Laurel Highlands baseball using wins to honor coach

Champs miss playoffs

The New Castle baseball team won WPIAL and PIAA championships a year ago. This season, New Castle didn’t even qualify for the WPIAL playoffs.

The Red Hurricanes had a rough season and missed out on the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs. They had a 3-10 record after Tuesday’s loss against Blackhawk and finished tied for last place in Class 4A Section 2.

New Castle didn’t have a star pitcher this year like Rocco Bernadina, who was the Post-Gazette Class 4A Player of the Year and an All-Area selection before graduating last year. But injuries were a bigger factor in the team’s problems this season.

Andrew Miller, a junior and

Notre Dame recruit, did not pitch this year because of an injury. He was only the team’s designated hitter for most of the season and was cleared to play infield only recently. A year ago, Miller was 9-1 with a 1.60 ERA and selected to the P-G All-Area team.

Dom Fornataro was another pitcher who saw limited action because of injuries. But coach Billy Cook believes his team could be much better next year.

It’s not unheard of for a state champion to miss the WPIAL playoffs the following year. It happened five previous times since 2000 — Canon-McMillan in 2009 and 2019, Pine-Richland in 2007, Ellwood City in 2004 and Greensburg Central Catholic in 2003.

Go figure

Albert Gallatin 7, Peters Township 6.

That score from an April 25 baseball game is still hard to believe. With the WPIAL regular season just about concluded, that game has to be the biggest upset this year and one of the biggest upsets in years in the WPIAL. It was hard to figure then and still is a head scratcher when you consider this: After Monday’s games, Peters Township was 16-1 and had outscored teams, 144-39. Albert Gallatin was 1-13 and had been outscored, 126-16.

Could an upset like that occur anywhere else besides baseball?

Gallagher sets decision date

July 4 is Independence Day, but it also will be the day this year when Laurel Highlands football star Rodney Gallagher will declare his independence from all other colleges and decide on one for himself.

Gallagher recently announced he will announce his college choice July 4. His top eight schools are Pitt, Penn State, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Oregon, Texas and Oklahoma State. He is projected as a receiver in college and is ranked the No. 106 player in the country by Rivals.com.

Beaver’s active List

Gallagher certainly is one of the prime candidates for the Post-Gazette Male High School Athlete of the Year, which is awarded after the school year. Gallagher was allstate in football last season and he was named first-team all-state in basketball for the third consecutive season.

As for the Female Athlete of the Year? You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better choice than Beaver’s Payton List. She was selected second-team all-state in basketball last week and she was the P-G’s WPIAL Class 4A Player of the Year. But basketball isn’t even her top sport.

List is a softball star, a pitcher who has signed with Virginia Tech. That’s rather impressive when you consider Virginia Tech is ranked No. 2 in the country in NCAA Division I softball. And has there been a more dominant player in WPIAL sports this school year than List in softball? She was the Post-Gazette Player of the Year last season, and was 13-0 this year after a no-hitter Monday against Montour. She had 185 strikeouts in 90 innings and a 0.15 ERA. As a hitter, she had a .583 average with seven home runs and 22 RBIs.