Central Catholic looking to emerge on top out of Section 4

Over the past five years, Section 4 has been the proving ground for WPIAL Class 3A boys golf.

In that time, the section has produced a WPIAL team champion every year, three PIAA team champions, three WPIAL individual champions and a state champion.

Central Catholic has been at the epicenter of that success, with two state team titles and an individual crown with Jimmy Meyers taking the honors at Oakmont Country Club in 2018. Now, after a twoyear hiatus where Fox Chapel and Franklin Regional took home the trophy, the Vikings would like nothing more than to once again reclaim top honors at Nemacolin for the individual finals and Cedarbrook in the team tournament.

“I know there’s some really good teams out there and they have a lot of good players coming back,” Central Catholic coach Corey O’Connor said. “For us, the goal is to make the playoffs, then hopefully make it to the finals. It’s a one-day shootout where you hope the kids are prepared that day.”

It helps that Central Catholic has two of the only three returning players from last year to qualify for the PIAA individual finals in junior Rocco Salvitti and senior Carter Pitcairn. Salvitti finished third in the WPIAL and eighth in the state while Pitcairn was ninth in the WPIAL and finished outside the top 30 at Heritage Hills in York.

“They’re both really good players and we’re excited to have them back,” O’Connor said. “We’re going to use them as our sort of core and we have a few players that we expect to make varsity this year.”

Both had notable summers on the course, but for different reasons.

Salvitti turned in an incredible performance to win the American Junior Golf Association’s three-day national tournament at Southpointe this month when he finished with a 4-over 220 and edged Ariihau Faana of Lake Mary, Fla., by a stroke. Not only was it his first time winning the title, he improved his showing from 2020 by seven strokes.

“He’s just an outstanding kid and a great golfer. A lot of people in the area talk about him a lot,” O’Connor said. “Whenever you say ‘Rocco,’ everybody knows who that is and it’s just really good to have somebody like that who is really successful in his own right.”

While Salvitti garnered some national attention for what he did with the equipment in his bag, Pitcairn picked up some chatter for lugging one around the course. During the 121st U.S. Amateur at Oakmont, Pitcairn caddied for Austin Greaser throughout the tournament, including in the 36hole final loss to James Piot.

“He was telling us all those stories from the Amateur [last week], so it’s something that he’s never going to forget and also shows what level you have to get to to play D-I or amateur. He learned a lot from the experience,” O’Connor said. “Those two are pretty unique being a year apart but always growing and out playing golf together.”

Mt. Lebanon girls

Lindsey Powanda put on a show last year in the WPIAL Class 3A girls final when she tamedOakmont and outlasted the field to win her first individual title.

Considering she became the first female golfer ever to win a WPIAL crown at the storied course on Coxcomb Hill, there was a chance the Mt. Lebanon senior would have a few colleges knocking on her door, scholarships in hand. So far … nothing. “Believe it or not, I haven’t gotten any looks at all from any school that I’m interested in, so I’m hoping that will happen in the future,” Powanda said. “It’s definitely difficult. I have a friend who is ranked in the top 100 [nationally] and she hasn’t gotten an offer yet, so we’re all kind of in the same boat and we’re hoping we can all ride it out.”

Her play isn’t the issue. Because of the COVID-19 lockdowns, many colleges canceled both the 2020 and 2021 spring golf seasons, which allowed many scholarship athletes a bonus year to compete. With that in mind, coaches are loath to offer a scholarship — or may not have one — because they have another student-athlete already in the fold.

“It’s just really messed up with COVID because a lot of coaches don’t really have any options,” Powanda said. “A lot of coaches have called just to say they don’t know what’s going on because recruiting has become a lot more challenging.”

Despite that, Powanda is still the defending champion and is turning her sights on playing in the finals, which will be held at Hannastown this year.

“I really like that course — it’s a really, really nice and well-maintained course,” Powanda said. “It’s definitely different from Oakmont. We always have a lot of tournaments there so it will be easier to get a practice round than at Oakmont.”