Alle-Kiski Valley notebook: Sharrow, Cutright to race in WPIAL hurdle prelims

By: Doug Gulasy
Saturday, May 11, 2019 | 10:05 PM

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At least one race at this week’s WPIAL track and field championships could come down to a pair of competitors from the Alle-Kiski Valley.

Burrell senior Kaylen Sharrow goes into Thursday’s meet at Slippery Rock as the top seed in the girls Class AA 300-meter hurdles, with Deer Lakes senior Kiera Cutright, the defending champion, one spot back. The two will line up next to each other in the second heat of preliminaries.

Cutright won the race last season with a time of 45.94 seconds, and Sharrow (46.76) placed third. Sharrow registered a WPIAL-best time of 46.24 during the regular season, and Cutright comes in with a seed time of 47.09.

Sharrow is one of two A-K Valley competitors to go into WPIALs as the top seed. Deer Lakes senior Josh Yourish is seeded first in the boys Class AA 800 run with a time of 1 minute, 59.46 seconds, just ahead of Riverside’s Colby Belczyk (1:59.50). Yourish finished second in the event last season behind Winchester Thurston’s Gordon Pollock.

The Burrell girls 400 relay, seeking a fifth consecutive WPIAL title, is ranked second, as is Yourish in the 1,600 run and Plum’s Logan Parker in the boys Class AAA shot put.

The WPIAL championships begin at 12:30 p.m. Thursday at Slippery Rock, a new venue for the meet, which for years took place at Baldwin.

Taking it to the limit

A new PIAA baseball rule that caused significant confusion during the regular season might feel more clarified as the playoffs begin this week.

The PIAA limits pitchers to 100 pitches in a single game during the regular season, but before this season, it increased the playoff maximum to 105.

With the playoffs set to begin, teams are allowed an extra five pitches. But it comes too late for Beaver Falls, Chartiers Valley and Laurel, who were forced to forfeit games in recent weeks after their pitchers reached 105 in a regular-season contest.

Freeport coach Ed Carr said the preseason change caused confusion among coaches.

“To be honest with you, there were a lot of us that went to meetings where it was interpreted as 105,” he said. “I think some of the umpires who were interpreting the rule were a little confused on it also.”

Carr said he used the PIAA website to make sure he was following the new rule correctly, as he does for anything he’s unsure about. During games, one of Freeport’s coaches counts pitches, and the team also uses GameChanger as a tracker.

“We’re pretty confident with what our numbers say, but we also go over and double-check every inning,” Carr said. “We just make it a point to do so, to double- and triple-check.”

Swarming up

Freeport made a big addition to its girls basketball coaching staff for next season, with former St. Joseph standout Mallory Heinle joining.

Heinle, a third-team all-state selection as a senior at St. Joseph, scored more than 1,000 points during her Spartans career before playing collegiately at Slippery Rock.

A high-scoring guard in high school, Heinle made a transition to the post in college and ended her time at Slippery Rock second in career games played with 109, including 54 starts. She ranks in the top 20 in school history in offensive rebounds, blocks, minutes, 3-pointers and rebounds.

Freeport finished 18-5 last season, taking second place in Section 1-4A, and qualified for the WPIAL playoffs for a third consecutive year.

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review Staff Writer. You can contact Doug at 412-388-5830, dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter .

Tags: Burrell, Deer Lakes, Freeport, Plum, St. Joseph