Since 1996, Blackhawk hasn’t had a player go to Hershey, according to Blackhawk coach Nathan Lowery.
This season, the Cougars will have two.
Sophomore Jonah Cooper and senior Clint Davies will open the PIAA Class AA doubles tournament Friday at 10:30 a.m. against District 6 champion Josh Remillard and Adam Trexler of Central Cambria.
Ryan Riordan's feature on Blackhawk tennis:
"Clint Davies and Jonah Cooper have known each other for more than a decade and have used that familiarity with each other to excel as a doubles team, qualifying for the PIAA Class AA doubles tournament that will start Friday in Hershey.
"I've known [Jonah] for 11 years," Davies said. "We played baseball together; went to the same church; and we started tennis around the same time and played a lot together.""
There are few things Blackhawk junior Brendan McKay hasn’t done on a baseball diamond. Last week, he pitched a one-hitter in defeating Mars 2-0. The lefthander struck out 16 in the win, walking just one.
In his previous two starts, McKay had set a school record with 18 strikeouts and pitched a no-hitter.
As a string of success, that stretch would be hard to match but McKay’s most unique achievement may have been in the fourth inning of the game against Mars. In that inning, McKay struck out five Mars batters.
It's become a common site for Blackhawk High's girls lacrosse team to look down the sideline and see a familiar foe enjoying the fruits of yet another victory.
It happened again this season when Chartiers Valley, the No. 7 team in Laxpower.com's girls rankings for teams in Western Pennsylvania celebrated two more victories over the Cougars by scores of 11-6 and 13-8. The two teams meet for the third time in the WPIAL Division II girls semifinals at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Chartiers Valley High School. The winner advances to Thursday's championship game against either Shaler or the winner of Friday's first-round game between Hampton and The Ellis School.
Mercyhurst left-hander Ben Rawding, a Blackhawk graduate, was named to the All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West First Team in baseball.
Rawding has made an appearance on the All-PSAC Team in all four seasons at Mercyhurst, earning Second Team accolades in 2010 and 2011 and First Team honors last season and this season. The senior southpaw has posted a 9-2 record with a 2.21 earned run average and has struck out 81 batters in 73.1 innings of work. Six of his 11 starts have been complete games and he tossed his fourth career shutout on April 20 in a 4-0 blanking of Clarion.
Rawding is already the program's all-time leader in victories with 30, surpassing former major-league pitcher John Costello, who recorded 26 wins from 1980-81. He has 283 career strikeouts, which puts him 10 behind Mercyhurst's all-time leader Steve Strohm, who recorded 292 from 2000-03. His four career shutouts are tied for the most in program history, and his career earned run average of 2.47 is third in program history.
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