TribLive stories, Page 754

And then there were four. We started with 17 baseball and softball teams from the Alle-Kiski Valley to begin the WPIAL playoffs last Tuesday: six baseball and 11 softball. At the end of the week, we were down to four, all in softball. Burrell and Freeport will be active Monday...

On a rainy Friday earlier this month, several leading Republican candidates for governor drove to Westmoreland County for former President Trump’s rally that evening. With less than two weeks before the primary election, State Sen. Doug Mastriano was leading in the polls, and some of the candidates and their aides...

Sydney Selker School: Freeport Class: Sophomore Sport: Softball Report card: Selker threw a complete game, allowing one run on five hits against Central Valley in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs on Wednesday. Selker batted .483 and hit seven home runs while driving in 27 runs during the regular...

In July of last season, the New York Boulders extended their lead, going up 4-2 against the Washington Wild Things. In the bottom of the ninth, the team worked the bases loaded. Wild Things infielder Nick Ward approach the plate with confidence against closer Tanner Kiest. “He was throwing at...

Bridgewater Associates alum David McCormick and celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz are girding for a long legal fight in their too-close-to-call Pennsylvania Republican Senate primary, with Donald Trump already casting doubts on the outcome. The race is expected to end with an automatic recount that threatens to trigger an intraparty battle...

JOHNSTOWN — A Westmoreland County woman testified on Friday that suspended Somerset County District Attorney Jeffrey Thomas assaulted his wife in 2021 after she discovered him drinking with a recent lover. But Thomas’ wife, Amy Thomas, maintained in her own testimony that injuries to her face and head were caused...

Sophia Roncone has been one of the most electric pitchers in WPIAL Class 5A softball for the last couple of years. This season, however, she gave opponents two reasons to worry about her. Roncone went 10-2 in the circle during the regular season with 116 strikeouts and 48 walks. The...

Just two years on the job and Alex Mueser is seeing some very enjoyable progress. Mueser, a former Saint Vincent and Vincentian Academy standout, took over a building North Hills boys lacrosse program before last season. It took a year, but the Indians were able to put together a solid...

The North Allegheny boys volleyball team is taking on Central Dauphin for the 2021 PIAA championship. The team’s adrenaline is rushing and the players are about to cement their legacy as champions. With the team about to clinch the victory, coach Dan Shall calls a timeout. “We were up 24-16...

Many WPIAL championship teams suffer a letdown in their first PIAA tournament game. Not Fox Chapel’s boys tennis team, however. The Foxes, after a convincing, 5-0 victory over Shady Side Academy in the WPIAL Class 3A finals May 11, won their PIAA opener over City League champion Carrick by the...

It was a tough day on the diamond as the Fox Chapel baseball and softball teams were ousted in the opening round of the WPIAL playoffs on May 17. The baseball team fell to West Allegheny, 1-0, in the Class 5A first round. Vinnie Reiber got the only two Foxes’...

Too many injuries and too many close losses. That’s the 2022 Fox Chapel boys lacrosse season in a nutshell. The Foxes finished 3-5 in section play, 8-7 overall. “It’s nice to have a winning season, that’s definitely a positive,” said Kevin Devinney, Fox Chapel’s fifth-year coach. “I think overall, though,...

I don’t believe it’s unreasonable to presume that many of the people demonstrating against the Supreme Court draft decision on abortion also participate in protests under the banner of Black Lives Matter. A closer investigation of abortions and racism may be helpful. Blacks and Hispanics combined make up less than...

PHILADELPHIA — As of Friday, May 27, it will have been 47 years since the Flyers last won the Stanley Cup. If you have a fondness for the sadomasochistic, you can continue parsing that number to illustrate just how long that drought has been: 17,168 days, 411,744 hours, and on...

Bad policy makes people vulnerable, and the current baby formula shortage is just the latest example. The immediate cause of the shortage was contamination in a Michigan factory, which might not resume production until June. But the underlying cause is a slew of bad policies that make the market less...

No child should ever go hungry in the richest nation in the world. And yet, in recent days, panicked parents and caretakers who rely on infant formula for their loved ones’ health and nutritional needs are contending with the skyrocketing prices of baby formula and a severe shortage in grocery...

A shout-out to the great men and women who meticulously groom and tend to the everyday needs of our great county park, North Park. There aren’t many places anywhere around more beautiful. It is a treasure to be able to enjoy such a wonderful place so close to home. Just...

Organizations and communities planning Memorial Day activities should send the information as soon as possible to: Carol Pinto-Smith, Valley News Dispatch, 210 Wood St., Tarentum, PA 15084; email cpinto-smith@triblive.com; or fax 724-226-4677. All events are on May 30 unless otherwise noted. Apollo Apollo Volunteer Fire Department No. 2 will sponsor...

In “Climate catastrophists need to chill” (May 8, TribLIVE), Mona Charen says it’s an exaggeration to call climate change an “extinction-level” problem. I agree — but she is wrong to downplay the problem when she writes “At the more extreme end of possible effects … agriculture would be affected.” Agriculture...

Inflation is sending prices through the roof, from making breakfast and cleaning your house to buying a car and renting an apartment. All of them are not only up but also continuing to climb. Restaurants are marking more menu items as “market price” because of the rapid fluctuation, elevating a...

Publicize your community events, fundraisers and club meetings for free in The Stroller. Send information at least a week in advance to vndnews@triblive.com or The Stroller, 210 Wood St., Tarentum PA 15068. Please include a daytime telephone number. Used paper-back books needed for troops, veterans The Last Word Bookstore, Lower...

Letter-writer Kathleen Bollinger (“More to the story on Ukraine”) has a point that liberal media is one-sided and that Russia and Ukraine have been fighting since 2014, but that is all. Russians are not bad people, but they endure repression of religion, free speech and the truth. Now we have...

INDIANAPOLIS (Triple-A, 20-18) defeated Toledo (Tigers), 5-2. SS Ji-hwan Bae (.293) was 3 for 4 with a home run. 1B Mason Martin (.258) smacked a two-run homer. CF Travis Swaggerty (.208) was 2 for 3 with a home run, triple and two RBIs. LHP Trey McGough (3.06) started and allowed...

High schools Baseball WPIAL playoffs Class 6A Quarterfinals Monday’s schedule Mt. Lebanon (13-7) vs. Seneca Valley (14-7) at West Mifflin, 4 p.m.; Norwin (10-8) vs. Central Catholic (10-9) at Plum, 4 p.m.; North Allegheny (14-5) vs. Upper St. Clair (10-8) at Shaler, 4:30 p.m.; Pine-Richland (11-9) vs. Butler (13-5) at...

A fight over the sale of ghost guns and parts to make them has come to Western Pennsylvania as a Butler County gun parts supplier on Friday filed a federal lawsuit against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The complaint, filed by Not an LLC, which operates as...