Bill Beckner stories, Page 191

IUP was so so good at times last season, the Crimson Hawks looked like a pro team. Maybe there was a reason. Following one of the program’s best runs, IUP announced Monday that four recent grads have signed to play professional basketball overseas. Forward Jacobo Diaz is joining Marín Peixegalego...

Coming out of Jeannette, Robert Kennedy was considered one of the better football talents — and all around athletes —- in the state. A quarterback, wide receiver and defensive back for the WPIAL and PIAA Class A champion Jayhawks two years ago, Kennedy opted to attend Lackawanna, a junior college...

Drier weather — albeit exhaustingly hot weather — has helped the artificial turf project gain momentum at McKee Stadium in Jeannette. With improved conditions of late, the installation of the all-purpose turf could begin this week on the decades-old field, which had a natural-grass playing surface since 1927. Superintendent Matt...

WPIAL soccer coaches won’t get their wish — at least not in the near future — but there always is room for speculation when a potential rule change begins to get a push for acceptance. The PIAA recently tabled a request for the WPIAL to start a pilot program to...

It’s going to be unpleasantly hot again Saturday — even at “The Beach.” Belle Vernon, which likes to call its golden-turfed field at James Weir Stadium by that name, will try to beat the worst of the heat by moving up its fifth annual Gold Bowl 7-on-7 passing tournament to...

Triple plays are a rare feat in baseball, but even more rare is one that occurs without the ball being put into play. That’s what happened Thursday night in the Southern League, and the bang-bang-bang swing involved former Norwin star Max McDowell. A catcher for the Biloxi Shuckers — the...

Division III Waynesburg named Tim Fusina its next men’s head basketball coach. A Geibel graduate and Charleroi native, Fusina coached the last two years at California Lutheran in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Previously, he coached the men’s team at Centenary in Hackettstown, N.J. for five years. “I think each experience has...

The Tribune-Review and the TribLive High School Sports Network are profiling each member of the 25-player Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star team. The players will be recognized July 23 during HSSN Media Day at Kennywood Park. Jack Salopek is a pro-style quarterback, which pairs nicely with his pro-style demeanor. The...

The ninth Westmoreland County Coaches Association seven-on-seven passing tournament will be Thursday at Latrobe’s Rossi and Graham-Sobota fields on the high school campus. The competition begins at 9 a.m. with the championship game — between the winners of two divisions — set to begin around 2:15 p.m. A record 16...

When initial plans to continue his soccer career at Penn State fell through in the winter, Jeremy Lucas reshaped his post-prep plans. The recent Franklin Regional grad would take a gap year, keep playing for his club team and take courses at Penn State New Kensington until a larger-scale soccer...

A pair of former Pitt-Greensburg coaches landed lead positions at new programs. Sean Strickland, who led the UPG men’s basketball team for seven years before a two-year stint as women’s associate head coach at Penn State Beaver, is the new associate head coach of the women’s program at Muskingum in...

Chris Brunson just finished his first season as the softball coach at Mt. Pleasant. He will be attending many other sporting events at the school in the near future. Brunson on Monday night was hired as the athletic director at Mt. Pleasant. He replaces Allan Bilinsky, whose workload was restructured...

League finalists Bushy Run and Hempfield East were well-represented when District 31 American Legion baseball announced its all-district teams Monday. The all-stars were selected through voting done by coaches from the Westmoreland County league. First team Pitchers Matt Henderson, Latrobe Maclean Maund, Bushy Run Cole Novak, Unity Max Pici, Bushy...

Incoming Youngstown State freshman baseball player Josh Hoffman has had a strong summer in preparation for his first college season. He has some hardware to prove it. Hoffman, a Belle Vernon graduate and Tribune-Review all-star, was named the Your Sports Network/Baird Brothers Player of the Year in the Youngstown Class...

Buddy Valinsky bought a new hybrid SUV to abate his trek from Squirrel Hill to North Huntingdon. The new Norwin boys basketball coach has been driving back and forth quite a bit this summer and will continue to do so in the coming months. His motor is running like new,...

Late-round WPIAL playoff losses can do plenty to motivate teams for the state playoffs. Finality has its place, but it can wait. Penn-Trafford (Class 5A) and Frazier (2A) showed just how valuable a second chance can be as both rebounded to win PIAA championships to highlight the 2019 softball season....

Former Ligonier Valley star Maddy Grimm will play in the American Softball Association All-Star Game Saturday night at Pat Hick Field in Alabama. A power-hitting shortstop and third baseman for Team moh-BEEL! USA, Grimm was voted into the game, which will benefit St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. A...

Peters Township and Chartiers Valley championed the cause for perfection. Thirty up and 30 down. The Indians and Colts put together two of the most impressive runs by a WPIAL girls basketball team — in Class 6A and 5A, respectively — on the way to district and PIAA championships, making...

Teams try to get different things out of summer basketball shootouts. Winning matters, but it is far from paramount. At the third annual Westmoreland County Coaches Association Shootout on Friday, Jeannette was looking for strong participation; Norwin and Latrobe wanted some continuity; and Valley and Greensburg Salem sought out offseason...

Virginia redshirt senior Bridget Guy will bring home a bronze medal from Italy. Guy, a former Hempfield standout, took third place in the pole vault while competing at the World University Games in Napoli. She cleared 14 feet, 1.75 inches. Guy came into the event with the sixth-best vault of...

Christian Hyland’s first memories of NBA basketball consist of postseason journeyman Robert Horry sinking the winning shot for the Los Angeles Lakers against the Sacramento Kings in the 2002 Western Conference Finals and veteran guard Derek Fisher’s walk-off jumper to lift the Lakers past the San Antonio Spurs two years...

Incoming junior Derek Orndorff is leaving the Penn State baseball program to play closer to home. Orndorff recently announced on his Twitter account that he is transferring to play at Seton Hill. A utility player who starred at Connellsville — he was a second-team all-state player who hit .542 as...

Nonprofit business ventures — in athletics or otherwise — need pillars of support to maintain stability. A local one is growing as a result of donations. Educated Athletes First, the informative start-up endeavor run by former Jeannette star athlete and current Cincinnati Bengals safety Demetrious Cox and his father, Dorsey,...