Bill Beckner stories, Page 101

Former Westmoreland County resident Ben Wilkins is primed to take over the Seton Hill men’s basketball program. He was announced Tuesday as the new coach, replacing Kendrick Saunders, who was not retained after three seasons and a record of 3-24. Wilkins, an assistant at Army for the last six seasons,...

Clarion senior Jenna Uncapher was running all over the place at her latest track and field meet. And jumping. Uncapher, a Hempfield graduate, scored a career-best 4,247 points to finish fifth in the heptathlon at the Mondschein Multi meet at Kutztown. The mark is third all time at Clarion. She...

The brooms are going to need new bristles at Saint Vincent. The Bearcats baseball team earned its fourth straight sweep of a Presidents’ Athletic Conference opponent, and ran its winning streak to 11, with wins of 9-4 and 10-8 against Franciscan. Junior Jordan Sabol (Penn-Trafford) was the standout of the...

Luke Passarelli is taking his wrestling talent to the highest level of the NCAA. The senior from Norwin committed to Davidson. Passarelli, a 120-pounder, finished fifth in WPIAL Class 3A this season. He went 28-12 and also placed second in his section and sixth at the Powerade Tournament. Outside of...

When Quinton Martin was discussing his college football scholarship offers last month, he said it “would be cool” to get one from Ohio State. The Buckeyes offered Saturday. How cool is that? Martin, the sophomore sensation from Belle Vernon, is rounding up offers from some of the top programs in...

Cheyenne Piper School: Ligonier Valley Sport: Softball Year: Sophomore Claim to fame: Piper had a week to remember, delivering a perfect game and then getting hot with the bat as the Rams won four straight. She threw a perfect game in a 7-0 victory over Punxsutawney in her first varsity...

A pair of Norwin student-athletes are finalists for the 66th annual Westmoreland County Scholar-Athlete awards. The banquet is set for May 3 at Ferrante’s Lakeview. It will honor 36 candidates, two each from the 18 high schools in the county. Athletic directors and school officials from each high school nominate...

Pitt doesn’t just like Fisch on Fridays. Franklin Regional alum Aidan Fisch was honored at a Pitt postseason awards ceremony as the recipient of the men’s basketball Gold Standard Teammate of the Year. The award goes to “the student-athlete from each team who most effectively inspired his or her team...

Norwin first-year boys volleyball coach Mike Palaschak pays attention to rankings because, well, he kind of has to. He participates in the voting for the weekly Western PA Volleyball Coaches Association poll, which ranks the top 10 WPIAL teams in Class 3A and 2A. So, he couldn’t help but notice...

Unable to sleep and full of self-doubt, Neal McDermott sat up in bed and cried. A couple of years before the fifth-year Seton Hill baseball player made SportsCenter’s No. 1 play with a highlight-reel catch as a reinvented center fielder, he was a pitcher. A pitcher at wit’s end, watching...

Jackson Pons has two years of high school football left at Norwin, the same number of Division I football scholarship offers he has. Pons, a sophomore wide receiver and defensive back who transferred back to Norwin from Central Catholic, was offered recently by Mississippi State, a FBS program that plays...

Dave Scarborough is coming home to coach the Point Park women’s basketball team. A Fox Chapel and Cal (Pa.) graduate, Scarborough was announced Friday as the Pioneers’ next coach. He has been an NCAA Division I women’s assistant for the past nine years — and 13 of the last 14...

His team bouncing into the TribLive HSSN rankings for the first time this season, Derry baseball coach John Flickinger is excited but far from content. The last thing he wants is for the Trojans to get comfortable at the No. 4 spot in WPIAL Class 4A. The Trojans moved to...

Simplistic and fun, some trinkets around the clubhouse represent Latrobe baseball’s approach to the game. There’s the pink Barbie car, with Ken and Barbie nestled in and ready to roll, which is a postgame award that goes to the player or players of the game. The shoebox-sized toy has been...

Three Westmoreland teams remained among the undefeated in the WPIAL through Tuesday’s action. Hempfield improved to 4-0 with a home win over Seneca Valley and stayed atop Section 1-6A at 2-0. Penn-Trafford had a 7-0 mark and was 3-0 and tied with Thomas Jefferson for the top spot in Section...

Hempfield softball players kept barking like dogs from the dugout, a unique rallying cry implemented by first-year coach Tina Madison. Turns out, their bark was not louder than their bite. The top-ranked Spartans kept snarling, even as they watched three Norwin home runs sail over the fence Wednesday, and ended...

There is a youth movement in local softball this spring. Hempfield knows. Just look at first-year coach Tina Madison’s pitcher-catcher combo: Both are freshmen. Pitcher Riley Miller deals to catcher Allie Cervola, the pair revealing a been-there-before aura against Class 6A hitters that impresses Madison, one of the best pitchers...

Latrobe had every reason to say “Cheese.” Wildcats baseball players were all smiles after a doubleheader sweep of No. 5-ranked Franklin Regional on Tuesday, including a Game 2 win powered by the battery of senior pitcher Chase Sickenberger — nicknamed “Cheese” long ago by his brother — and senior catcher...

Ohio Northern will have Aaron Krepps back on its football coaching staff next season. The Division III program hired Krepps, a Belle Vernon graduate who served as an assistant there in 2015 and ‘16 before he left to coach at Bluffton, another D-III program that plays in the Heartland Conference....

A pair of Westmoreland schools are working to replace athletic directors. Mt. Pleasant isn’t actively searching for a replacement for Chris Brunson, who resigned in January, but has a dual arrangement working in lieu of an immediate substitute for Brunson. Former AD Allan Bilinsky and principal Bob Gumbita are handling...

Sophomore Anthony Sherwin has become a fixture in the Bucknell baseball lineup. The shortstop out of Penn-Trafford started 30 games as a freshman, and is the leading hitter this season for the Bison. Sherwin was hitting .362 with .954 and .486 on-base and slugging percentages, respectively. He had a team-best...

Right-hander Dylan Brosky allowed one base runner after the first inning on the way to completing Cal (Pa.)’s first no-hitter since 2014 in a 4-0 victory over IUP on Sunday at Wild Things Park in Washington. A senior from Brownsville, Brosky is the first Vulcans’ pitcher to throw a no-hitter...

Toryn Fulton School: Franklin Regional Sport: Softball Year: Freshman Claim to fame: Fulton made an immediate impact in the Panthers’ lineup, delivering four home runs during a four-game stretch in Orlando, Fla. The 6-foot center fielder who bats third in the order, hit two homers and drove in four runs...

Recruited as a pitcher out of high school, Neal McDermott did not get to show his defensive skills much at Seton Hill. But on Friday night, the converted outfielder flashed his glove for all of America to see. The grad student out of Greensburg Central Catholic made the No. 1...

Born on a 98-acre horse ranch in Scottdale, Tyler Shafer grew up around colts and fillies. The animals were always there, so he didn’t know anything different. His family bred and raised horses, so Shafer’s interest was more passed down than discovered. It led him down a path to acclaim...