Bill Beckner stories, Page 77

When Ryan Shawley played baseball for Latrobe, he was a calming voice in the dugout and an animated, rah-rah teammate on the field. Maybe that’s why he gravitated to coaching. It seemed like a natural progression, wearing a hard helmet inside the third-base box and waving runners around, or advising...

Latrobe girls soccer is primed to make a splash as it drops to WPIAL Class 3A this season. Junior Regan Reilly has a lot to do with the raised expectations. The talented forward became the third Wildcats player to make a Division I college commitment this offseason, announcing her intentions...

Alayna Rocco is on the path to Division I college basketball. But where will she play? She has plenty of choices on a growing list of schools. The junior guard at North Catholic, who lives in Trafford, is having another big summer with the Western PA Bruins AAU club, and...

Kevin Conroy will lead the Pitt-Greensburg women’s volleyball program into the future. The position was opened in the offseason after it became full time and, after an extensive search, UPG found its man. A Flint, Mich., native, Conroy has been the girls head volleyball coach at Potomac State High School...

Westminster senior Ryan Beard and his teammates ran circles around opponents during the outdoor track and field season. A Franklin Regional alum, Beard was a U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Region Mid-Atlantic honoree as part of the 400-meter relay team. The foursome ran to the first...

While hitters were taken aback by the quick emergence of freshman Callie Sowers as a true gamer in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, nobody was more open-mouthed than Sowers herself. Rookie seasons are not supposed to be this good. The fast-throwing pitcher’s first year at Bloomsburg was productive, sound and...

From its all-time leading scorer in girls basketball, to a pair of three-sport standouts, to two WPIAL championship teams of 2016, the Norwin Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2022 covers a lot of ground. Soccer, wrestling and football also are part of the mix. Even the district’s favorite ticket-taker...

Double-double producing center Katie Nolan is going from Seton Hill to the pros. The recent grad signed to play for the Newcastle Eagles of the Women’s British Basketball League. The Eagles are based in Tyne, England. “I am extremely excited to be able to continue my basketball journey and blessed...

Called the “toughest wrestling tournament in the country,” the USA Wrestling National Championships represent a true test of talent for coaches and competitors. To Kyle Martin, the event represents a grandiose stage that matches the competition level. Martin found so much enjoyment and success in last year’s event, he couldn’t...

It wasn’t majestic, like one of his second-deck home runs, and it didn’t find a gap. But JJ Matijevic’s hard-hit grounder did enough to score the winning run for the Houston Astros, who continued their mastery of the visiting New York Yankees last Thursday with a 3-2 win. Matijevic, pinch-hitting...

Ron Prady has not shown his players the bling. The bulky, diamond-studded championship ring he earned as an assistant at Penn-Trafford last season hasn’t been passed around the locker room or tried on by any players at Latrobe, where Prady is a first-year head coach. It’s not Prady’s style to...

The Norwin hockey team reassembled as PIHL champions recently and collected their spoils: championship rings. One last time, the Knights again celebrated the greatest season in program history, one that saw them capture their first league title with a 5-0 win over Meadville in March at the UPMC Lemieux Complex...

Called the “toughest wrestling tournament in the country,” the USA Wrestling National Championships represent a true test of talent for coaches and competitors. To Kyle Martin, the event represents a grandiose stage that matches the competition level. Martin found so much enjoyment and success in last year’s event, he couldn’t...

One is old school, committed to stopping the run and appreciative of a good hit over the middle. The other is new wave. Spread the field, go shotgun and make the secondary guess. Ray Reitz and his son, Ryan, look at high school football from different perspectives, but they are...

As Penn-Trafford’s final deep pass attempt sailed out of the end zone and fell incomplete, players from Latrobe jumped into each other’s arms and bounced around in a sudden swell of excitement. For once, the Wildcats got to celebrate on their home field, which hosted the county 7-on-7 passing tournament...

Taking over a perennial power three weeks before official practice begins might seem daunting to most first-year soccer coaches. Not to Kara Batey. She was hired to coach the Greensburg Central Catholic girls rather late in the game, but she was eager to meet her players for the first time...

Feeling he had more to prove as a college pitcher, Jared Kollar took advantage of a fifth year of eligibility and played last season at Rutgers. What did he prove? That he might have major-league talent. The crafty right-hander out of Latrobe and Seton Hill was signed Tuesday night to...

Kaleb Tkacs was 5-foot-10 and weighed 160 pounds when he joined the Southmoreland football team as a freshman. Not small, but not exactly the roster specs of an aspiring lineman, either. Tkacs was not judged on his height and weight, though. Then-line coach Ron Frederick saw a player he could...

Latrobe’s Emma Blair makes old-school post players proud every time she touches the basketball. And, despite the ever-changing nature of the game, where more traditional “bigs” are being asked to do more away from the rim than under it, college coaches are taking notice. Size and back-to-the-basket ability still mean...

Success in the summer months doesn’t quite compare to success during the winter high school basketball season, but Hempfield can attest there still is plenty of value to it. And the trophies are just as shiny. Winning as a cohesive unit in July can be a building block for the...

The “skill” guys — the quarterbacks, running backs, receivers and defensive backs — will be on display Thursday at the Westmoreland County Coaches Association Larry Sellitto Memorial 7-on-7 Football Championship, a sure sign high school football is fast approaching. The pitch-and-catch event begins at 9 a.m. at Latrobe’s Rossi and...

Greensburg Salem will fall into line with similar-sized schools in boys basketball again next winter but the team will play in Class 4A without Mark Zahorchak. The Golden Lions’ head coach resigned after four seasons, the last two when Greensburg Salem played up in Class 6A to reduce travel and...

Fall sports will introduce WPIAL teams to a new two-year cycle, which means classifications and sections have been realigned. Here’s what Franklin Regional teams will face in 2022: Beginning with football, the Panthers will remain in the Class 5A Big East Conference, which has undergone change. It now has Franklin...

Andrew Nesler is on the move. The rising senior football player is leaving Franklin Regional for The Hill School, a prep academy in Pottstown, about 70 miles east of Hershey. Nesler, a 6-foot-2, 285-pound lineman, said the transfer is motivated by personal and family reasons. He was a key player...

When Kameron Taylor played at Seton Hill he had a propensity to deliver big shots at big moments. The smooth-shooting guard out of Landover, Md., was a 20-point-per-game scorer as a senior in 2016. Now, he is looking for his big break. Taylor has found his way to the doorstep...