A few notables to watch for:

Samantha Gibson, Trinity Christian, sprints, hurdles, jumps, throws
Kami Kaczanowicz, Burrell, sprints
Ameriah Walters, Valley, sprints, hurdles
Madeleine Schmiedeknecht, Winchester Thurston, distance
Maya Dean, Ellis School, shot put

Tyler Murphy, Riverview, hurdles
Tyler Carter, Trinity Christian, hurdles
Will Loevner, Winchester Thurston, distance
Alex Vaughn, Trinity Christian, middle distance
Tim Wagner, Riverview, middle distance
Zac Soilis, Riverview, pole vault
Danny Milberger, Riverview, pole vault
John Wallace, Trinity Christian, long jump, triple jump
KJ Marshall, East Allegheny, sprints

Interesting: Trinity Christian’s Samantha Gibson will attend the University of Central Arkansas next year. She is considering focusing on multi-events, such as the heptathlon.

track

The Greensburg Central Catholic baseball team rarely had much difficulty scoring runs in the regular season.

It appears the postseason will be no different.

The Centurions had another offensive explosion when they defeated New Brighton, 12-11, in a WPIAL Class AA first-round game at Hampton on Monday.

baseball

There are many more games left to be played in the WPIAL playoffs, but it would be surprising if any pitcher puts forth a better performance than Hempfield’s Zack Martinelli did Monday.

Martinelli fired a one-hitter and struck out 18 in leading Hempfield to a 2-0 win against Fox Chapel in a Class AAAA first-round game at Gateway. Martinelli, a senior right-hander, walked two and the lone hit he allowed was an infield single. Only three of the outs he recorded weren’t strikeouts.

athlete

baseball

Monday marked the beginning of the WPIAL playoffs for most teams. Here is how each East area team fared in the first round, and who the winners will face in the quarterfinals

First Round

Class AAAA
Bethel Park 6, Franklin Regional 3
Central Catholic 4, Penn-Trafford 3
Hempfield 2, Fox Chapel 0
North Allegheny 6, Norwin 4
Plum 2, Shaler 1

Class AAA
Hopewell 1, Derry 0
South Park 10, Yough 0

Class AA
Greensburg Central Catholic 12, New Brighton 11
Quaker Valley 6, Burrell 3

Class A
Riverview 9, Rochester 4

Quarterfinals

Class AAAA
Central Catholic vs. Pine-Richland
Hempfield vs. Canon-McMillan
Plum vs. North Allegheny

Class AA
Greensburg Central Catholic vs. Deer Lakes

Class A
Riverview vs. California

baseball

Name: Grant Gustic
School: Central Catholic
Grade: 11
Sport: Baseball
Position: Pitcher

baseball

Duquesne senior Rachael Ross was named to the 2013 Atlantic 10 Women's Rowing All-Conference team as a first-team selection.

Ross, a fifth-year pharmacy major, is a fourth-year rower and team captain racing in two seat of the second varsity eight. She is also a tri-captain.

athlete

college

rowing

Point Park senior first baseman Courtney Manovich was named to the All-Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Team in softball.

Manovich, a Franklin Regional graduate, had a great senior season in her first year as a full-time starter. Point Park's first baseman hit a career-high .339 to rank 19th in the KIAC, and she also registered a career-high 26 RBIs. An excellent fielder, she had zero errors in 225 total chances to tie first first in the NAIA with a fielding percentage of 1.000.

athlete

college

softball

Pitt-Greensburg senior outfielder/pitcher Steve Anderson, a Hempfield graduate, was named the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Baseball Player of the Week.

In the AMCC tournament first round games against Pitt-Bradford, the senior took the mound in game one to pick up the win.

athlete

baseball

college

Saint Vincent freshman infielder/outfielder Sarah Swettlen earned Second-Team laurels on the All-Presidents' Athletic Conference softball team.

For Swettlen, the honor caps off her rookie campaign in which she led the team in batting average, slugging percentage and extra-base hits. The Hempfield graduate batted .368 (21-of-57) in her freshman year despite only playing in 19 games due to injury.

athlete

college

softball

Thiel second baseman Ashley Donlan, a Franklin Regional graduate, was a second-team selection on the All-Presidents' Athletic Conference softball team.

