Penn-Trafford notebook: Balest wins 2nd county bowling title

By: Paul Schofield
Sunday, January 29, 2023 | 11:01 AM

Penn-Trafford’s Alyssa Balest took home her second consecutive Westmoreland County Coaches’ Association girls singles title at Hillview Lanes in Greensburg on Jan. 21.

Balest scored her highest of 238 in the second game, which was part of her 676 series.

The Kiski Area girls claimed the championship trophy for their division with a total score of 2,514, edging Latrobe (2,402) and 2022 champion Penn-Trafford (1,946). The Cavaliers were runners-up last season and upped their pin total by nearly 100.

Solomon, Loughner lead way

The Penn-Trafford hockey team returned to action Jan. 26 against Thomas Jefferson.

The squard had more than a week off.

Xavier Solomon is leading the team is 23 points and15 goals.

Nate Loughner had eight goals and a team-high 12 points.

Also contributing is Bryce Kropczynski with seven goals and six assists.

The Warriors also had a game Jan. 30 at home against Bishop McCort and then Feb. 2 at Kirk Nevin Arena against Latrobe. The team is 8-5.

Rifle team splits

The Warriors rifle team split a pair of matches in late January to stand at 8-2 on the season.

Penn-Trafford defeated Indiana, 799-46x-754-24x, but fell to Butler, 797-51x-796-54x.

The team turned in a tremendous score against Indiana with Carlee Valenta (100-10x), Seth Baughman (100-9x), Michael Koreen (100-8x), Mallory McRae (100-7x), Dominic Nicotero (100-6x), Zachary Burns (100-6x), Ivy Thomas (100-4x) and Emily Valenta (99-6x) leading the way.

Against Butler, Seth Baughman (100-9x) led the team. Carlee Valenta (100-7x), Zach Burns (100-7x), Nessa Wright (100-6x) and Brian Broadwater (100-6x) also contributed in the close loss.

Spring signups

Signups for spring sports will begin on Family ID on Feb. 1.

The school will also offer athletic physicals at 5 p.m. Feb. 21. Sign-ups for both are available via the Family ID Spring Sports Registration.

First day of official practice/tryouts will be March 6 for all high school sports including junior high baseball (eighth and ninth grade only).

Information on teams with tryouts will be released in early February.

Middle school softball and track will officially start on March 20. Information on softball tryouts will also be released in mid-February.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Penn-Trafford