High School category, Page 293
Shaler softball changes focus from power bats to defense, pitching
Watching fly balls sail over the fence for home runs was something people who follow the Shaler softball team got used to last season. But anyone who comes out to watch the Titans this season can expect a different strategy being employed. Many of the power hitters who helped propel...
Chartiers Valley softball aims to build on strong fall season
Chartiers Valley’s 2023 softball season came to a sudden halt when it was blanked in the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals. A 10-0 loss was not the way the Colts wanted their season to end against the team they shared the section title with. Fast forward a few months and the...
Chartiers Valley baseball maintains lofty goals despite inexperience
It might be a fresh start for the Chartiers Valley baseball team with a new coaching staff and a renovated lineup with a bevy of seniors graduating from a year ago, but the Colts don’t plan on missing a beat. After going 14-7 and sharing a section 3-4A title with...
Maddox Shaw’s PIAA title highlights decorated season for Jaguars
A two-time WPIAL champion, Thomas Jefferson’s Maddox Shaw advanced to the PIAA Class 3A tournament in Hershey again this year where he took first place in the 139-pound weight division. Shaw became TJ’s second state champion in the past three years and second under coach Michael Ladick. “For 730 days...
Trib HSSN 2024 wrestling all-stars: Frazier’s Rune Lawrence joins state’s most exclusive club
Wrestler of the Year Rune Lawrence Frazier, sr., 215 pounds 2023-24 record: 33-1; Career record: 145-8 Winning four PIAA wrestling titles is not common. When Frazier senior Rune Lawrence completed the task March 9, he became only the 14th wrestler to achieve such a goal. He also is the seventh...
High school scores, summaries and schedules for March 23, 2024
High schools Baseball Saturday’s results Nonsection Avonworth 6, Sidwell Friends 5 Grayslake North 15, Chartiers-Houston 5 North Hills 10, Avonworth 0 West Mifflin 4, Severn 3 Latrobe at Wadsworth (OH) (n) Poland (OH) at Shenango (n) Basketball PIAA championships At Giant Center, Hershey Boys Class 6A Saturday’s result Central York...
High school roundup for March 23, 2024: Pine-Richland hockey wins state title in OT
Josh Lanyard completed a hat trick to tie the score with the goalie pulled with 1:37 to play and AJ Verszyla netted the game-winner in overtime as Pine-Richland rallied to defeat LaSalle College, 5-4, in the Pennsylvania Cup Class 3A finals Saturday. It’s the fourth state title for Pine-Richland, its...
Westmoreland high school athletes of the week: Latrobe’s Kayla Williams, Mt. Pleasant’s Joseph Gardner
Kayla Williams School: Latrobe Class: Senior Sport: Softball Claim to fame: Williams sprinted out of the gates to open the season. The Slippery Rock commit earned her first pitching win of the season, striking out nine, and helped her cause with a big day at the plate in an 11-3...
Westmoreland high school notebook: More Division I offers for Latrobe’s Wetzel
The number of Division I colleges interested in adding John Wetzel to their defensive backfield keeps growing. Wetzel, a junior at Latrobe, pulled in three more scholarship offers, bringing his total to 13. Buffalo, Eastern Michigan and Monmouth extended offers to Wetzel, a 6-foot, 195-pound safety who also plays quarterback...
Franklin Regional players hold heads high despite loss in PIAA title game
HERSHEY — Fin Hutchison was the last basketball player from Franklin Regional to leave Giant Center on Friday night. The senior guard cradled the PIAA Class 5A runner-up trophy like a kid with his favorite toy, gently setting it down to answer questions before heading for the bus. He glowed,...
A-K Valley HOF inductee Paganelli has storied baseball past
Every Sports Hall of Famer has stories about the great plays they made or a number of championships they won. For Fred Paganelli, who grew up in Natrona Heights and will join the A-K Valley Sports Hall of Fame in May, his sports life was filled with many memories, championships...
A-K Valley athletes of the week: Kiski Area’s Justin Tucker, Knoch’s Giona Lavorini
Giona Lavorini Class: Junior School: Knoch Sport: Swimming Report card: Lavorini won a gold medal in the 100-yard breaststroke at the PIAA Class 2A girls swimming championships March 16 at Bucknell. Lavorini dropped more than a second from her prelim time to win the championship heat in 1 minute, 2.11...
