Sports category, Page 2284
Marcus Hayes: How the U.S. World Cup team made millions of fans
OK, I’m in. In for life. The U.S. women’s national soccer team, with its skill, talent and professionalism, made me the kind of fan I haven’t been since Doc and the Sixers. To be clear: They don’t need me. I need them. I am sure I am not alone in...
Hempfield East wins District 31 regular season, eyes playoff run
As Hempfield East manager Scott Smith sees it, a new season starts Monday. Smith and his team hopes the new season is a repeat performance of 2018. That’s when Hempfield East won the District 31 American legion title, the Region 7 tournament and played in the state tournament for only...
Legion teams prep for playoffs after condensed regular season
Weather issues and other scheduling variables over the past month-and-a-half altered the original District 31 American Legion game plan, and that made for a compacted stretch run to the playoffs. Teams playing two games in one day on the weekend was commonplace. Kiski Valley and Young Township concluded the regular...
Big rain, big wreck at Daytona lead to Justin Haley’s 1st NASCAR Cup win
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Teeth chattering, hands shaking, stomach churning, Justin Haley anxiously waited for NASCAR to pull the plug on a rain-wrecked weekend at Daytona International Speedway. A 500-1 longshot making just his third career Cup start, Haley won the rain-postponed, rain-shortened race at Daytona on Sunday. He inherited...
Megan Rapinoe fuses World Cup win with politics, equality and VAR
LYON, France — A Women’s World Cup stirred by heated debates on politics, pay and technology saw the narratives fused in Sunday’s final by the undisputed and outspoken star of the tournament: Megan Rapinoe. By opening the scoring with a penalty awarded after a video review, Rapinoe claimed a sixth...
15-year-old Coco Gauff savoring the moment at WimbledonVideo
WIMBLEDON, England — Mom and racket-holding Dad joined two coaches and a hitting partner at Coco Gauff’s practice session on a cloudy Sunday afternoon at the All England Club as the 15-year-old American prepared for what could be the toughest test yet of her hard-to-believe Grand Slam debut. Gauff, a...
Kevin Gorman: Best way for Pirates to honor team is to keep it intact
The Pittsburgh Pirates enter the All-Star break below .500 but in contention for the NL Central title and a wild-card berth, attempting to avoid no-man’s land before the trade deadline. No wonder Neal Huntington took the middle ground. The Pirates general manager walks a tightrope when talking about his team,...
Good vibes continue as Pirates enter All-Star break with another winVideo
It was only a week, and it only lasted 24 at-bats. But Bryan Reynolds never had experienced such a hitting slump in his young career. On the day before the All-Star break, Reynolds hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the seventh inning, leading the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 6-5 win...
Pirates’ Francisco Cervelli could play corner infield or RF when he returnsVideo
Francisco Cervelli remains out of action, as he has been since May 26 because of a concussion. And with the catcher continuing to take infield and outfield reps during batting practice while awaiting clearance, what is his positional future with the Pittsburgh Pirates? “As we go through with Cervy, we...
Pirates’ Neal Huntington in balancing act as trade deadline approaches
Stop if you’ve heard this before. Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Neal Huntington is walking a tricky line of weighing options with an inconsistent team in the race for the postseason. Huntington is in his fourth consecutive mid-summer that scenario. His team entered the final day before the All-Star break 3½...
U.S. tops Netherlands to win 4th Women’s World Cup title
LYON, France — The United States women’s soccer team was as good as American players promised — maybe even better. Especially Megan Rapinoe, the pink-haired captain who emerged with the Golden Ball as top player, the Golden Boot as top scorer and a world-wide stature as a champion for gender...
Jon Schwind, Josh Bell’s Home Run Derby pitcher, hopes to find sweet spot
Jon Schwind is hoping to be the perfect pitcher for Josh Bell, which is to say he hopes to repeatedly find the sweet spot on Bell’s bat Monday in the Home Run Derby. As a former roommate and teammate of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ All-Star first baseman who has 27 home...
