Dave Mackall stories, Page 6

David Bednar’s struggles had reached epic proportions (the Pittsburgh Pirates ex-closer owned an ERA of 10.97 in 11 appearances in August). Since the All-Star break, the Bucs’ two-time all-star has been downright miserable after a first half that saw him convert 19 consecutive save opportunities during one stretch. But the...

For a time, football defined Nick Curci’s rule. Not much — if anything — exemplified it more than a tenacious approach to his senior year when he spearheaded a furious late-season rally that carried injury-stricken Apollo-Ridge to an improbable WPIAL playoff berth. He finished the year with 1,571 yards rushing...

In Jeannette, the Tre Cunningham Memorial Basketball Tournament honors the memory of one of the many Jeannette High School standout athletes, and on the fourth anniversary of the annual event, the Cunningham family again was showered with unbridled compassion. How good does that feel? Just ask Steve Cunningham, the father...

STATE COLLEGE — There were no smiles. Just some consoling handshakes and hugs. The Mars Fightin’ Planets didn’t come here Saturday to play second fiddle again. They came to win their second state title in boys lacrosse, and they almost pulled it off. But for the second time in a...

Light clapping turned to loud chants as the match wore on. Shaler’s top-ranked boys volleyball team was mowing down yet another opponent, making the 100-mile drive east to Altoona High School well worth the time for a dedicated posse of mainly white shirt-clad Titans fans. This was not North Allegheny...

ALTOONA — Shaler seniors Logan Peterson and Dante Palombo, best friends since their elementary school years, walked briskly through a doorway leading from a locker room to the playing court at Altoona Fieldhouse. With a bounce in their step, Peterson, with Palombo a few steps behind, anxiously smoothed down his...

SIDMAN — Ligonier Valley’s players and coaches retreated to their dugout after quietly being retired in order in the seventh inning Monday by Forest Hills right-hander Avery Smiach. There was little to say. The Rams’ season was finished following a 3-2 loss to the District 6 champion Rangers in a...

It’s a threepeat. Top-seeded and unbeaten Neshannock extended its run of consecutive WPIAL softball championships Thursday to three, and the Lancers again did it with stellar pitching and defense. Addy Frye tossed a three-hitter with 12 strikeouts, Gabby Perod drove in a pair of runs, and Neshannock blanked No. 2...

Steve Kline has been around baseball for a long, long time. The former relief pitcher’s elbow bone spurs are a testament to his longevity on the baseball diamond during 11 seasons with five major league clubs, and before that a lot of years in various loops from Little League to...

Let’s play three. IUP’s Davin Landers stroked a three-run homer in the eighth inning Saturday, and the Crimson Hawks edged Seton Hill, 9-8, to even the best-of-three NCAA Division II Atlantic Super Regional series at a game apiece and send the teams to a third, deciding game Sunday. “Nothing better...

Max Mandler was happy to contribute in such a big way, but the Seton Hill outfielder certainly wasn’t about to accept all the credit. Mandler hit a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning, and Seton Hill’s bullpen made it stand Friday in a 5-4 victory over IUP in the...

For three seasons, from 1999-2001, left-hander Steve Kline led the National League in appearances, averaging 85 per year with Montreal and St. Louis during that time. In all, Kline pitched in 796 games during an 11-year major-league career. All but once he worked in relief — his lone start came...

A pair of double-digit softball seeds waited overtime Wednesday night for a chance to meet No. 1 Armstrong in the WPIAL Class 5A championship game next week. After a delayed start of 1 hour and 20 minutes, No. 10 Thomas Jefferson earned a shot at the River Hawks with a...

Seneca Valley overcame a slow start Thursday night at Norwin to advance to the semifinals of the WPIAL Class 3A boys volleyball playoffs. The fifth-seeded Raiders, who used a balanced offense in the quarterfinals to eliminate No. 4 Norwin, 3-1, by scores of 22-25, 25-17, 25-20 and 25-17, will face...

Brookelyn Kotch has a message for her Norwin teammates. “Thank you.” Kotch, who managed just two strikeouts, scattered six hits and didn’t walk anyone, and the Knights’ defense played flawlessly as No. 5 seed Norwin advanced in the WPIAL Class 6A softball playoffs with a 3-1 quarterfinal-round victory over No....

It took every bit of energy and drive Thursday night for Norwin to hold off Penn-Trafford’s relentless energy and drive in the final regular-season boys volleyball match and escape with a marathon 3-2 victory that clinched the WPIAL Section 3-3A championship. “It’s good to be able to win the section...

The WPIAL baseball playoffs are a week away, but a postseason atmosphere Tuesday enveloped Haymaker Park in Murrysv­ille, where two senior right-handers dominated on the mound. It was almost a dead-even match between host Franklin Regional and top-ranked Penn-Trafford. “It was like a playoff game,” Penn- Trafford coach Lou Cortazzo said....

Just as Franklin Regional’s defense was turning a sharp grounder into a game-ending double play Monday, the Panthers were spilling onto the field at Penn-Trafford, pumping their fists in unison to celebrate a 6-2 Section 1-5A victory over the top-ranked Warriors. One down, one to go. The teams were scheduled...

At the midpoint of the boys volleyball season, Hempfield still was trying to hold serve. It seemed the harder the Spartans tried, the more inconsistent they became. It’s been perhaps the one aspect delaying Hempfield’s progress the most. “You don’t want to ask,” Hempfield coach John Howell said, responding to...

Latrobe is the one place Vinny Amatucci would rather be. He’s a local fella, and he usually doesn’t stray. “I live in the Third Ward. We call it ‘The Hill,’ up on St. Clair Street,” said the 20-year-old sophomore at nearby Saint Vincent, where he’s been a busy guy, majoring...

His school-record 42 points in a game at Hempfield has stood for 27 years. And David Shearer is not going to lie: He’s proud of it. Long miffed at the lack of recruitment from college coaches, the 45-year-old Shearer is humbled by such an impressive accomplishment in high school. “That...

The last time Duquesne hired a men’s basketball coach from inside its own program, things didn’t turn out well. That was then. This is now. Momentum is on Duquesne’s side. Momentum is in Dru Joyce III’s court. “It’s a different strategy, a different way of doing things,” Duquesne athletic director...

Latrobe opened another boys volleyball season last week still aware of the dismal ending of a year ago that saw the team enter the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs as a top seed but come away disappointed following a pair of season-ending losses to eventual WPIAL champion North Catholic and Mars....

The Keith Dambrot era is a wrap. Duquesne’s outgoing basketball coach already had cast his vote for a successor before his last game Saturday night, but the decision ultimately will come from athletic director Dave Harper. Or will it? “Dave’s the boss,” Dambrot said last week during a news conference...

Lightning-fast layups. NBA-range 3s. Illinois’ calling card this season has been a relentless approach, and it continued with a vengeance Saturday night against Cinderella hopeful Duquesne. The Dukes were run out of the gym. Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 30 points and No. 3 seed Illinois opened the throttle to its...