Scholastic notebook news ...
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THE CHOPS
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Scholastic notebook news ...
Scholastic Notebook....
4/2/2005 -
The WPIAL baseball championships are returning to Falconi Field in Washington, Pa. The championships are set for Tuesday, May 31st and Wednesday, June 1st. Two games will be played each day.
This is the second year in a row the WPIAL has used Falconi.
In 2003, all three title games were played at PNC Park. But the WPIAL couldn’t use PNC this year because the Pirates at home May 31st and June 1st.
“The Pirates have been great to us. They are very interested in having games there,” said Bob Bozzuto, North Allegheny’s athletic director and also head of the WPIAL baseball steering committee. “The Wild Things have been great, too. They want to have us back.”
Bozzuto said the WPIAL decided it would be better to play the championships over two days, rather than having all four in one day. This is the first year four classifications have been used in baseball. In recent years, the PIAA and WPIAL had only three.
All four PIAA baseball championships will be played in one day, June 17 in Altoona. They will start at 10:30 in the morning.
No site has been selected yet for the WPIAL softball championships.
CHANGE IN SCHEDULE
In past years, the WPIAL scheduled section baseball games mostly on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and sometimes on Saturdays. Softball games were scheduled on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays.
This season, though, the WPIAL has scheduled baseball and softball section games for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
According to some athletic directors, the change in schedule has made it rough for some schools to find umpires because some of them are certified to umpire both baseball and softball. In the past, they would do both sports. Now, they have to choose one or the other some days.
One athletic director said if an umpire is certified in both softball and baseball, he might likely choose to umpire softball. The reason is because the umpires are usually paid the same amount of money for both sports, but softball games are usually much shorter than baseball.
Sometimes, a softball game is over in an hour. Some baseball games last three hours.
ONE TO WATCH
Keep an eye on Shaler pitcher Jordan Karcher this year. Word is he could turn out to be one of the prize pitchers in the WPIAL this season.
Karcher has good size (6-5), throws pretty hard and has good bloodlines. His father, Kevin, pitched at LSU.
Jordan’s uncle is Ken Karcher, who is most noted as a standout football quarterback at Shaler. He went on to play for a short time in the NFL and is now the head football coach at Liberty University. But Ken Karcher also was a standout baseball player at Shaler during his days and was part of the 1980 Shaler team that many consider the greatest WPIAL baseball team in the last 30 years.
Five players from that team eventually got drafted into the major leagues.
Jordan Karcher already has signed with Gulf Coast Community College (Fla.). Gulf Coast is coached by Darren Mazeroski, son of former Pirate legend Bill Mazeroski.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Former Sto-Rox three-sport star Adam DiMichele is playing at Okaloosa-Walton Junior College in Florida. DiMichele’s main position is pitcher, but he has played every outfield position at the school and also a little at third base and first base.
“I like it,” DiMichele said from Florida. “It’s a long way from home, but we play in a good conference and the competition is good.”
Okaloosa-Walton has a 27-6 record. DiMichele said he has started three games and has a 2-1 record with two saves.
“They’ve tried me as a starter and as a closer,” DiMichele said. “I’m trying a lot of things.”
As a senior at Sto-Rox, DiMichele signed with Penn State for football. But he changed his mind last summer and decided he wanted to concentrate on baseball.
“This is the first time I’ve just concentrated on baseball, so it’s going pretty good,” DiMichele said.
DiMichele, though, hasn’t played much the past three weeks because of a pulled oblique muscle (abdomen area).
BAR HOPPING
If the indoor track and field season is any indication, then the WPIAL has two of the top girl pole vaulters in the country.
At the Pennsylvania indoor championships in March, Latrobe’s Caitlin Hewitt and Butler’s Kendall Butch both cleared 12 feet, 7 inches. That tied them for the seventh-best mark in the country this season.
There is another standout pole vaulter in Eastern Pennsylvania, though. Lindsay Regan of Easton won the Pennsylvania indoor championship by clearing 13-0.