Pirates set post-All-Star break rotation for series vs. Cubs
Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle is getting away from baseball over the All-Star break this week. So he made sure to set the starting rotation for his team’s upcoming games Sunday. Chris Archer, Jordan Lyles and Trevor Williams will start games during an important three-game series at the Chicago Cubs...
Cue ‘Seinfeld’ jokes: Pirates recall Kevin Kramer, who joins Newman
Kevin Kramer was born just as “Seinfeld” was beginning to become a 1990s cultural phenomenon, and he was 4 years old when its final episode aired. But with his last name, even if Kramer didn’t watch the TV show, he certainly is aware of it. And that became even more...
How Pirates’ Josh Bell stacks up in Home Run Derby bracket
Forget the title chase in the National League Central. Set aside whatever you might think of the Pittsburgh Pirates roster and how it was constructed by a fiscally aware owner. For the next two days, let’s concentrate on how Josh Bell stacks up against the game’s greatest sluggers before taking...
Penguins turn to college all-stars to replenish prospect pool
In the latter stages last season, any time the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins took the ice, it looked like hockey’s version of football’s Senior Bowl. No fewer than six college free agents reported to the AHL team for their first taste of pro hockey, representing schools such as Boston College, Penn State,...
Steelers 2-a-days: Can rookie safety P.J. Locke make team? Tyler Matakevich in contract year
Editor’s note: From now until the first practice of training camp at Saint Vincent, the Trib will be running through the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 90-man roster, assessing each player’s outlook for the 2019 season. The breakdown will go through the roster in mostly alphabetical order, (at least) two per day, between...
Brewers’ Orlando Arcia being evaluated after collision against Pirates
Milwaukee Brewers shortstop Orlando Arcia still was being evaluated after a collision with second baseman Keston Hiura during Saturday night’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. The two ran into each other while converging on a ground ball hit by Colin Moran in the eighth inning. Arcia stayed...
Remember them? U.S. men play Mexico for CONCACAF Gold Cup
CHICAGO — Remember the U.S. men’s soccer team? It also is playing for a trophy Sunday, taking on Mexico at Soldier Field in the final of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the championship of North and Central America and the Caribbean. Gone from the national sports consciousness since its October 2017...
Pirates’ Corey Dickerson injures groin, awaits diagnosis
The only negative moment of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 12-2 victory Saturday night against the Milwaukee Brewers was left fielder Corey Dickerson’s groin injury that forced him from the game in the seventh inning. He injured it while catching a routine fly ball. “I felt something weird in my groin area,”...
Rangers, Islanders, Devils all creating buzz in NHL offseasonVideo
The New York Rangers’ rebuild got a big boost with the additions of forwards Artemi Panarin and Kaapo Kakko. The New Jersey Devils drafted Jack Hughes with the No. 1 pick and traded for P.K. Subban to improve their defense. The Islanders are coming off a second-place finish in the...
Dario Agrazal, bats prop up Pirates in victory against BrewersVideo
Dario Agrazal and Kevin Newman were not starters coming out of spring training. Agrazal was headed to Altoona, a Double-A team, after he had been designated for assignment in January and unclaimed by every other team. He was in Bradenton, Fla., with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but without a spot on...
Legion baseball teams adapting to athletes and their busy summers
Since 1925, American Legion baseball has been a staple in small communities all across the country. In Western Pennsylvania alone, 34 teams currently play in two different regions, and over the course of the next few weeks a majority of those teams will compete for spots in regional and state...
Outdoors extras: Making stew and setting up trail cameras
LURE OF THE WEEK Lure name: Butterfly Float’N Harness Company: Northland Fishing Tackle (www.northlandtackle.com/) Lure type: Crawler harness Sizes and colors: Available in two blade sizes, 7/8- and 1 3/8-inch, and 12 color combinations, including blue shiner, clown, electric perch, Wonderbread, pink lemonade and purple tiger. Target species: Walleyes and...
Rain dampens NASCAR’s final holiday visit to Daytona; race postponed
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Rain spoiled one of NASCAR’s last great traditions when Saturday night’s race at Daytona International Speedway was postponed because of persistent poor weather. The race will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, which helps NBC avoid a head-to-head conflict with the final game of the Women’s...
