Michael Love stories, Page 94
Little things add up for Freeport softball in win over Highlands
Freeport third baseman Autumn Powell grounded out to second base for the first out of the second inning of Friday’s Section 1-4A opener at Highlands. The grounder scored catcher Natalie King, who had walked and moved to third on a pair of wild pitches. The small-ball run was a humble...
Alle-Kiski high school softball notebook: Fox Chapel-Burrell provides pitchers’ duel
Spectators at the March 29 nonsection game between Fox Chapel and Burrell were treated to a double pitching gem. Foxes junior Mackenzie Borkovich and Burrell softball Katie Armstrong dueled for 10 innings before Fox Chapel won in the bottom of the 10th, 1-0, on a throwing error. Borkovich, who shook...
Freeport’s Borghol overcomes back issues to make triumphant softball return
Maya Borghol hit a home run in a March 23 scrimmage against Kiski Area. The trip around the bases, the Freeport senior center fielder said, was confirmation the power she displayed during a breakout freshman season still was there. Lingering issues after back surgery in 2018 took away most of...
Kiski Area blanks Greensburg Salem on opening night of PIHL playoffs
The Kiski Area hockey team is headed back to the PIHL Penguins Cup Class A semifinals. For the second year in a row, the No. 2 Cavaliers will play in the final four after posting a 5-0 victory over No. 7 Greensburg Salem in a quarterfinal contest Monday at Belmont...
North Catholic takes over Class AA top spot in latest WPIAL coaches boys volleyball rankings
The Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association released its Week 2 boys volleyball rankings Monday morning, and there is a change at the top in Class AA. North Catholic, No. 3 in last week’s top 10 poll, has taken over the No. 1 position, unseating Seton LaSalle. The teams went head-to-head...
BMC Cheer Team Rampage wins national championship
The BMC Cheer Team Rampage based out of Brandy Marie Gymnastics in Sarver captured a national championship title at the Encore Championships Pittsburgh Division I and II event March 20 and 21 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. The team performed routines for judges both days in the L2...
Renewed hope takes over for Gateway track and field athletes
Gateway track and field head coach Tom LaBuff is used to spending the spring coaching Gators athletes to top finishes at meets and invitationals. So, it took some time for him, his fellow Gateway coaches and the athletes to process last spring’s season cancellation by the PIAA amid growing covid...
Valley News Dispatch Girls Basketball Player of the Year: Plum’s Kennedie Montue
Valley News Dispatch Girls Basketball Player of the Year Kennedie Montue, Plum 5-11, Sr., Forward In Plum’s season-opening win over Mars, Kennedie Montue scored 29 points. Two nights later, she scored 30 as the Mustangs nearly upended Upper St. Clair. Montue then hit for 30 as Plum rolled past Kiski...
Riverview track and field athletes aim to maintain section success
After being denied an opportunity to compete and defend section championships last spring, members of the Riverview boys and girls track and field teams got back to competition March 27 at the Altoona Igloo Invitational. It was the first glimpse of what Riverview coach Dave Illnicki hopes are productive seasons....
Infusion of young talent boosts Valley softball
While there are many things Valley softball coach Carrol Perroz is concentrating on this season, planning a senior-day ceremony isn’t one of them. A youthful Vikings squad will take the field made up primarily of sophomores and freshmen. There are no seniors and just one junior is on the 17-player...
Valley baseball builds momentum with experienced lineup
When looking for silver linings in what was an otherwise frustrating turn of events with the sudden cancellation of high school sports last spring, Valley baseball coach Jim Basilone knew that he would have nine players returning with varsity experience gained in either 2018 or ’19. Now, with the 2021...
PIHL sets brackets for Penguins Cup playoffs
After a most unprecedented regular season with more changes and ups and downs than one can count, the PIHL has reached the Penguins Cup varsity playoffs. The brackets for the Class AAA, Class AA and Class A and Class B tournaments have been revealed, and quarterfinal games throughout the region...
