Westmoreland high school notebook: County dots baseball, softball rankings

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Sunday, March 16, 2025 | 4:28 PM

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A new spring season has arrived, and a number of local baseball and softball teams made the TribLive HSSN preseason rankings.

For baseball, Hempfield starts the spring at No. 3 in Class 6A, Belle Vernon is No. 3 in Class 4A and Greensburg Central Catholic is No. 4 in A.

Westmoreland County has a strong softball history, and a few teams are expected to carry it on with big seasons. One — to no one’s surprise — is Hempfield, which is expected to make another title push. The Spartans are No. 2 in 6A to open the season.

Norwin, which made a surprise run to the 6A final last year, is No. 5.

Belle Vernon checks in at No. 3 in 4A, Southmoreland is No. 4 and Burrell No. 5 in 3A. Jeannette is No. 4 in A.

Martin nominated

Norwin wrestling coach Kyle Martin is nominated for a national honor.

Martin is one of 13 nominated for the USA Wrestling Men’s Freestyle Coach of the Year.

The nominees are from the high school and college level.

The others are Brandon Slay, Bryan Snyder, Cael Sanderson, Casey Cunningham, Chance Marsteller, Dan Dennis, Jake Varner, Josh Churella, Kevin Jackson, Mark Manning, Mike Grey and Reece Humphrey.

Gribble closer to records

She is done for now, but Erica Gribble will be zeroing in a couple of Greensburg Central Catholic school basketball records next season.

Gribble, a 5-foot-10 guard who has committed to Richmond, has 1,714 career points and needs 12 to break Ashley Henderson’s school record of 1,725 set in 2007.

The all-time scoring mark at GCC is held by Franco Sebastiani (1,751). His mark also was set in 2007.

Tatsch offers

Latrobe football player Andy Tatsch is up to 10 NCAA Division I offers after New Hampshire and Eastern Michigan were added to his list.

Tatsch, a 6-3, 190-pound wide receiver and safety, is a junior.

His other offers are from West Virginia, Akron, Buffalo, Bucknell, Cornell, Lehigh, Penn and Yale.

Flag day

Girls basketball coach Mackenzie Livingston is going to pull double duty at Latrobe.

Livingston will coach the school’s new girls flag football team.

She brings experience having coached the same sport at Jeannette last year.

Other Westmoreland County schools with flag football include Belle Vernon and Greensburg Salem.

The PIAA will have 68 teams competing this season.

Volleyball rankings

Norwin will begin the season at No. 5 in the Western PA Volleyball Coaches Association Class 3A boys volleyball rankings.

Penn-Trafford is a spot back at No. 6, Latrobe is No. 8 and Hempfield is No. 10.

In Class 2A, Derry is ranked No. 8.

Norwin, Hempfield, Penn-Trafford and Derry all made the WPIAL quarterfinals last season.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Belle Vernon, Derry Area, Franklin Regional, Greensburg C.C., Hempfield, Latrobe, Norwin, Penn-Trafford