High School category, Page 1225
A-K Valley high school notebook: Cappa throws her way into Riverview record book
Alyssa Cappa went after Riverview’s strikeout record during one of her handful of pitching appearances last season. Actually getting the mark came down to not trying for it. Cappa, a junior, tied Jen Kumar’s school record for strikeouts in a game by fanning 17 Valley batters in a 10-7 victory...
Former Elizabeth Forward basketball standout Tre Mitchell commits to UMass
Former Elizabeth Forward basketball standout Tre Mitchell, who left the WPIAL for a prep school in Connecticut, committed to Massachusetts on Friday. Mitchell revealed his decision on Twitter. The 6-foot-9, 230-pound center transferred to Woodstock Academy in 2017 after playing two seasons at Elizabeth Forward. He quickly became that state’s...
Gateway boys lacrosse seeking program’s 1st playoff victory
The Gateway varsity boys lacrosse team is an experienced group. Eighteen seniors out of 22 players on the roster speak to that. “We’re basically in win-now mode,” defender and team co-captain Nick Alexander said. “We’re hoping to get back to the playoffs and make history with a win and go...
TJ girls basketball revels in historic season
March Madness for Thomas Jefferson meant a trip to the WPIAL girls basketball finals and historic run to the PIAA semifinals. It was the first time the team went that deep into the state playoffs. The Jaguars finished 22-8 overall, which included 3-1 records in the WPIAL and PIAA tournaments....
Thomas Jefferson baseball starts fresh with new coach
First-year coach Tim Vickers and his staff are looking to turn around the fortunes of the Thomas Jefferson baseball program. TJ finished 6-14 last season, coming in sixth place in Section 3-5A. The Jaguars are hoping to rebound behind four returning starters. “We have been working on every single facet...
Brentwood softball team rebuilding on fly with 10 freshmen
Brentwood will field one of the younger high school softball teams in Western Pennsylvania this season. The Spartans have 10 freshmen and one first-year sophomore looking to fill the gaps made by the graduation of four seniors from last year’s playoff squad. “Our team is very young but very eager,”...
Baldwin inline hockey team wins back-to-back titles
Back-to-back. It has a nice ring. It’s what the Baldwin inline hockey team rung up in 2018-19. Baldwin won its second consecutive Pennsylvania Interscholastic Roller Hockey League HS2 title recently, defeating Pine-Richland, 2-1, in a three-game championship series. The Highlanders won Game 1 6-2, dropped the second game 2-0 and...
Quaker Valley track teams boast returning pedigree
Trios of veterans lead the Quaker Valley track teams. Quaker Valley coach Jerry Veshio expects strong performances from three boys and three girls who competed at the WPIAL Class AA championship meet last season. The girls squad features one of the top distance runners in the state. Junior Annie Wicker...
QV, Sewickley Academy softball expecting to improve
With a wealth of returning starters, the Quaker Valley and Sewickley Academy softball teams expect to improve. That’s also where their similarities end. Sewickley Academy advanced to the second round of the WPIAL playoffs in 2018, and Quaker Valley went winless. Sewickley Academy coach Win Palmer said a little bit...
Penn-Trafford boys volleyball aims for another section title
The Penn-Trafford boys volleyball team jumped right into the thick of an intense battle in its season opener Tuesday night, and that was exactly what Warriors coach Jim Schall wanted to see to get a better handle on his team. The Warriors battled back two deficits before losing 3-2 to...
Pine-Richland volleyball looks to deliver on talent
The WPIAL Class AAA boys volleyball champion has emerged from Section 2-AAA in 15 of the past 16 seasons. North Allegheny and Fox Chapel have won the titles. Pine-Richland wants to join that list. Rams coach Shawn Grady enters this season with a talented group of players, and though it...
Fox Chapel boys lacrosse return strong core from WPIAL playoff team
After a 5-10 finish in 2017, the Fox Chapel boys lacrosse team made a quick turnaround last season. The Foxes finished with a 12-4 record and shared the Section 3-AAA championship with North Allegheny and Shady Side Academy. They won their first WPIAL playoff game before losing to eventual champion,...
Plum girls lacrosse ready to take next step after trip to postseason
The Plum girls lacrosse team qualified for the WPIAL Class AA playoffs last year in only its second season as a full WPIAL member. The Mustangs, as the No. 10 seed, fell to Quaker Valley, 13-3, ending a season full of accomplishments. Now, the goal, second-year coach Kayla Platt said,...
