George Guido: Deer Lakes opponent making name for itself

By: George Guido
Tuesday, March 12, 2019 | 11:28 PM

For the first time, the Deer Lakes boys basketball team will have a second-round PIAA playoff game.

The Lancers will battle Forest Hills High School in Class 3A on Wednesday night at Armstrong.

Forest Hills opened plenty of eyes Saturday with a 64-51 upset of WPIAL runner-up North Catholic in a game at Northgate. The Rangers held Trojans to five points in the fourth period to break open a close game.

While Deer Lakes won a PIAA game for the first time Saturday, Forest Hills won its first state playoff game since 1995, when the Rangers defeated Tussey Mountain.

In the second round, Forest Hills lost to eventual state Class AA champion Shady Side Academy.

The Lancers’ opponent is not to be confused with the town of Forest Hills located between Wilkinsburg and Monroeville. Nor is it to be confused with Forest Hills, N.Y., in Queens where the U.S. Open Tennis championship was held prior to 1978.

This Forest Hills is located east of Johnstown in the small town of Sidman near the Little Conemaugh River. Like Deer Lakes and West Deer Township, the Sidman area has a rich coal mining history.

The principal at Forest Hills is Curt Vasas, who taught in the South Butler County School District and was the girls basketball coach at Knoch for a while before moving into administration.

Just a few miles from Forest Hills High School was the site of the infamous South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club, a weekend getaway for Pittsburgh industrialists and other big shots such as Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick. An earthen dam outside the club burst in 1889, causing the Great Johnstown Flood, where 2,209 people died.

New baseball rule

The biggest high school baseball rule change this season concerns the elimination of the requirement for the entire pivot foot to be in contact with the pitcher’s plate.

The rationale behind the change to Rule 6-1-3 is a result of the difficulty for pitchers to consistently make contact with the pitcher’s plate when pivoting. Before starting the delivery, the pitcher shall stand with his entire non-pivot foot in front of a line extending through the front edge of the pitcher’s plate and with the pivot foot in contact with or directly in front of and parallel to the pitcher’s plate.

“The committee concluded that many pitching mounds are such that it is problematic for a pitcher to have his entire pivot foot in contact with the pitcher’s plate,” said Eliot Hopkins of the National Federation of State High School Associations. “Therefore, no advantage is gained by having some of the pivot foot not in direct contact with the pitcher’s plate.”

In another, more cosmetic change, teams are not allowed to have a team motto or saying embroidered at the top of the back of a game jersey, such as “We Play Hardball” or “Keep the Tradition.”

If a team shows up for a game and doesn’t have alternative shirts or jerseys, the game is still to be played and a report “shall be made to the (PIAA).”

Big softball rules change

The NFHS Softball Rules Committee voted to remove the advancement of runners when an illegal pitch is called.

Since the intent of an illegal pitch in softball is to deceive the batter, the committee felt only the batter should receive an award when an illegal pitch occurs.

The change to the penalty for an illegal pitch will result in a ball being called on the batter, but runners only will advance if forced as the result of the batter being awarded first base. Exceptions to the penalty for an illegal pitch in the rulebook also have been modified to be in compliance with the new penalty and ensure runners are no longer advanced as a result of an illegal pitch.

A softball clarification also deals with the recently approved “adjustable knob device” that is permanently fastened to the bat by the manufacturer. A knob may be adjustable but must be permanently affixed while being used in the game.