Other Local category, Page 54
Notre Dame standout, Franklin Regional grad Palmer Jackson receives local golf award
Each time he swats a drive down the center of the fairway with a gentle cut or hard fade, Palmer Jackson improves his game. With each flip wedge or curling putt, he is dialing in to something more. Whether it is physical swing mechanics or a sharper mental approach, Jackson...
JetHawks bring baseball back to Latrobe after coronavirus layoffVideo
There was baseball played Sunday afternoon in Latrobe. While MLB’s owners and players squabble over money, some area teams are taking the field. The Latrobe JetHawks played an exhibition doubleheader at Legion-Keener Field against Hollidaysburg. The squads split, with Hollidaysburg winning Game 1, 9-8, and Latrobe bouncing back with a...
Mix of excitement, anxiety as Derry prepares to start Westmoreland County Baseball League action
Derry Legion baseball manager Joe Lynch is as eager as he is nervous to see a return of summer baseball. The revamped Westmoreland County American League Baseball, a slight deviation from the District 31 league that will return in 2021, is set to begin next weekend. New safety guidelines will...
Bushy Run eager to play ball again but still looking for home field
A Westmoreland County league champion in two of the last three years, Bushy Run is eager to start the summer baseball season. There is one slight problem: The team does not have a home field — yet. “We play in about a little more than week, so it’s tough,” manager...
Westmoreland American Legion baseball schedule finalized
The season is a go for nine Westmoreland County American League baseball teams. The first game scheduled is June 13 when Yough battles West Hempfield at 11 a.m. at Lint Field. There are three games June 14 as Derry travels to West Lebanon in Indiana County to battle Young Township...
Yough American Legion baseball team eager to start summer ball
Yough American Legion baseball coach Craig Spisak has an advantage over other coaches in the Westmoreland County League. He’s also the Yough High School coach. Spisak was preparing his team for the varsity season when the coronavirus wrecked the season. But when District 31 president and Region 7 director Jason...
Tentative return-to-play date for Riverhounds, USL Championship set for July 11
The Pittsburgh Riverhounds are now one step closer to returning to competitive play in 2020. On Thursday, the USL Championship Board of Governors voted in favor of a provisional start date of July 11. Plans for competition format, scheduling, broadcast and other information has yet to be decided upon, but...
Travel softball teams returning to action, trying to get used to coronavirus guidelines
Travel softball will return to Pennsylvania later this month and players and coaches, particularly those who missed out on the high school season, are bubbling with anticipation to play again. When they finally return to the field, they will be met with a laundry list of new safety guidelines brought...
Gene Walter breezes to Tri-State PGA win
Gene Walter finished his first competitive round of the season with a birdie on Wednesday at Wildwood Country Club. He didn’t realize that his 20-foot putt that lipped out was for eagle. He thought he was putting for birdie. It didn’t matter. All he had to do to win the...
Former Mars pitcher Will Bednar named to freshman All-American team
Although his freshman season was cut short, former Mars pitcher Will Bednar received postseason honors this week. After pitching 15⅓ innings this season for Mississippi State, the 6-foot-2, 229-pound right-hander was named to Collegiate Baseball’s 2020 Freshman All-American team. Bednar was one of 24 relief pitchers named to the team...
Tri-State PGA kicks off season
Opening day for the Tri-State PGA season is Wednesday with the Head Professional Championship at Wildwood Country Club in Allison Park. There will be 32 golf club professionals teeing it up. The Tri-State PGA schedule has been delayed for more than two months. Rob McClellan, Gene Walter and Jason Martin...
Stalwart supporter of Western Pa. journalism dies of covid-19 complications
Ginny Frizzi was a stalwart pillar of the journalism community in Western Pennsylvania. A native of Pittsburgh, Ms. Frizzi began her career in journalism before launching a 25-year career in public relations at Point Park University. But she always kept her hand in the news business as a freelance writer,...
Collegiate baseball league to start in Johnstown
It looks like sports will return methodically this summer, and that will include the restart of a longtime tradition in Cambria County. What would summer in Johnstown be without baseball? The Johnstown Collegiate Baseball League is set to begin June 17, according to the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat. League commissioner Don Stanton...
