June 1 at Lilley Field, PennWest University, California (time TBA) Players to watch: Brae Jones, Burrell; Alvia Lantzy, Avonworth...
Alumni help Valley boys tennis players prepare for postseason tournaments
The Valley boys tennis team qualified for the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Class 2A tournament and faced North Catholic on May 8 with a spot in the semifinals and a berth to states on the line. The day before, the Vikings starting seven had the opportunity to train with some...
Plum senior trio caps career in WPIAL softball playoffs
As the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds for the WPIAL Class 5A softball playoffs, Thomas Jefferson and Plum, many expected, would play a close and competitive first-round game. That is what played out May 15 at Gateway High School. The Jaguars grabbed a two-run lead before Plum rallied to...
Gateway 1st-year hurdler Derrick Jones earns trip to PIAA championship meet
A couple of months ago, a hurdle was a foreign object to Gateway senior Derrick Jones. The first-year member of the Gators boys track and field team gave the event a try, and he quickly made strides, both figuratively and literally as he got more and more comfortable sailing over...
A-K Valley greats relive memories at annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony
Kerry McKinney Mills is in quite the celebratory mood. In addition to Saturday’s induction into the Alle-Kiski Valley Sports Hall of Fame, the 2001 Deer Lakes graduate who earned 11 letters in soccer, basketball and track and field, turns 40 on Sunday and will mark the milestone occasion with many...
Preparations underway for Freeport International Baseball Invitational
France will be back. Chuck Sarver, president of the Freeport International Baseball Invitational, said Friday that planning continues to move forward for this year’s event July 25-29 on fields throughout the Alle-Kiski Valley. A team from the same town and league in France that was represented last year will return...
Carmichaels softball routs Leechburg in Class A quarterfinals
The Carmichaels softball team scored 10 or more runs in 13 of its 16 regular-season games. The Mighty Mikes offense was mighty again Thursday in a WPIAL Class A quarterfinals game against Leechburg at Gateway. The No. 2 seed pounded out 16 hits as eight of the nine in the...
Riverview’s Amberson Bauer, Kiski Area’s Eliza Miller lead WPIAL parade of A-K Valley gold medalists
Riverview senior Amberson Bauer finished fourth in the Class 2A boys WPIAL cross country championships in November. On the podium, he looked up at Eden Christian’s Seth Aiken, who won the title. But on Wednesday at the WPIAL track and field championships at Slippery Rock, it was Aiken up at...
A-K Valley WPIAL softball playoff capsules: Games for Thursday, May 18, 2023
WPIAL softball playoffs Class 3A Quarterfinals 4-Burrell (12-5) vs. 5-Mohawk (12-4) 5 p.m. Thursday at Montour Winner plays: Winner of 1-Avonworth (18-1)/8-Central Valley (10-8) in semifinals (site/date/time TBD) Players to watch: Pyper Ferres, Burrell; Lydia Cole, Mohawk Extra bases: The Bucs took down perennial power Mt. Pleasant, 4-1, in the...
4 A-K Valley athletes take top seeds into WPIAL track meet
Fifty-four. That is the number of top eight seeds earned by Alle-Kiski Valley athletes for Wednesday’s Class 3A and Class 2A track and field championships at Slippery Rock University. Four. That is the number of A-K Valley No. 1 seeds who are the most hunted as the day of competition...
A-K Valley WPIAL softball playoff capsules: Games for Wednesday, May 17, 2023
WPIAL softball playoffs Class 4A quarterfinals 6-Knoch (11-8) vs. 3-Chartiers Valley (17-2) 5 p.m. Wednesday at North Allegheny Winner plays: Winner of 2-Montour (13-3)/7-Indiana (16-4) in semifinals (date, site, time TBD) Players to watch: Lizzie Danik, Knoch; Madison Crump, Chartiers Valley Extra bases: Knoch is in the WPIAL quarterfinals for...
Thomas Jefferson stuns Plum with walk-off grand slam in Class 5A 1st round
The Thomas Jefferson softball team possesses a gold chain with a dollar sign in sparkles designated for those who hit home runs. Jaguars junior center fielder Zoe Krizan had that chain around her neck Monday afternoon at Gateway because she was money in the bottom of the seventh for the...
A-K Valley WPIAL softball playoff capsules: Games for Tuesday, May 16, 2023
WPIAL softball playoffs Class 3A First round 8-Central Valley (9-8) vs. 9-Deer Lakes (10-5) 5 p.m. Tuesday at Montour Winner plays: Winner of 1-Avonworth (17-1)/16-Seton-LaSalle (5-9) Thursday (site/time TBD) in quarterfinals Players to watch: Maddie Kee, Deer Lakes; Macy Littler, Central Valley Extra bases: Deer Lakes owns the Alle-Kiski Valley’s...
Freeport grad takes over boys basketball program
For more than two decades, Rich Macura served as an assistant coach in a number of scholastic boys basketball programs. He learned from a who’s who of mentors in the sport and passed on his knowledge to hundreds of athletes ready to make a name for themselves on the hard...
A-K Valley WPIAL softball playoff capsules: Games for Monday, May 15, 2023
WPIAL softball playoffs Class 5A 8-Thomas Jefferson (13-5) vs. 9-Plum (10-6) 3 p.m. Monday at Gateway Winner plays: Winner of 1-Armstrong (16-1)/16-Upper St. Clair (8-8) Wednesday (time/site TBD) in quarterfinals Players to Watch: Taylor Lorish, Plum; Olivia Stock, Thomas Jefferson Extra bases: Plum is in the WPIAL playoffs for the...
Former Gateway, Oakland Catholic standout Macey Crawford finds success with WVU track
Former Gateway student-athlete Macey Crawford made strides this spring on the women’s track and field team at West Virginia as she continued to make a comeback from leg issues which kept her from competing for nearly a year. Crawford, a 2020 Oakland Catholic graduate, competed as a true freshman two...
Plum grad Markus Cestra earns All-PSAC honors
Markus Cestra started his fifth-year season for the IUP baseball team in an offensive hole. The Plum graduate and Crimson Hawks infielder began the 2023 campaign 1 for 13 through four games. But in his fifth game, a victory over Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East foe East Stroudsburg, he broke...
Plum notebook: Mustangs baseball team captures section title
For the second time in three seasons, the Plum baseball team was able to add to its section-title banner in the main gymnasium. The Mustangs earned a share of the Section 1-5A title, finishing 9-3 after a doubleheader split with Fox Chapel on May 8 and 9. Penn-Trafford also finished...
Shaler, Latrobe earn top seeds for WPIAL boys volleyball playoffs
Shaler in Class 3A and Latrobe in Class 2A are the top seeds as the WPIAL released the boys volleyball playoff brackets Friday afternoon. “Before the pairings were even released, I knew there were a lot of good teams in our bracket and there would be a lot of interesting...