Blackhawk finds redemption in Hershey, wins PIAA girls basketball title with 1st-year coach
HERSHEY — Greg Huston wasn’t on the bench last March when Blackhawk lost in the state finals, but he understood the team’s heartache as well as anybody. He was here a dad watching his daughter from the Giant Center seats. “I felt the pain in the stands,” he said, “because...
Defending state champ leads talented Hampton track team
Hampton track star Dale Hall enters his senior season in the unusual position of being a reigning state champion and an underdog, all at the same time. Hall, who last spring won the PIAA Class 3A 1,600-meter title as the No. 11 seed, has a pair of Notre Dame recruits,...
With every starter back, Pine-Richland softball expects good chemistry, big season
Vibes are high for the Pine-Richland softball team and for good reason. The entire starting lineup returns from last year’s team that made it to the WPIAL Class 6A semifinals. Experience is always nice to have, but what really excites Rams coach Sam Hartzberg is how well everyone on the...
As playoff run ends, Hampton takes pride in special season
One day after Hampton’s boys basketball season came to an end, Joe Lafko contemplated the Talbots’ memorable journey. “We had a fantastic year,” the longtime coach said. “I am so proud of this team.” The Talbots (25-5) put together one of the finest seasons in program history, winning a second...
Fox Chapel notebook: Swimmers come home with state medals
The Fox Chapel boys and girls swimming teams wrapped up their seasons at the PIAA Class 3A swimming and diving championships at Bucknell. Sarah Pasquella ended up being Fox Chapel’s top performer. The Foxes senior standout finished second in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1 minute, 1.8 seconds....
Season opener gives Fox Chapel baseball taste of what’s to come
The Fox Chapel baseball team hasn’t been immune to having to postpone games due to the cold snap that has plagued mid-March in Western Pennsylvania. But the Foxes were able to keep their season-opening date with defending Class 5A PIAA champion Shaler. Fox Chapel lost its season opener, 5-2, but...
Mason Kernan caps Bethel Park career as WPIAL champion, PIAA bronze-medalist
Mason Kernan ended his four-year reign on the mats at Bethel Park with a 124-18 record. A 133-pound senior and West Virginia recruit, Kernan captured a WPIAL Class 3A championship and placed third in the state this season. “Mason competed hard this season and gave everything he had,” Bethel Park...
Decorated senior class moves on, but Bethel Park baseball expects to contend again
Bethel Park has won two PIAA baseball championships and two WPIAL runner-up trophies over the last three years. The Black Hawks were WPIAL finalists in 2023 but saw their two-year run as PIAA 5A champions end with a 2-1 playoff loss to Bonner-Pendergast out of District 12. “We graduated 14...
Trib Westmoreland 2024 wrestling all-stars: Norwin freshman Landon Sidun as good as advertised
Wrestler of the Year Landon Sidun Norwin, fr., 114 pounds 2023-24 record: 42-2; Overall record: 42-2 Landon Sidun was well known even before he wrestled his first high school match. He was being touted as the next superstar. The freshman didn’t disappoint. Sidun bounced back from a loss in the...
Valley News Dispatch 2024 wrestling all-stars: Burrell’s Cooper Hornack fights through injury to win WPIAL gold
Wrestler of the Year Cooper Hornack Burrell, sr., 139 pounds 2023-24 record: 40-8; Overall record: 156-27. Cooper Hornack knows his senior season could have and should have ended better. Hornack did reach an elite milestone by becoming the WPIAL’s 88th three-time champion, but he came up short of his goal...
State medals cap off successful season for Plum girls wrestlers
The Plum girls wrestling team met a lot of the expectations coach Dave Miller had for the 2024 season. No matter how high those expectations may have seemed. “I expected two girls to at least make it to states and I was hoping for three to get there,” said Miller....
Led by senior shortstop, scrappy Norwin softball team ready for season
When she is finished dealing assists and taking charges on the basketball court — fully healed nose or not — Bailey Snowberger will rejoin the Norwin softball team. That is where you’ll see the senior shortstop in her true element. “Bailey is a very key player for us in so...
Norwin baseball in good position despite having ‘big shoes to fill’
Second-year Norwin baseball coach Craig Spisak admits there are still new things that he is learning while coaching a much larger program at the Class 6A level. But overall, he feels his “system” is taking root and the players are collectively on board. Norwin finished 8-12 last season and tied...