Saint Vincent’s Sleith hangs up cleats to get head start on coaching career at alma mater
Regrets? Surprisingly, you won’t get any from Alona Sleith. A softball star at Saint Vincent who had two years left to play, Sleith gave up the game to try her hand at coaching. A former all-region and all-conference player who led the Bearcats in batting average (.392) and RBIs (40)...
During coronavirus pandemic, local horsemen find ways to make ends meet
The covid-19 pandemic has been tough for everyone to handle. It has shut down businesses and forced everyone to adapt to a new way of life over the past few months. Harness racing at the Meadows Racetrack & Casino in Washington County is no different. Covid-19 shut down harness racing...
Recreational baseball is a go in Westmoreland CountyVideo
A rainbow appeared over Latrobe’s Legion-Keener baseball field Friday afternoon as a handful of players from the Latrobe American Legion team got together for a workout. Latrobe coach Jason Bush pointed to the sky and indicated it was a sign of good things to come for baseball and softball players...
Brotherly love brings out the best in Johnsons, as NBA’s Cam preps Puff for North CarolinaVideo
The competition between brothers Cameron and Donovan “Puff” Johnson is constant and never more evident than on the basketball court in the driveway of their Moon Township home. The games became so competitive neighbors started to gather to watch them play, so intense their parents made them stop before a...
Latrobe grad, Holy Cross basketball player Austin Butler recovering from surgery
Austin Butler’s mother, Michelle, wasn’t convinced she wanted to put her son through shoulder surgery for a second consecutive year. But she and husband Eric went ahead with it for Austin’s peace of mind, and she said she is happy with the decision. Butler, a 2017 Latrobe grad and senior...
Aspiring sports broadcaster from Latrobe wins inaugural Rick Starr Award
In the not too distant future, Hannah Mears envisions herself standing on the sideline at a packed professional stadium or arena, microphone in hand and dream realized, chiming in on what is happening in the big game. The recent Penn State graduate already can’t wait for the first timeout so...
Hannastown trio wins Westmoreland County Golf Association scramble
When cold and snowy weather postponed the Westmoreland County Golf Association’s 3-Man Scramble, tournament officials didn’t know what the delay would do to the tournament’s turnout. It did wonders. Twenty-six teams participated in the event at The Madison Club, and the Hannastown Golf Club trio of Mark Goetz, Jeff Hovanec...
Hempfield grad Kason Harrell shines in Irish league, hopes for G League opportunity
Adjusting to the time change in Ireland was a challenge, and not drawing a whistle when he attacked the rim like Michael Jordan used to against the “Bad Boy” Detroit Pistons also took some getting used to. Kason Harrell learned the Irish eat large quantities of potatoes, night life in...
AJGA revises schedule; Southpointe tournament set for August
The American Junior Golf Association updated its schedule Thursday. Play will resume June 7 with a qualifier for the AJGA Invitational at Sedgefield, Archdale, N.C. The tournament runs from June 8-12. The AJGA holds tournaments throughout the country and will be coming to Southpointe Golf Club near Canonsburg on Aug....
Sen. Toomey, panel of officials encourage return for youth baseball, softball leagues
While MLB haggles over the start of its season, efforts also are being made to get youth sports — namely baseball and softball — back on the field. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Lehigh Valley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Subcommittee on Healthcare, held a virtual roundtable Thursday about youth baseball...
Greensburg shuts down season for baseball, softball, soccer programs
There won’t be any baseball, softball or soccer games played this summer in the City of Greensburg. The Greensburg Parks and Recreation Department canceled its summer programs Tuesday because of the coronavirus. The programs, which were supposed to begin in April, originally were postponed. The decision affects hundreds of city...
Norwin grad Steve Petrick to play final year of college football at Maine
Steve Petrick thinks he still has something to give college football, and he plans to make his final season count. “One hundred percent,” he said. But Petrick will have to put that punctuation mark on his meandering career at another new school — his fourth in as many years. A...
