Duquesne senior Kristy Pietrone was named to the 2013 Atlantic 10 Women's Rowing All-Conference team as a second-team selection.
Pietrone is finishing her degree in education. She is the coxswain of the varsity eight and a tri-captain.
A few weeks ago, the mere thought of qualifying for the postseason almost seemed out of the question for the North Catholic baseball team.
The Trojans, however, recently turned that thought into a reality.
After losing three straight and four of their first five games, North Catholic (5-4, 5-1) entered this week riding a four-game winning streak and trailing Section 4-A frontrunner and No. 2-ranked Riverview (10-1, 5-0) by just one game.
They were forced to wait until April 5 to play their first softball game of the season but when the North Catholic Trojanettes finally did take the field, their bats made up for lost time.
North Catholic got the season started with a bang with a 21-run outburst in a 21-5 thrashing of section rival Northgate on the road. By this time last season North Catholic had already played four games but at no point last season did the Trojanettes experience an offensive outburst like they did at Northgate.
North Catholic girls basketball coach Molly Rottmann didn't have the best of expectations heading into the 2012-13 season. Six seniors -- four of them starters -- graduated from last year's team which avenged a 54-50 loss to Vincentian in the WPIAL championship game with a 71-58 victory over the Royals in the PIAA Class A Western Final. That team then lost to perennial Eastern Pa. power Steelton-Highspire 66-59 in the state championship game.
Rottmann, however, did have one shining ingredient on which to build a team, and she made the most of it with 5-10 senior guard Lauren Wolosik inspiring her teammates to follow her lead.
A year ago, the Trojanettes had plenty of options, and Wolosik led a balanced North Catholic attack, averaging about 13 points a game. This year, both Rottmann and Wolosik knew the talented Brighton Heights native would have to take a more prominent scoring role, and she did so averaging 26.6 points a game.
Joe Koch's feature on the North Catholic boys' basketball team:
"North Catholic boys basketball coach Dave Long has wondered at times this season which team will show up when the Trojans take the floor.
He overheard a not-so-kind observation as his players left the floor at North Allegheny after last Friday night's 55-48 victory against Rochester in the first round of the WPIAL Class A boys basketball tournament.
"A Rochester fan said, 'For a third-seeded team, [North Catholic] really [stunk],'" Long recalled as the Trojans began preparations for Friday night's quarterfinal game against Our Lady of the Sacred Heart at 6:30 p.m. at North Hills."
(Photo: Dan Savulchak, driving past Mercyhurst's Derick Post, averages 20.9 points per game. John Heller/Post-Gazette.)
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