Bill Beckner stories, Page 162

The timing wasn’t exactly precise, not like he had envisioned, but Nick Fleming still was all smiles Friday night after deciding on his baseball future. The senior-to-be at Norwin announced a verbal commitment to Mount St. Mary’s of the NCAA Division I Northeast Conference. “Well, obviously I didn’t expect to...

Another lower level college conference is bagging fall sports. The Penn State University Athletic Conference, home to 14 Penn State branch campuses, announced Friday it is postponing fall athletics — soccer, cross country, golf and women’s volleyball — due to the covid-19 pandemic. The decision, made by the conference’s executive...

They go by the name Paul Carpenter Capital Advisors, but today they’re known as the regular-season champions of the Johnstown Collegiate Baseball League. Behind a strong local contingent, Paul Carpenter captured its second straight title — and third in four years — when it downed Martella’s Pharmacy Tuesday, 5-3, at...

Dom Eisaman is waiting for a chance to play quarterback in college, but he is beginning to wonder if that day will ever come. “It definitely feels like I haven’t been on the field in an eternity,” said Eisaman, a Greensburg Central Catholic grad who has two seasons of eligibility...

Michelle Karabin found a way to marry academics and athletics in near perfect fashion in her time at Carnegie Mellon, and the NCAA took notice. Karabin, a senior and a graduate of Greensburg Central Catholic, was chosen to receive an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship for her efforts in the classroom and...

Tom Shirley is used to getting things ready for the Norwin Athletic Hall of Fame banquet. He has been helping to coordinate inductees, logistics and meetings since 2009. But 2020 offered new challenges for organizers, with the covid-19 pandemic limiting gatherings and former hall of fame chairman Brandon Rapp, Norwin’s...

Could it be one last year in the sun for Sonny Thomas? Maybe so. The longtime local football coach is on board for at least one more season with his son, Marko Thomas, the fourth-year coach at Connellsville. If the elder Thomas decides to retire as his son is hinting,...

Brett Birch is a regular on the 7-on-7 football travel circuit. The incoming junior wide receiver at Jeannette plays for 412 Elite out of Pittsburgh, an independent organization that went to tournaments in Michigan and Delaware before its schedule was shut down over coronavirus concerns. Still, “I feel like I...

The walls continue to close in on college athletics. The Middle Atlantic Conference became another Division III league to postpone fall sports — with the intention of playing them in the spring, pending improvements on the coronavirus front. The move also will delay the start of winter sports to after...

The NCAA Division III Presidents’ Athletic Conference is postponing “high- and medium-contact” sports including football, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s volleyball and men’s and women’s cross country, to the spring because of the coronavirus outbreak. Women’s tennis and men’s and women’s golf, considered “low-contact” sports, are allowed to continue in...

The inaugural Western Pennsylvania Summer Baseball League, an offshoot of a WPIAL season that never happened because of the coronavirus outbreak, announced its playoff pairings. The single-elimination tournament has 24 teams and opening-round games begin Monday. The semifinals are set for Aug. 1 at Boyce-Mayview Park in Upper St. Clair....

Pitt-Greensburg is playing it safe. The university disclosed Thursday that it is postponing fall sports for the 2020 season amid continued concerns over the spread of coronavirus. The fall season normally runs from August to October and includes men’s and women’s soccer, women’s tennis, women’s volleyball, golf and cross country....

Another area college conference won’t play sports in the fall. The North Coast Athletic Conference announced Wednesday, “with tremendous regret,” it is suspending athletics until the end of December. The NCAC is an affiliate of NCAA Division III and features Allegheny College in Meadville as one of its members. The...

Referees could be wearing masks and gloves and using hand-held whistles in high school football games if proposed guidelines become the norm, and the PIAA moves forward with football season. A local official said the possible uniform additions for those wearing stripes could take effect this fall if there is...

The Western PA Bruins girls basketball program is known for producing Division I college recruits. Girls receiving scholarship offers and committing to top-level teams seems like an almost daily occurrence during the summer months. The outfit is like a factory when it comes to connecting talent to the next level....

Who knew a fluctuating and uncertain summer on the baseball diamond would turn out to be such a sure thing for Latrobe? The Jethawks not only jelled early in the new-look Westmoreland County American League but they kept the momentum on full blast and rolled to a regular-season title. Latrobe...

West Hempfield suspended play in the Westmoreland County American Baseball League over health concerns. As a result, it had its regular season record wiped away. The team was 4-5 but is now 0-0 and considered the last-place team out of nine in the standings. A West Hempfield player might have...

From their smiles and expressions to their in-game flair, Cody Sabol brings out the best in Pittsburgh sports greats through his paintings. The fast-rising, 24-year-old artist who graduated from Norwin has crafted stunning portraits of James Conner, Ben Roethlisberger, Sidney Crosby and many others. A speed-painter who also works as...

A pair of former WPIAL standouts from Westmoreland County are joining the coaching ranks as graduate assistants at Mercyhurst. Chris Ralph, a former top-tier goalkeeper for Penn State Behrend, will help with the men’s soccer team. Ralph is a Franklin Regional graduate. Devin Austin, meantime, who starred as a wrestler...

Face coverings, as mandatory and maligned as they are these days, don’t have to be dull. The masks, meant to guard against the spread of covid-19, can be jazzed up with a little creativity. Belle Vernon is using them as a fundraiser for its premier early-season soccer tournament. Proceeds from...

Nick Fleming did not have a junior baseball season at Norwin because the PIAA canceled fall athletics due to health concerns over the coronavirus. But that hasn’t stopped him from drawing attention from college programs. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound incoming senior received a pair of Division I scholarship offers this week,...

When Woody Hayes spoke, Vince Skillings listened. A former Derry football star who is taking the reins of his high school alma mater as a first-year head coach, Skillings played defensive back for the legendary Hayes at Ohio State. New coaches often bring new schemes. When asked if Derry will...