Bill Beckner stories, Page 137

With its first three hitters, Norwin began the day double, home run, home run in its Section 2-6A softball clash Friday at Hempfield. The Knights had a three-run lead before some fans beyond the outfield fence got settled into their lawn chairs and covered themselves with blankets. It looked like...

Frustrated that she struck out in her previous at-bat, Jesse Pugh came to the plate with vexation in the top of the fifth. There was some angry aluminum awaiting Franklin Regional senior pitcher Makinzie DeRiggi. With a mighty swing, the freshman slugger from Armstrong sent a moon shot to deep...

One game was all it took for Greensburg Central Catholic to realize it has some promising potential at the plate. The Centurions (5-1), the TribHSSN No. 1 team in WPIAL Class A to open the week, won their first five Section 2 games handily, scoring double-digit runs in each. “After...

Penn-Trafford still is finding its identity as the baseball season nears the halfway mark. Coach Dan Miller was moving pieces around in his pitching rotation at the beginning of the week as his team won five in a row after a tough, 11-2 nonsection loss to Norwin. “It’s an honest...

Hempfield is glad to have No. 22 back in the circle — and in the batter’s box. Senior Callie Sowers has returned from a broken thumb that sidelined her for the first five games of the season. “I’m so glad to be back,” Sowers said. “It was tough only getting...

Excuse Ligonier Valley if it needs a GPS to navigate its way through through the WPIAL. The softball team, like many programs at the school, is new to District 7, having played for decades in the Heritage Conference of bordering District 6. “We have to look up all these schools,”...

Seton Hill’s women’s lacrosse is making up for lost time from last season by winning every match this season. Led by their seniors, the Griffins improved to 9-0 and clinched the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference title with a 10-8 victory over Mercyhurst. Senior Kristi Kada scored a team-leading four goals,...

Zach Abdallah is a hockey player who plays golf. Or is it the other way around? Either way, he would make Happy Gilmore proud. “Hockey led to golf for me,” the Franklin Regional junior said. “I started playing because of (golf teammate) Michael Wareham. Now, I play all the time.”...

Westminster’s Samantha Kelly has been a steady contributor in this shortened women’s volleyball season in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference. A shortened season capped with a championship. The junior setter from Penn-Trafford was particularly effective in the PAC title match for the top-seeded Titans as she registered 21 assists and 15...

The WPIAL awarded $1,000 scholarships to 20 student-athletes, including a pair of girls from Westmoreland County. Local winners were Bella Gera of Hempfield and Julia Hauck of Penn-Trafford. Other girls winners were Brooke Bauer of Knoch, Danielle Bryant of Pine-Richland, Jacquelyn Jardini of Sewickley Academy, Nadia Lape of Mohawk, Tegan...

Latrobe sports will be under the direction of Zac Heide, the newly named athletic director who has served as an assistant in the school’s athletic department since 2017. Heide replaces Mark Mears, who is retiring from the position after 11 years but will remain as the Wildcats’ wrestling coach. A...

With the No. 1 ranking in the WPIAL — the No. 4 mark in the state in Class 6A — and enough college-level talent to beat the band, Norwin has earned the right to walk around with bravado. But its play on the field, coach Mike Liebdzinski said, needs to...

Hempfield will vote Monday to name Mike Brown as its next head football coach. Brown is the recommended candidate to replace Rich Bowen, who resigned after nine seasons. Brown, a Penn-Trafford graduate, has been a defensive assistant at Robert Morris and Greensburg Central Catholic. He played safety at Mercyhurst. Bowen...

It has been one wild ride this season for Jeannette baseball, which is enduring a down year but taking it in stride. The young Jayhawks’ schedule has been some feast and a lot of famine since the opening pitch, with every game seeing at least one team score 15 or...

When Southmoreland upset No. 5 Waynesburg to open the WPIAL baseball season, the Scotties did not have a ticker-tape parade through downtown Scottdale. When the Scotties beat the same Raiders team two days in row, the observance again was slight. A few fist- and chest-bumps sufficed — for now. “Nothing...

As a behavioral specialist and former pro player, Sam Salih brought a unique combination of mental and physical training methods to Greensburg Central Catholic’s girls basketball program. But he will be taking his philosophies elsewhere after resigning as the Centurions’ coach after three seasons. Salih said he is leaving the...

Yough softball coaches and players often talk about their pitchers “hitting spots.” By design, the concept is meant to produce groundouts, pop flies and strikeouts up and down the opponents’ batting order. It is a staple of coach Art “Dutch” Harvey. When a pitch sign is given, the players listen....

Call it stunning. Call it uncharacteristic. Hempfield softball coach Bob Kalp is calling it what it was. “A bad, bad day at the office,” Kalp said after his team was flattened Wednesday by visiting North Allegheny, 15-3, in five innings at Robert Kalp Field. No. 3 Hempfield (4-3, 1-2) was...

Southmoreland is off to its best start in five years and could be a challenger to Mt. Pleasant — a section opponent, it just so happens — in Class 3A. The Scotties (5-0), ranked No. 2 behind Mt. Pleasant, had scored at least six runs in every game, including an...

Mark Goetz wasn’t playing Hannastown Golf Club, his home course in the summer months, but he sure looked at home at Pete Dye Golf Course in Bridgeport, W.Va. That is the home course of the West Virginia golf team, which hosted the 54-hole Mountaineer Invitational. Goetz, a Greensburg native, had...

Mark Goetz wasn’t playing Hannastown Golf Club, his home course in the summer months, but he sure looked at home at Pete Dye Golf Course in Bridgeport, W.Va. That is the home course of the West Virginia golf team, which hosted the 54-hole Mountaineer Invitational. Goetz, a Greensburg native, had...

Franklin Regional was as delighted as Latrobe was dejected after a controversial call in the bottom of the fourth inning Tuesday seemed to flip momentum sharply in the Panthers’ favor and sent them on their way to a 13-3, five-inning victory in the second game of the teams’ Section 1-5A...

Pitt-Johnstown softball doesn’t just have a local flavor on its rosters. It has a local impact. Five of the Mountain Cats’ top six hitters are from Westmoreland County. Redshirt junior Olivia Porter (Southmoreland) is having a career season. She is hitting .349, with a team-best 29 hits, 18 runs, seven...