Jerin Steele stories, Page 39

When Ricky Weiss takes the track with his super late model Thursday for the opening night of the Firecracker 100 weekend, it will be his first lap at Lernerville Speedway. That has been the case at most places this year in his rookie season on the World of Outlaws circuit,...

In a way, baseball can be broken down to a variable equation: pitching, defense and hitting. Kiski Valley Legion coach Den Montgomery feels his team has two-thirds of the puzzle with pitching and defense, but the hitting remains a work in progress. The Vikings have a deep pitching staff and...

The three-sport athlete has become a rare breed with many specializing in one sport to try to make it to college, but Hunter Linhart saw the benefits of diversifying. In the fall, he studied the playbook as Plum’s quarterback. In the winter, he traded in his cleats for a rifle,...

With teams intentionally walking standout catcher Mark Black regularly in the playoffs, Serra Catholic baseball coach Brian Dzurenda decided to move him from third in the order to the leadoff spot, which put Pat Brennan in Black’s old spot. Brennan accepted his new spot as a challenge to become the...

Michael Klingensmith led off first base after drawing a walk in the top of the first inning in Monday’s PIAA first- round game when Cathedral Prep pitcher Colin Kelly made a pick-off throw to first. Klingensmith dove back to the bag, easily beating the attempt and right on cue all...

It often has been said good things come to those who wait, and Franklin Regional baseball proved that in a couple of ways Monday. The Panthers had to wait 18 years to get back to the state playoffs, and in their return, patience at the plate was key to making...

Kristen Knapp, Aubry Skeel and Kiera Jones left Leechburg on Thursday night as graduates. A few days earlier, they were part of another graduation of sorts with the Blue Devils softball team, who, after falling in the consolation game two years in a row, broke through for a 3-2 victory...

Seton LaSalle first baseman Dan Boehme knew he had a good day, but he was unaware it was a historic one until he got back into the dugout after crushing a two-run homer over the left field fence. That’s when his teammates broke the news to him. “They started telling...

Leechburg softball coach Debbi Young has found it can be tough at times to get a team energized for a consolation game after a difficult loss in the semifinals, but she doesn’t foresee that being a problem with her current group. Considering this is the Blue Devils’ third straight year...

With the score tied 11-11 in the final minute of the WPIAL Class AAA girls lacrosse final between Upper St. Clair and Shady Side Academy, Mother Nature decided to put a halt on the night and add some suspense. With 28 seconds remaining in regulation, lightning followed by heavy rain...

Natalie Cyterski was bloodied, battered and exhausted, but she wasn’t going to be denied. The Oakland Catholic senior had to leave the game twice in the first half with a severe cut on her forehead and even had to switch jerseys because there was blood on hers, but she stayed...

Jake Maley hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the sixth inning to propel No. 2 Pine-Richland to a 2-1 victory over No. 7 Norwin in a WPIAL Class 6A quarterfinal baseball game Tuesday night at Upper St. Clair’s Boyce-Mayview Park. Norwin starter Billy Kerston allowed one hit through...

WPIAL baseball playoffs Monday’s games WPIAL Class 4A Quarterfinals 1-Greensburg Salem (14-2) vs. 9-New Castle (9-9) 4 p.m. at Fox Chapel Winner plays: Winner of 4-Blackhawk (14-4) and 12-Mt. Pleasant (10-8) in semifinals Coaches: Bill Wisniewski, Greensburg Salem; Bill Cook, New Castle Players to watch: Matt Wicker, Sr., P, Greensburg...

Michael Marsico said he doesn’t feel much pressure going into his first NCAA Division II golf national championship this week, and he’s looking forward to enjoying the moment. If he finds himself in a tense situation, though, he showed last weekend he can handle it. Marsico, a Fox Chapel graduate...

Kiski Valley boys rugby advanced to the Rugby PA Club Division II championship game for the second consecutive season with a 32-5 win over North Penn on Saturday at Penn State Berks. Winners of the 2016 state title, the top-seeded Titans (6-1) will try to win their second when they...

Fox Chapel coach Jim Hastings summed up how things went for his team Thursday with five words. “Baseball is a frustrating game,” he said. The Foxes had runners in the first six innings and loaded the bases once but couldn’t push a run across in a 5-0 loss to Mars...

In the last five years, Kiski Valley rugby has built its program to be on par with some of best in the state and last week reflected that when the girls and boys teams were awarded top seeds in their respective brackets. After a bit of a strange week when...

Nearly half of the players in Plum softball’s lineup have batting averages at .400 or above, but none of them know it. At least they haven’t looked. There’s a team-wide pact not to look at individual stats during the season. “We have never even talked about it,” Plum co-captain Chloe...

Ameriah Walters originally was recruited to run hurdles at Seton Hill, but because the 400-meter hurdles and 200 meters are scheduled back-to-back at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championships, she had to make a decision. Walters, a Valley graduate, always felt like being a sprinter was her calling, and she...

When Laurie (Scharff) Suprano was a freshman at Springdale in the early 1970s, the school was in the beginning stages of introducing softball as club activity. Most other girls sports also were being introduced on a club basis, a trend at many schools in the area, and Suprano used the...

After three years of seeing the Kiski Valley girls rugby team finish as the state runner-up, Rilee Roach is ready to break through. “Honestly, I’m just so sick of getting second place at this point,” said Roach, a junior captain. “I think our other captains, Autumn (Trempus) and Kelsie (Magill),...

Franklin Regional baseball coach Bobby Sadler laughed and then paused for a few seconds when deciding if pitching or hitting was going better for his team. “That’s tough, because both are really going well for us,” he said. “Everything seems to be going right for us.” With five players hitting...

Going into the season with seven new starters, Greensburg Central Catholic baseball coach Dennis Reist beefed up the schedule with an early run of difficult nonsection opponents and hoped Mother Nature would cooperate. Reist wanted to give his younger players a challenge right off the bat to get them up...

Celia Knappenberger plays to win. That might seem like a default setting for any athlete, but there was conviction in the tone of her voice when describing her will to be successful that showed she doesn’t take it for granted. And with focus and determination Knappenberger, a Knoch graduate, has...

Growing up in Oakmont as the youngest of four brothers, Dennis Persin often found himself in the backyard playing football and learned lessons that helped shape his life. Each of his brothers played college football, and Persin was determined to forge his own path in the sport. Persin, 71, was...