Dolan's All-PAC nod is the second of her career. She set a new single-season school record for hits in a season (53) and tied for fifth on the single-season RBI list (28). Her 53 hits were the second most in the conference during the regular season, and her 28 RBIs were the third most.

athlete

college

softball

Waynesburg junior pitcher Carrie Meier, a Greensburg Salem graduate, was a second-team pick on the Presidents' Athletic Conference 2013 All-PAC Softball Team after enjoying her best season as a collegiate hurler.

Maier led the team in every major pitching category and ranked highly in several of the conference's statistical listings. She finished her season sixth in ERA (2.36), fifth in opposing batting average (.261), fifth in innings pitched (121.2), fifth in strikeouts (89) and fourth in wins (11). Maier was twice honored as PAC Pitcher of the Week and was named an ECAC Division III South Co-Pitcher of the Week.

athlete

college

softball

Slippery Rock junior shortstop Will Kengor earned All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division honors in baseball.

Kengor won the PSAC regular-season batting title with a .455 average that ranks second nationally among NCAA Division II players and as the fourth-highest in Rock baseball history. The Central Catholic graduate also led the PSAC and tied for first nationally in sacrifice flies (eight).

athlete

baseball

college

Grove City senior pitcher Lauren Clarke, a Burrell graduate, earned Capital One/College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District honors in softball from the region's sports information directors Thursday night.

Clarke advances to the nationwide Academic All-America ballot.

Clarke helped anchor the Grove City pitching staff this year by posting a career-low 2.68 earned run average. She went 7-9 and struck out 67 batters in 102 innings. Clarke appeared in 21 games and made 16 starts in the circle. She threw 11 complete games and two shutouts.

athlete

college

softball

Through her first three years of high school softball, Woodland Hills junior shortstop Kelsey Geyer has one of the most impressive stat lines in high school sports. Geyer has only committed two errors in her three-year career playing shortstop, a position that is one of the most tasking on the diamond.

In addition to that Geyer has never struck out once in three years of softball. She is also batting .500 this season with a .569 on-base percentage.

“She is to me a Division I player,” Woodland Hills coach Tony Paganico said. “She is like having another coach on the field.”

athlete

softball

Name: Savannah Zummo
School: Plum
Sport: Softball
Grade: Senior
Position: Designated Player

athlete

softball

When the WPIAL selection committee gathers to set the playoff pairings they generally try to avoid regular-season rematches in the first round.

Sometimes they are inevitable and that is what happened in Class AAAA this year as eastern rivals Plum and Penn-Trafford will renew acquaintances in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs.

softball

Woodland Hills is in the playoffs for the first time since 2002. Their prize for qualifying for the playoffs, a date with Shaler, a program who rarely misses the playoffs. The Wolverines (8-5) are relishing the challenge against No. 5 Shaler (12-5).

“Me personally, I am glad,” Woodland Hills coach Tony Paganico said of the matchup with the Titans. “You got to beat all the good ones anyway. I don’t have a problem with playing Shaler. Our thing is to be as competitive as we can. We want to be there at the end and know we left everything on the field. When Shaler walks off the field I want them to say that they were in a game.”

softball

Below is a review of the East posts that appeared the week of May 5-11

Please note that reviews this week will include Saturday, May 4

Saturday, May 4
* Franklin Regional boys' lacrosse team earns crucial victory
* Ellis School, Latrobe girls' lacrosse teams top section

Sunday, May 5
* Sports Town East Week in Review (April 28-May 4)

Monday, May 6
* Softball: East Feature Athlete – Plum’s Jordan Seneca
* Greensburg C.C. sophomore pitcher answers the bell
* Greensburg Salem softball shutout streak reaches seven

reviews

The Bears' played a good game this past Tuesday - check out the photos on this Sports Town lacrosse Saturday:

lacrosse

With no East teams in the Division I girls tournament, regional girls lacrosse fans can take heart that three girls teams from Sports Town's East region will be competing in the Division II tournament.

And the margin of talent couldn't be closer for two of them: The Ellis School and Greater Latrobe.

Competing in Division II, Section I, the two teams shared the section title with identical records of 9-1. Their overall records are comparable as Ellis is 11-2 while Latrobe is 10-4. It gets even better when one realizes the two teams split the two regular-season meetings between the two schools. Ellis won the first game on April 2 by margin of 7-6, while the Wildcats won the rematch with a homefield 10-9 victory on April 23.

lacrosse