Senior duo excited to lead young St. Joseph softball squad into battle
Seniors Kelsey DuVall and Kassandra O’Hara own varsity starting experience, and that experience, along with their leadership, is being called upon to help guide a group of eight freshman on a roster of 11 for the St. Joseph softball team this spring. “We kind of know how each other works...
St. Joseph baseball ready to cut loose after canceled season
Only one senior was lost from the 2019 St. Joseph baseball team that finished 8-8 overall and suffered a heartbreaking 7-6 loss to Union in the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Class A playoffs. Expectations were high for the Spartans entering last season, but all of the hopes and goals were...
Springdale baseball eager to ‘meet any challenge’
After winning just two games in 2019, the Springdale baseball team had high hopes to move up the ladder last year with an experienced group. But the covid pandemic squashed those hopes before they had the chance to be realized. Now back on the field, the Dynamos are working to...
Springdale softball looks to build on success of breakthrough season
There was a great deal of excitement surrounding the Springdale softball team after a rather youthful group posted 13 wins in 17 games and made the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Class A playoffs in 2019. That run came after the program posted 15 wins in the previous nine seasons combined....
Volleyball coaches association releases WPIAL Week 1 poll
Several WPIAL boys volleyball teams kicked off the 2021 spring season with matches Friday and Saturday. Picking up wins were North Catholic, Hopewell, Mars, Butler, South Fayette, Seton LaSalle and Seneca Valley. Seven nonsection games are on the docket this evening, and section play for Class AAA begins Tuesday. The...
Gateway swimmer claims medals, finds motivation at state meet
In a high school swim season full of ups and down, with changes and uncertainty around every corner, Andrew Holmes still planned to meet all of his goals and expectations. The Gateway junior ticked off many of the boxes he hoped to over the past couple of months and capped...
Leechburg baseball team’s expectations remain high with new coach
Bill Stoops knows what it’s like to help lead a high school baseball team to the WPIAL playoffs and pick up postseason victories. He did it with Deer Lakes as the coach from 1999-2007, as an assistant at North Allegheny from 2008-15 and with Gateway from 2016-18. After a short...
Leechburg softball puts playoff streak on line
No softball team in the WPIAL has built a streak quite like Leechburg’s. The program’s penchant for consistency has equated to 33 straight WPIAL playoff seasons. That is a run, coach Debbie Young said, this year’s team will fight fiercely to maintain. But the goals and expectations, she added, are...
Plum swimmers perform well at PIAA meet
One moved up, and one moved down. Both were good things when talking about senior Logan Minick and junior Sam Schohn’s swims representing Plum at the PIAA Class AA championships March 19 at Cumberland Valley High School. Minick, seeded 13th in the 500-yard freestyle, moved up two spots to 11th...
RMU’s Williams selected for national 3-point competition
Jon Williams can light it up from long range. The Robert Morris guard led the Horizon League in 3-point field goal percentage (.440) for the 2020-21 season. Now, Williams will get a chance to show what he can do on a national stage as he will take part in the...
Gateway bowlers cap season at regional tournament
While covid protocols and safety precautions made the 2020-21 Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Bowling League season like no other, an experienced Gateway boys varsity team worked through all of the obstacles to finish with successful results. The Gators capped play at the Western Regional Championships on March 5 and 6. Senior...
Gateway baseball players looking to build on past success with holdovers from ’19
Luke Jackson played 14 games and collected 33 at-bats as a sophomore in 2019 as Gateway finished 13-7 and qualified for the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs. The senior center fielder, along with a returning group that included nine seniors, hoped to build on the experience, which included a tough 2-1...
Upper St. Clair’s Josh Matheny betters his national record in winning PIAA breaststroke titleVideo
As a sophomore, Josh Matheny wowed the crowd at Bucknell’s Kinney Natatorium and many others watching on television with a time of 52.52 seconds in the 100-yard breaststroke. That time at the 2019 PIAA Class AAA championships put him in the National Federation of State High School Associations record books....
