Bill Beckner stories, Page 59

Bushy Run baseball coaches said they requested a morning start time for Saturday’s semifinal opener because several players were going to a wedding in the afternoon. With a late rally in its first extra-inning game of the season, Bushy Run left visiting Hempfield East at the altar. Brody Hoffman homered...

Belle Vernon won a WPIAL Class 4A softball championship, and the Leopards did so with a potent lineup that produced extra-base hits by the boatloads. Three of the team’s top hitters were recognized with all-state recognition. Maren Metikosh (first team, outfield), Alexa Daniels (second team, outfield) and Lauren VanDivner (second...

If there is a web video on how to be a better defensive back, Jackson Pons has probably watched it, rewound it and watched it again. He has seen them all. The Norwin senior’s attention has shifted strongly to the defensive side of the football as he gets set for...

A pair of recent graduates who will have the same major in college left a lasting mark on the Franklin Regional soccer programs. They were recognized with a note of thanks. Jake Kimmich and Mauriana Dorsch were the recipients of this year’s $500 scholarships given annually to graduating senior soccer...

With Young Township on his bumper during a tenuous sixth inning, Grayson Willis thought back to previous bases-loaded jams he walked away from without a scratch. The first man out of the Hempfield East bullpen did it again Thursday in a series-deciding playoff game, keeping things status quo on the...

His college career had not even begun, and it was headed for an open-ended finish. Anthony Govern, a three-sport athlete coming out of Southmoreland, though, saw his plans take a hairpin turn after they first came to a screeching halt. Suddenly, his future is clear, and his focus has returned....

Allegheny College rising senior Jake Boord is putting his name into the transfer portal after his stellar track and field career ends with the Gators. A Hempfield graduate and two-time NCAA Division III championships qualifier, Boord is laying the groundwork for a post-grad year at a new college home. He...

With his brother, Dwight Moore Jr., standing pat and clenching his teeth about 30 feet away under the basket, Zion Moore took three casual dribbles toward him, jump-hopped and went straight up. Fully extended, he soared over his brother and threw down a one-handed slam dunk that sent the spotty...

Expectations can change, even for someone as talented as Lily King. “I went in expecting to swim the 50(-yard freestyle) and came out with a 200(-yard freestyle) time I never thought I’d be able to get,” said King, a rising junior swimmer at Mt. Pleasant. “I learned to really trust...

Trading skates for court shoes, Alex Thomas still is faster than many of his opponents and can sling an orange ball past goaltenders with the same zip as a hockey puck. The rising senior at Norwin is playing ball hockey this summer and doing so at a high level. Thomas...

A half-dozen girls soccer players from Franklin Regional qualified to play in a national tournament July 7-11, in Wichita, Kan. The Allegheny Force FC 2007 team worked its way through the youth national series, advancing past local and regional play and winning the coveted U.S. Soccer President’s Cup. Franklin Regional...

Mary Smithnosky knew something was wrong. These weren’t the usual aches and pains from being an athlete. It wasn’t normal for discomfort to come and go so readily. Off and on from the time she was 13, she had spells where her hands or legs would tingle and go numb...

The American Legion District 31 baseball season seems like it just started, but the regular season will wrap up next week. Teams, most of them from Westmoreland County, will complete league play Thursday, and the playoffs likely will begin next weekend. The top eight out of 10 teams qualify. The...

Belle Vernon’s Viva Kreis already gained national attention when she won the $10,000 Heisman High School Scholarship Award last December. Now the recent graduate is being recognized by ESPN. Kreis is an honorable mention for the Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award, which for the second time will be part...

Encouragement from family and friends is one thing. But when Mike Krzyzewski gives you his blessing, you go for it. Annie Malkowiak took a leap of faith when she applied to be the next boys basketball coach at Mt. Pleasant. When she accepted the position, her phone “blew up” with...

When she started coaching, Annie Malkowiak was young and brash. Admittedly, she shouted and pushed back, thinking the game was more about her than the team. “I was an idiot,” she said. “I was very passionate, but I was an idiot. I was 21. I didn’t use my energy for...

Mt. Pleasant’s boys basketball team will have a female head coach next season. Annie Malkowiak was approved unanimously for the position during Wednesday night’s school board meeting. She becomes the first woman to coach a varsity boys basketball team in Westmoreland County. Malkowiak is the second woman to currently coach...

Growing up and attending Aquinas Academy in Greensburg, Ryan Kanner discovered there was a certain aura around Greensburg Central Catholic. Aquinas serves as the elementary school to GCC, so students have a tendency to look up to the high school athletes. “I was around the high school a decent amount...

Patrick Monteverde once said he wasn’t too proud to ask for pitching advice. It was not beneath him to seek knowledge from veteran arms on how to accelerate his professional baseball career. Monteverde looks to be more the teacher than the student these days. His invitation to All-Star Saturday is...

Softball pitching in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference already is a grind for hitters, but it just got tougher. Maddie Griffin, the former strikeout ace from Ligonier Valley, is leaving Youngstown State to play at IUP. Griffin, a rising sophomore, said the move was based on nothing more than wanting...

It wasn’t until the scholarship offers started rolling in hot and heavy that Penn-Trafford’s Zach Tomosovich fully realized he was Division I football material. Sure, the size was there. That gargantuan size for a high school tackle: 6-foot-5, 320 pounds. But the offers validated it all for the hefty rising...

When she took the softball, popped it in her glove and stepped into the chalk-lined circle for the first time, Riley Miller knew she was also entering an elite sisterhood. When she stepped on the rubber, she was ready to be the next one. Hempfield is known for producing high-end...

As he gets prepared to catch passes next year instead of throwing them, championship quarterback and defensive end Braden Laux is warming up to the idea of playing a new position in college. Laux, a rising senior quarterback and defensive end at reigning WPIAL and PIAA 3A champion Belle Vernon,...

John Altieri has those pre-tournament butterflies and is anxious to see what the competition looks like. “I’m excited to get going,” the former Norwin standout wrestler said. “I wish I could leave today.” While the feeling is familiar, it not a wrestling tournament that awaits him in two months. No,...

Nick Novak will see if a Dream can come true. The former Franklin Regional and Pitt-Johnstown basketball standout who played seven years professionally overseas plans to play in “The Basketball Tournament” with the DuBois Dream, a semi-pro team in the Premier Basketball League. Novak also played in the event in...