Talented Norwin boys volleyball still playing like underdogs
The Norwin boys volleyball team is hoping to end the season the way it began, and there’s a good chance that could happen. On March 23, the Knights invited some of the WPIAL’s most talented teams to their annual tournament, and they won the whole thing. It was nothing personal...
North Allegheny’s Chen selects Pitt to continue swimming career
Great opportunities in and out of the pool persuaded North Allegheny senior Jerry Chen to continue his swimming career with Pitt next season. “The Pitt team is up and coming,” said Chen, 18, of Franklin Park. “When I went on my recruiting trip, I saw firsthand that every single swimmer...
Franklin Regional boys tennis young and experienced at same time
The Franklin Regional boys tennis team (4-0) is counting on a rare mixture to take it on a long playoff run. “The team is unique in that we have only four seniors, and the rest are underclassmen,” coach Howard Fisher said. “We look forward to being a strong contender in...
FR girls lacrosse retools after graduating 8 senior starters from WPIAL semifinalist
The 2018 season was special for the Franklin Regional girls lacrosse team, but the Panthers aren’t looking back. The Panthers, 14-4 last season, came up just short of a berth in the WPIAL championship game under first-year coach and Franklin Regional alum Mackenzie McGuire. But they made the PIAA playoffs...
Shady Side Academy track has plenty of athletes coming back
Last season, the Shady Side Academy boys track team finished 5-4 but brought home WPIAL and PIAA gold. Dino Tomlin, now a senior, led the way as he won WPIAL and PIAA championships in the 300-meter hurdles. He also finished second in the 100 and fourth in the high hurdles....
Pine-Richland, Burrell win at USA Hockey national championships
A pair of Western Pennsylvania hockey teams are shining on the national stage. Pennsylvania Class AA champion Pine-Richland and PIHL Division II runner-up Burrell won their first two games of pool play Thursday and Friday at the USA Hockey High School National Championship in Cleveland, Ohio. Pine-Richland, playing in the...
Arizona basketball offer adds to Donovan Johnson’s month of madness
March has brought more joy than madness for Moon’s Donovan Johnson and his family. Johnson won a state basketball title last Friday in Hershey, watched his brother play in the NCAA Tournament two days later in Columbus, and then on Monday the 6-foot-7 junior received a scholarship offer from Arizona....
Chronicling Burrell’s unparalleled wrestling success
Burrell wrestling reigned supreme for the 13th straight season this past season, continuing a streak of WPIAL Class AA championships that is unmatched in the sport. The Bucs defeated Freedom, 54-21, in the district championship match, adding more hardware to an already crowded trophy case. The years of success has...
Riverview’s Alyssa Cappa ties school record with 17 strikeouts
Alyssa Cappa was in the zone Thursday: the strike zone. The Riverview junior tied the school record with 17 strikeouts in a 10-7 walkoff win over Valley in a nonsection game. Cappa pitched a complete game, giving up six hits and seven runs — a handful of which were unearned....
High school scores, schedules for March 28, 2019
High Schools Baseball Thursday’s results WPIAL Ripken Experience In Myrtle Beach Elkhorn (Wisc.) 9, Hopewell 2 South Park 6, Chardon (Ohio) 0 Nonsection Bishop Canevin 10, Clairton 2 Brentwood 7, Brashear 3 Burgettstown 5, Washington 3 Carrick 14, Springdale 3 Derry 6, Jeannette 4 DuBois Central Catholic 9, Greensburg Central...
High school roundup for March 28, 2019: Bach fans 16 to lead Yough past Albert Gallatin
Jarett Bach entered the season as one of the WPIAL’s top pitchers. On Thursday, he put his arm on display. The senior Pitt recruit allowed four hits and struck out 16 batters in 61⁄3 innings to lead Yough to a 9-2 nonsection victory over visiting Albert Gallatin (1-1). Vinny Martin...
Knoch scores walk-off win over Deer Lakes
Knoch and Deer Lakes no longer share a section, but the longtime baseball rivals proved their meetings still can produce plenty of drama. A back-and-forth game ended in a 6-5 Knoch walk-off win Thursday night at Kelly Automotive Park as Sean McGill scored from second base on Braden Tristani’s infield...
