Bill Beckner stories, Page 26

The Westmoreland County Coaches Association announced its latest scholarship winners. The 2024 Nicholas Pecoraro Memorial will go to Mikaela Shine of Derry, Noah Mulac of Norwin is the recipient of the Robert Van Atta Memorial Scholarship and Breann Poole of Southmoreland will take home the Dr. Larry Sellitto Memorial Scholarship....

When Palmer Jackson tapped in for par on the ninth hole at Omni La Costa North Course in Carlsbad, Calif., at the end of May, he brought an end to a shining college golf career at Notre Dame. Now, the talk about turning professional can officially begin. The grad student...

Turning away elimination for a third straight time in the NCAA Division II College World Series, surging IUP baseball pushed on and now sits one win away from the national championship game. Elijah Dunn, a Norwin product, went 2 for 4 with a home run, double, four RBIs and two...

The NCAA Division III Presidents’ Athletic Conference will split into two divisions for men’s and women’s basketball, and women’s volleyball beginning in 2025. The conference will be 12 schools strong with the addition of Hiram, which returns to the league in 2025-26. There will be two, six-team divisions — North...

PIAA baseball playoffs Class 5A Quarterfinals Penn-Trafford (21-3) vs. Hollidaysburg (15-6) 4 p.m. Thursday at Sargents Field at Point Stadium, Johnstown First round: Penn-Trafford 3, Lower Dauphin 2; Hollidaysburg 4, Franklin Regional 2 Winner plays: Winner of Monsignor Bonner (18-8)/Bethel Park (16-7-1) Monday in semifinals (time, site TBD) Coaches: Lou...

From a high school and college star to a 10-year professional and now a budding college coach, Joelle Kissell has experienced success at just about every level of tennis. The Latrobe graduate and Hostetter native is about to embark on her newest venture. Kissell is taking her knowledge of the...

A hall of fame enshrinement ceremony this weekend one state over will include three Jeannette football legends. Late coach Joe Mucci and former star quarterbacks Dick Hoak and Terrelle Pryor will be inducted in the National High School Football Hall of Fame during a ceremony Saturday at Umstattd Hall at...

The Road Warriors are ready for their next excursion. But is their bus? When Penn-Trafford was preparing to leave Myrtle Beach at the beginning of what has been a historic baseball season, the team bus broke down and the Warriors were left standing by for a ride. What was another...

Maybe Penn-Trafford expected a slow start in the PIAA baseball playoffs. A shaky defense that allowed two unearned runs gave that impression early in Monday’s game. But that didn’t keep the WPIAL champion Warriors from winning their state tournament opener. You can keep your WPIAL hangovers. There is only one...

When Palmer Jackson tapped in for par on the ninth hole at Omni La Costa North Course in Carlsbad, Calif., last weekend, he brought an end to a shining college golf career at Notre Dame. Now, the turning-professional talk officially can begin. The grad student and Franklin Regional product tied...

PIAA softball playoffs Class 5A First round Penn-Trafford (15-6) at Central Mountain (14-5) 4:30 p.m. Monday Winner plays: Winner of Latrobe (11-12)/Armstrong (18-3) Thursday in quarterfinals (time, site TBD) Players to watch: Ella Mains, Penn-Trafford; Cora Myers, Central Mountain Extra bases: Penn-Trafford hits the road for the state tournament after...

Penn-Trafford senior catcher Mack Keenan remembers watching the team bus follow a fire truck escort back to Harrison City in 2019 after the Lady Warriors softball team won the PIAA championship. The town showed up to greet the state champs. Of course, Keenan was just an impressionable middle schooler then,...

Leadoff hitter Bailey Snowberger doubled to open the WPIAL 6A softball championship Friday at Cal (Pa.). After she scored the game’s first run, a teammate said, “congratulations” as Snowberger returned to the dugout. “I’m like, what do you mean?” Snowberger said. “I didn’t know what she was talking about.” The...

There were a lot of empty seats on the Latrobe softball team bus Tuesday after the Wildcats lost to Penn-Trafford in the WPIAL Class 5A third-place game at Gateway. The reason was several players decided to drive home with family instead of going home with the team. But the Wildcats...

Ty Keffer has been a dynamic, three-sport athlete at Southmoreland. He has lit up the scoreboard in basketball, pulled in leaping catches in football and struck out numerous batters in baseball. But the athletic Keffer’s top sport is basketball, and he has decided to extend his playing career at a...

Cam Ponko School: Penn-Trafford Class: Junior Sport: Softball Claim to fame: Ponko helped the Warriors clinch third place in WPIAL Class 5A as she went 2 for 3 with two RBIs in a 4-1 victory over Latrobe in the consolation game. A third baseman, Ponko is slashing .500/.549/.968 with nine...

A number of Westmoreland County players were selected for the WPIAL all-section girls lacrosse teams. Norwin’s Karlie Johnson and Ray Mamas made the Class 3A Section 1 first team, and Ava Wilson and Ava Kessler of Norwin and Heather Harshman of Hempfield were second teamers. Sydney Valenta and Gia Fernandez...

Softball pitchers get all of the credit when they throw no-hitters, while their catchers humbly remove their masks and pads and wander off into obscurity. But Ligonier Valley senior ace Cheyenne Piper said she couldn’t be her dominant self without junior Sydnee Foust behind the plate. Even though they bicker....

CALIFORNIA — Caught in the throes of a surprising three-run deficit against the underdog of these playoffs, Seneca Valley sprang to life late and reprised its role as the top dog in WPIAL 6A softball. Senior right fielder Kylie Staudt capped a 4-for-4 day with a walk-off single in the...

Women’s golf icon Annika Sorenstam has entered to play in the sixth U.S. Senior Women’s Open set for Aug. 1-4 at Fox Chapel Golf Club. Sorenstam, who has 96 career wins, including 10 major championships, has played in the Pittsburgh area before. She is familiar with nearby Oakmont Country Club,...

As some dust kicked up from a light breeze, Norwin softball coach Brian Mesich sent a pop fly to shallow center field. He nearly fell backward, but it wasn’t from any dirt specks that sneaked behind his sunglasses. He was trying to put some serious English on the batted ball....

Pitt appears to be the final stop on Anthony Johnson’s twisting and turning tour of college football. Johnson, a burly pass rusher who has become a regular in the NCAA transfer portal, announced he is joining the Panthers after initially committing to Mississippi State and, before that, to Illinois. A...

While the pressure was far from what Penn-Trafford felt in the WPIAL Class 5A semifinals, the desire to play well in the third-place game and build momentum for a state playoff run was high on the Warriors’ priority list. “This game is not as heart-attack as that one,” coach Denny...

With the state playoffs coming up, Mark Zimmerman had his Ligonier Valley softball team practice over the Memorial Day weekend. The cookouts could wait. “They weren’t too happy with me,” the coach said with a smile. “But we needed to work on some things.” The Rams’ extra work paid off...

Norwin did not fear Hempfield in the WPIAL Class 6A softball semifinals, and the Knights claim they will not back down from star pitcher Lexie Hames in the championship, either. Why? The answer is familiarity. Fifth-seeded Norwin (10-10) hasn’t seen anything, or anybody, in the postseason it hasn’t seen before....