Bill Beckner stories, Page 3

Pittsburgh’s Neal Shipley was introduced to the golf world at large last year when he earned low amateur honors at the Masters and U.S. Open. Now he has his first professional win. Shipley, a 24-year-old Central Catholic graduate, outlasted Seungtaek Lee of South Korea in a five-hole playoff to win...

Oftentimes, Penn-Trafford’s approach is to move baserunners over, create opportunities and scrape runs together, one at a time. The small-ball formula can look clinical when this baseball team does it. It worked out well last spring when the Warriors won a WPIAL championship. The Warriors, though, were in the mood...

Mt. Pleasant All-American swimmer David Mutter rebooted his recruitment when Alabama pulled his scholarship at the beginning of the year because of SEC- and NCAA-imposed roster cuts. But the standout has a new college target. Mutter, a specialist in the butterfly, committed to St. Bonaventure (N.Y.) and will soon sign...

Showboat’s got next. Jeannette is honoring a proud alum by naming the longtime basketball court at the West Jeannette playground after him. Lamont “Showboat” Robinson Court will be dedicated in August to honor a former Jayhawks player who made a name for himself on the comedy hoops circuit with the...

Former Latrobe softball standout Makayla Munchinski has been out of college at Cal (Pa.) for only a short time, but she already has a coaching job. Munchinski is a first-year head coach at Albert Gallatin. The former catcher who played an extra in the streaming series “A League of Their...

Penn-Trafford went from unranked to No. 1 in the TribLive HSSN Class 5A top-5 softball rankings after an impressive string of wins. Coach Denny Little doesn’t put much stock in rankings but acknowledges teams will be coming for the Warriors. Penn-Trafford (8-1, 5-0) has beaten defending PIAA champion Thomas Jefferson,...

Imagine a best-of-three baseball series to determine who advances in the WPIAL playoffs, or a two-out-of-three set to decide a championship. Coaches have been clamoring for the concept since 2021 when the WPIAL went to three-game series in Class 6A and two-game series in the other classes for regular-season section...

A pair of local baseball sluggers have been swinging for the fences. They were leading the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference in home runs. Seton Hill sophomore Jakob Haynes (Penn-Trafford) and IUP junior Elijah Dunn (Norwin) each had 10 homers heading into the weekend to share the top spot in the...

While it might seem generally unconventional, Jackson Vacanti sees his approach to post-prep soccer as the way to go. The senior at Greensburg Central Catholic is taking his talents to west England, where he will play for the University Developmental Academy at the University of Chester. He will still attend...

Sarah Liberatore is proof Division II college basketball can be the right fit. It can even open doors to the next level, just like Division I can. Liberatore, a Hempfield graduate who recently finished her college playing career at NCAA Division II Florida Tech, signed with an agency and is...

Franklin Regional is playing sharp softball, and the proof is in its record: The Panthers are 7-2 overall and sit atop Section 2-5A at 4-0. Veteran coach Jim Armstrong admits the team has taken on an offensive identity in recent years with more emphasis on hitting. Can you fault him...

When Giuliana Youngo saw Cam Ponko’s home run sail over the fence in center field, she wanted in on the action. “When one of us starts hitting, it makes everyone else better,” Youngo said. “We focus a lot on our hitting.” Ponko and Youngo, both seniors, blasted back-to-back solo shots...

As one of only six undefeated baseball teams in the WPIAL at the start of the week — the only undefeated team in Westmoreland County — Belle Vernon once again is leaning on a treacherous pitching rotation to win games. But it doesn’t stop there. “Our starting pitching has always...

Welcome to “Norwin North,” where the weather gets cold and the bats get hot. The Mercyhurst baseball team has become an offshoot of the Norwin program, a pipeline from North Huntingdon to Erie producing hits and quality starts up and down the lineup. “We always kind of joke about this...

Zion Moore Sr., G, Belle Vernon Asked to describe his senior basketball season in one word, TribLive Westmoreland Boys Basketball Player of the Year Zion Moore offered this: “History.” Belle Vernon’s high-volume scorer and his teammates produced the program’s first WPIAL championship since 1978 and did so as legendary coach...

Erica Gribble Jr., G, Greensburg Central Catholic Even a second straight WPIAL championship doesn’t fully appease Erica Gribble. It doesn’t quite satisfy her appetite. Division I talents such as Gribble always seem to want more — from themselves, from their teammates, from their next goal. “I want to be more...

The 21st Roundball Classic all-star basketball games are set for May 24-25 at North Allegheny. There will be seven all-senior games over two days, four boys and three girls. The schedule is as follows: Saturday, May 24 — Boys – Class 5A (South) vs. District 10, 3 p.m.; Girls –...

Through six games, Franklin Regional had scored more runs than any baseball team in the WPIAL. The Panthers (5-1) had 68 runs and had reached double digits four times, including back-to-back 18-run games. They outscored Penn Hills 36-3 in a two-game Section 1-5A sweep. In the second game, Jonah Willochell...

Norwin has taken the upper hand in many section track and field matches in recent years and has the winning streaks to prove it. The program has the talent to add to those streaks — and maybe the trophy case, too. The girls have won 33 straight section meets and...

Adrianna Martz isn’t going to play softball past high school because of a back issue, so the Franklin Regional junior is making the most of her prep career, one clutch hit at a time. “I have two discs in my back,” Martz said. “I did 12 weeks of physical therapy,...

Greensburg Central Catholic is playing only section games this season as it deals with low roster numbers. Second-year coach Chelsey Frock has had trouble maintaining a dozen girls on the roster. The Centurions had not played a game through the weekend, having to cancel nonsection matchups with Chartiers-Houston, Seton LaSalle...

Grizzled veteran coach Jim Armstrong may have said it best. “Walking her is like giving her a triple,” Franklin Regional softball’s head man said of Toryn Fulton, his star 6-foot shortstop. The long-legged South Florida commit put on a baserunning clinic in Wednesday’s 12-2, run-rule victory over visiting Kiski Area...

A little patience went a long way for Brady Yarabinetz and Franklin Regional. After Kiski Area tied a tight baseball game in the top of the sixth inning, Yarabinetz took advantage of an opportunity to put the host Panthers back in front to stay. It resulted in their third straight...

Six games into a season is a small sample size in which to evaluate a WPIAL baseball team, but based on what Franklin Regional has done in that space, it is probably a safe bet that the Panthers will continue to spray the ball around the park. The Panthers (5-1)...

Junior infielder Evan Dunlap was in a good mood before and after Monday’s section opener. So were his Hempfield teammates. Dunlap belted a pair of home runs, and the Spartans limited host Norwin’s effectiveness on the basepaths to take the first game of the teams’ Section 2-6A baseball series, 7-3,...