"THE CHOPS".
4/2/2005 -
The WPIAL baseball championships are returning to Falconi Field in Washington, Pa. The championships are set for Tuesday, May 31st and Wednesday, June 1st. Two games will be played each day.
This is the second year in a row the WPIAL has used Falconi.
In 2003, all three title games were played at PNC Park. But the WPIAL couldn’t use PNC this year because the Pirates at home May 31st and June 1st.
“The Pirates have been great to us. They are very interested in having games there,” said Bob Bozzuto, North Allegheny’s athletic director and also head of the WPIAL baseball steering committee. “The Wild Things have been great, too. They want to have us back.”
Bozzuto said the WPIAL decided it would be better to play the championships over two days, rather than having all four in one day. This is the first year four classifications have been used in baseball. In recent years, the PIAA and WPIAL had only three.
All four PIAA baseball championships will be played in one day, June 17 in Altoona. They will start at 10:30 in the morning.
No site has been selected yet for the WPIAL softball championships.
CHANGE IN SCHEDULE
In past years, the WPIAL scheduled section baseball games mostly on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and sometimes on Saturdays. Softball games were scheduled on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays.
This season, though, the WPIAL has scheduled baseball and softball section games for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
According to some athletic directors, the change in schedule has made it rough for some schools to find umpires because some of them are certified to umpire both baseball and softball. In the past, they would do both sports. Now, they have to choose one or the other some days.
One athletic director said if an umpire is certified in both softball and baseball, he might likely choose to umpire softball. The reason is because the umpires are usually paid the same amount of money for both sports, but softball games are usually much shorter than baseball.
Sometimes, a softball game is over in an hour. Some baseball games last three hours.
ONE TO WATCH
Keep an eye on Shaler pitcher Jordan Karcher this year. Word is he could turn out to be one of the prize pitchers in the WPIAL this season.
Karcher has good size (6-5), throws pretty hard and has good bloodlines. His father, Kevin, pitched at LSU.
Jordan’s uncle is Ken Karcher, who is most noted as a standout football quarterback at Shaler. He went on to play for a short time in the NFL and is now the head football coach at Liberty University. But Ken Karcher also was a standout baseball player at Shaler during his days and was part of the 1980 Shaler team that many consider the greatest WPIAL baseball team in the last 30 years.
Five players from that team eventually got drafted into the major leagues.
Jordan Karcher already has signed with Gulf Coast Community College (Fla.). Gulf Coast is coached by Darren Mazeroski, son of former Pirate legend Bill Mazeroski.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Former Sto-Rox three-sport star Adam DiMichele is playing at Okaloosa-Walton Junior College in Florida. DiMichele’s main position is pitcher, but he has played every outfield position at the school and also a little at third base and first base.
“I like it,” DiMichele said from Florida. “It’s a long way from home, but we play in a good conference and the competition is good.”
Okaloosa-Walton has a 27-6 record. DiMichele said he has started three games and has a 2-1 record with two saves.
“They’ve tried me as a starter and as a closer,” DiMichele said. “I’m trying a lot of things.”
As a senior at Sto-Rox, DiMichele signed with Penn State for football. But he changed his mind last summer and decided he wanted to concentrate on baseball.
“This is the first time I’ve just concentrated on baseball, so it’s going pretty good,” DiMichele said.
DiMichele, though, hasn’t played much the past three weeks because of a pulled oblique muscle (abdomen area).
BAR HOPPING
If the indoor track and field season is any indication, then the WPIAL has two of the top girl pole vaulters in the country.
At the Pennsylvania indoor championships in March, Latrobe’s Caitlin Hewitt and Butler’s Kendall Butch both cleared 12 feet, 7 inches. That tied them for the seventh-best mark in the country this season.
There is another standout pole vaulter in Eastern Pennsylvania, though. Lindsay Regan of Easton won the Pennsylvania indoor championship by clearing 13-0.
"THE CHOPS".