Bill Beckner stories, Page 29

Sienna Steeber Class: Senior School: Belle Vernon Sport: Track & field Claim to fame: Steeber soared to a school record, breaking her own mark, in the pole vault at the Mid Mon Valley championship, clearing 11 feet to win a title. Steeber, who is Belle Vernon’s first and only pole...

Owen Christopher had college soccer interest from a number of schools at multiple levels. He only revealed one of them, though, and it’s a winner for the Norwin senior. Christopher, the 2023 TribLive Westmoreland Boys Soccer Player of the Year, will play at Pitt next fall. “I couldn’t have asked...

Tessa Rodriguez was over the Moon when she visited Robert Morris. The Belle Vernon senior signed to continue her track & field and cross country careers at RMU. “What made me choose RMU was how close the relationship was between the girls on the team,” she said. “I immediately felt...

Two team titles. A three-time winner. Five individual champions. Norwin track and field had a blast at the Westmoreland County Coaches Association Championships at Latrobe. The Knights cleaned up at the medal stand. Junior Melani Schmidt won the 200- and 400-meter dashes and ran the anchor leg of the 400-meter...

If teams continue to pitch inside to Makayla Etling, they are probably going to continue to pay the price. Etling’s bat is making a different sound right now. “I’m a little surprised to see (inside pitches),” said Etling, the Southmoreland junior catcher and leadoff hitter. “I feel like I am...

A cloud of dust settling around him after an exciting finish on his home baseball diamond, Adam Hess was preparing to rake the pitcher’s mound when he was called over for an interview. He set down the rake and jogged toward the dugout. Moments earlier, Hempfield walked off Norwin. Before...

A three-game losing streak — the product of a Section 2-6A sweep by Mt. Lebanon — stung in the short term, but it did not deter Norwin baseball from its long-range goals. After the Knights lost Game 3 at home, second-year coach Craig Spisak held his chin high and showed...

Mt. Pleasant lost its first three games of the season while playing at the Ripken Experience at Myrtle Beach, S.C. The Vikings left the beach, and the setbacks, in the rearview mirror. They only lost one of their next 12 games and vaulted into first place in Section 4-3A with...

Hempfield went from the wrong end of a no-hitter to the right end of a no-doubter. Nobody saw this coming. In quite the turn of events, the second-ranked Lady Spartans had their way with No. 1 Seneca Valley in their Class 6A softball section rematch Wednesday, spraying base hits all...

Callie Sowers always has had a flair for pitching in big games. The larger the stage, the harder she throws. And when the Bloomsburg junior ace is locked in, good luck hitting her. Slippery Rock was fortunate to get a foul tip Wednesday morning during the opening round of the...

Hempfield softball has a number of talented hitters. In fact, 1 though 9 in the batting order can connect at any time. There are days when coach Tina Madison has an embarrassment of riches on her lineup card. But the Spartans also have pitching depth. Junior Riley Miller is tremendous,...

Where are they now? Checking in on some local minor league baseball players: • JJ Matijevic, who made a brief appearance in the majors with the Houston Astros two years ago, recently signed with Dorados de Chihuahua of the Mexican Baseball League. Matijevic, a 28-year-old Norwin alum, played all of...

As he watched the WPIAL softball regular season wind into its final two weeks, Jim Armstrong saw a change in his team. The Franklin Regional coach noticed a more positive vibe in the dugout. Players were showing more emotion during big innings, more enthusiasm for fellow hitters and even more...

Emilia Bednar wasn’t sure what to expect when she stepped to the plate in the top of the eighth inning Monday in a battle of unbeaten softball teams at Jeannette. Maybe a walk. Maybe a hit. Whatever the case, the junior catcher from Frazier was ready to do anything to...

He didn’t defend his conference title, but the fact that Jacob Boord was able to compete at all came with a sizable measure of gratification. A senior at Allegheny College and a Hempfield graduate, Boord was medically cleared from a foot injury to compete around 8:15 a.m. Thursday. With less...

Robert Kennedy is on the doorstep of making his dream come true. The Jeannette alum continued his ascent to pro football, signing as an undrafted free agent with the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday night. The defensive back vaults into the NFL after he played a graduate season at N.C....

Melani Schmidt School: Norwin Class: Junior Sport: Track & field Claim to fame: Schmidt was named the track MVP at the Westmoreland County Coaches Association Championships at Latrobe, collecting four medals, including gold in the 200- and 400-meter dashes (in 25.11 and 58.88 seconds). She also anchored the winning 400...

After a season to remember, Franklin Regional senior basketball player Cam Rowell made his college decision. The 6-foot-5 guard announced he will play at Washington & Jefferson. Rowell recently was named to the Pennsylvania Sports Writers Class 5A All-State Second Team. The TribLive Westmoreland player of the year showed his...

While he sees it as “just doing his job,” others saw what Dave Snowberger did as a superhuman act. Snowberger helped to save a man’s life earlier this year, and his rush to action earned him a lofty honor in sports training circles. Snowberger received the Pennsylvania Athletic Trainers Society...

In an 8-4 victory over Central Catholic that gave Norwin its first three-game Section 2-6A sweep of the WPIAL baseball season, Nate Silberman may have epitomized the Knights’ push for a playoff spot, maybe even their identity, with one swing of the bat and a mad dash around the bases....

When Lou Cortazzo decided he wanted the interim tag removed from his name and officially became the coach of the Penn-Trafford baseball team, everything started to click. The move felt right. Of course, Cortazzo had to act fast. He had been in rain delays longer than the time it took...

When senior Colton Lee pitches, Belle Vernon baseball fans show up to watch. Lee is having an impressive spring on the mound for the Leopards (10-2, 7-1), who are in contention for the Section 2-4A title. They trail Latrobe (11-2, 8-0) by one game. The 6-foot-2, 175-pound left-hander is 4-0...

Hempfield put together quite a four-game stretch last week — a positive and productive answer to its first loss of the season. After dropping a 2-0 decision to Seneca Valley in a game where they were no-hit, the Spartans went 4-0 last week and outscored their opponents 42-0. Hempfield labeled...

Franklin Regional measured up in its latest softball victory. Toryn Fulton launched a towering, opposite-field home run in the bottom of the first inning that traveled around 200 feet. In the second, third baseman Ceana Copeland made a laser throw 60 feet across the diamond to complete a double play....

Section 3-3A softball coaches are wary of the movement on Cheyenne Piper’s pitches. The spin. The rise and drop. The changes in speed. Piper’s team also has thrown a curveball at opponents with a resounding message that has reverberated through the standings and painted the outside corner: “Remember us?” Piper,...