Dave Mackall stories, Page 22

In high school, right-hander Jared Kollar routinely faced pressure situations. He was the winning pitcher in WPIAL and PIAA championship games in 2017 as a senior at Latrobe. Four years later, as a college senior at Seton Hill, Kollar took the mound Wednesday for just the third time after returning...

Latrobe’s offense took a break Thursday, but the Wildcats baseball team still managed to beat Penn-Trafford for a second consecutive day. Latrobe scored all its runs in the first inning without a hit, and Rayce King and Tommy Ciesielski combined on a five-hitter as the visiting Wildcats won, 3-1. The...

Football in the ‘Burgh on a Sunday usually means a fall date with the Pittsburgh Steelers. On this particular spring Sunday afternoon during a season of uncertainty, college football was the showcase on the Bluff. But the home team did not prevail. Sacred Heart forced Duquesne quarterback Joe Mischler to...

If Southmoreland needed an early-season hint as to its softball team’s chances in Class 3A of the WPIAL, it may have gotten it this week with victories over Class 4A schools in its first two games. What’s more, the Scotties outscored Greensburg Salem and Uniontown by a combined 17-3. But...

When the Southmoreland baseball team began preparing for a return to the diamond following last season’s covid-related layoff, coach Al Govern privately asked each player to come up with a goal. In every case, he said, the players offered a similar response. “It’s the playoffs or bust this year,” Govern...

Ligonier Valley’s return to the WPIAL in baseball began on a triumphant note Friday in the program’s first game back in District 7, a 6-4 decision over Greensburg Salem. The outcome provided hope for the retooled Rams, who were forced to replace their entire starting lineup from the 2019 season...

Every year, it seems, Ligonier Valley coach Mark Zimmerman appears optimistic about his softball team’s chances for a successful season. Most years, the Rams have succeeded. In fact, since 2006, not counting last season’s canceled schedule because of the coronavirus pandemic, Ligonier Valley advanced to the District 6 playoffs all...

In a strange, compact college basketball season like no other, the Saint Vincent women aren’t complaining. Why would they? The Bearcats completed a short, five-week schedule with a perfect ending Saturday night, rallying for a 65-61 victory over visiting Washington & Jefferson to win their second Presidents’ Athletic Conference Tournament...

The message was clear. With an entire year to think things over, it’s time to make a move. Second-year Derry softball coach John DePalma, though he has yet to have coached the Trojans in a game because of the coronavirus shutdown last season, likely won’t have to wait much longer...

After planning to publicly do so last year before the pandemic canceled the schedule, the Derry baseball team will try again this season to honor the memory of the mother of one of its players by including her initials on the team’s hats. Wendy Jones, the mother of Sam Jones,...

The coaches — Upper St. Clair’s Pete Serio and Norwin’s Brian Brozeski — met at halfcourt with a mutual respect, it was clear, for each other’s program. The girls basketball game that just unfolded provided each with what’s sure to be a lasting memory. No. 2 Upper St. Clair, playing...

Top-seeded Trinity made short work of yet another girls basketball opponent Monday night, going on a first-half rampage that led to a second-half running clock in a 59-27 rout of visiting Fox Chapel in a WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinal game. The Hillers (20-1), who extended their winning streak to 16...

Count Winchester Thurston boys basketball coach Justin Walther among the believers in surging Jeannette’s WPIAL title chances. “They’re loaded,” he said. “I think they’ve got a chance to win it all.” The Jayhawks won for the seventh time in a row Saturday at home in the Class 2A quarterfinals and...

Southmoreland reached the WPIAL semifinals in girls basketball for a second consecutive season by overwhelming visiting Mt. Pleasant, 54-23, in a Class 4A quarterfinal-round game Friday night. Maddie Moore scored 17 points, and Olivia Cernuto added 15 to lead No. 3 seed Southmoreland (15-4), which beat No. 11 Mt. Pleasant...

Robert Morris put up a fight but had no answer for the Horizon League’s leading scorer. Antoine Davis’ 46 points were too much for the Colonials to overcome in their first Horizon Tournament men’s basketball game, an 83-73 loss to Detroit Mercy on Thursday night at Calihan Hall in Detroit....

As recently as 1978, Duquesne was playing college football as a club team, signing up students from every corner of the campus. Robert Morris didn’t even offer the sport until 1993, when Beaver Falls native Joe Walton, after whom the school’s football stadium is named, agreed to oversee the proposition...

As the Robert Morris men’s basketball team prepared to enter the sudden death portion of an unpredictable first Horizon League season, one theme pressed coach Andy Toole’s psyche. “Focus.” Toole’s bluntness spoke volumes as the seemingly outmanned Colonials, who have lost four of five overtime games in their first year...

Like any coach, Duquesne’s Keith Dambrot is never happy with a loss. In a college basketball season of uncertainty, though, perhaps there’s a spot for some wiggle room. Duquesne’s 79-72 road loss to Richmond on Saturday still falls under the wrong column in Dambrot’s book, but the fourth-year Dukes boss...

Robert Morris’ first men’s basketball season in the Horizon League has been a challenge. After winning the Northeast Conference Tournament championship a year ago, the Colonials find themselves in the cellar of the Horizon’s standings with just two regular-season games remaining. They just lost their leading scorer and rebounder, too,...

Gateway turned a tight battle into a rout in a hurry Friday night, overwhelming section co-leader Franklin Regional with a big third-quarter run en route to a 61-28 Section 3-5A boys basketball victory at home, the Gators’ fourth win in five games. A 24-0 run in the second half buried...

The first season in the Horizon League for the Robert Morris men’s basketball team has been a struggle for the stubborn Colonials, yet they don’t appear ready to stop until they get it right. Say one thing: These guys keep on trying. “We’re battling at times,” coach Andy Toole said....

It went down to the wire Friday night for a pair of familiar opponents facing one another for the first time in a Horizon League game. Robert Morris and Youngstown State met for the 21st time in men’s basketball after 20 matchups came in nonconference play before Robert Morris decided...

Saint Vincent returns the Presidents’ Athletic Conference player of the year in women’s basketball this season, hoping to make another run at the NCAA Division III PAC championship, but the Bearcats must overcome the loss of their leading scorer in the process. They get started on a modified schedule at...

In a near-empty UPMC Events Center, the incessant sound of Andy Toole’s clapping was a familiar reminder not everything has changed around the Robert Morris men’s basketball program. It only feels that way. “It’s certainly not been ideal the way the season has been so far,” said Toole, who, at...

While the pregame buzz at Duquesne has centered mainly on the long-awaited reopening of the refurbished and renamed UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, the Dukes hope to keep their focus on a familiar opponent. The nemesis known as the Dayton Flyers will serve on Tuesday night as the first men’s basketball team...