Scholastic Notebook – 04/28/2017

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, April 28, 2017 | 7:52 PM

Dan Oliastro’s head coaching career at Riverside High School is close to turning 50. He is 73 years old.

But one thing that never seems to get old with Oliastro and Riverside is winning. The coach and his Panthers just keep churning out the victories.

Riverside won the WPIAL 2A championship last year. Oliastro has more championship trophies than any other baseball coach in the WPIAL, with four WPIALs and four PIAAs. This season, the Panthers might be in line for Title IX compliance.

Riverside had an 11-1 record heading into Friday’s action. The Panthers are MSA Sports’ No. 1-ranked WPIAL Class 3A team.

The start this season makes Oliastro’s record 613-390. He began coaching Riverside in 1969. His team a year ago won a WPIAL title behind tremendous pitching as the Panthers did not allow a run in four WPIAL playoff games. This year’s team doesn’t seem to have as much pitching, but the Panthers have plenty of offense.

Oliastro doesn’t have a team with much power (only one home run), but contact is the key. Riverisde’s team batting average is .339 and the Panthers are averaging 7 runs a contest. Ty Thellman leads the offense with a .500 average and Gunnar Boehm is hitting .400. Dylan Speicher (.385) and Christian Cicchinelli (.378) are the other two top hitters.

Cicchinelli has been a two-way standout. He is the team’s top pitcher with a 5-0 record and a 0.00 ERA. He has allowed seven runs, but not one was earned. He has 37 strikeouts.

Heading into Friday, Riverside had a two-game lead over Avonworth for first place in 3A Section 2. Riverside had four games remaining. Barring a collapse, the Panthers should have another section title.

But another WPIAL title could be in store also.

First Four

With a little more than a week to go in WPIAL baseball and softball section play, teams are jockeying for playoff spots. And there are more spots to win this year.

For the first time in both sports, the WPIAL is taking four teams from each section to the postseason. In the past, only the top three teams in each section qualified.

Eagles Not Soaring

Keystone Oaks made it to the WPIAL baseball semifinals three of the past four seasons, and won 20 games in 2013. But the Eagles have fallen from grace quickly.

Keystone Oaks entered Friday with a 2-10 overall record and a 2-7 mark in section play.  A fifth consecutive trip to the WPIAL playoffs seems unlikely.

DeBone Soaring

Go ahead and call Hempfield’s Molly DeBone one of the best girl pole vaulters in the history of the WPIAL.

DeBone cleared 12 feet, 6 inches in a recent meet. That ties eight other girls for the third-best vault in WPIAL history. Only two other girls have gone higher, and one of them also is from Hempfield, according to Jim Faiella’s best marks in WPIAL history.

Hempfield’s Laria Debich is No. 1 on the all-time list with a height of 13-0 ¼ in 2012. Latrobe’s Caitlin Hewitt is second at 12-7 in 2005.

Championship Coach Joyce Fired

There was a surprising coaching move in WPIAL girls basketball this week. Bishop Canevin fired Tim Joyce.

Joyce won his second consecutive WPIAL championship this year and third in the past five years. His team lost in a PIAA title game this year and also won a PIAA championship a few years ago. But all of that apparently wasn’t enough for Bishop Canevin, which got rid of Joyce Monday.

Joyce was Bishop Canevin’s coach for 15 seasons and had a record of 293-123. He said he might like to coach again. Some thought maybe he could land across town from Bishop Canevin at Seton-LaSalle. But forget those thoughts. Seton-LaSalle has hired Ian Barrett as its new coach.

Roundball Classic This Weekend

The best boys and girls basketball players in the WPIAL will be on the court Friday and Saturday at Geneva College in the annual Roundball Classic.

The event, run by Allen Deep, consists of six games over two days. On Friday, there will be two boys games – East vs. West at 7 p.m., and Class 2A vs. Class A/District 10/City League at 9.

Saturday will start with two girls games. At 2 p.m., Class 1A/2A/3A/City League will play District 6/10. At 4, Class 4A/5A takes on 6A.

The event will be capped off by two boys games Saturday night. The Class 3A vs. 4A game is at 6, and the Class 5A/Prep vs. 6A contest will be at 8.

All seniors on the MSA Sports All Netters all-star teams will play in the Roundball.

Hooker Goes First Round

Thirty-seven years ago, a football player who starred at New Castle High School was selected in the first round of the NFL draft.

On Thursday night, another favorite New Castle son was selected in the first round.

Malik Hooker, a defensive back at Ohio State, was selected 15^th overall by the Indianapolis Colts. Hooker played only two years of high school football at New Castle and was a starter for only one season at Ohio State.

Back in 1980, the Green Bay Packers made Bruce Clark the No. 4 overall pick in the draft. Clark went on to play at Penn State.