Category: Saturday Sports Slam

Pirates announce Ben Cherington general manager

Pirates announce Ben Cherington general manager
By WILL GRAVES AP Sports Writer
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Ben Cherington is the new general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The club announced the move on Monday, three weeks after firing Neal Huntington from the same position following a last-place finish in the NL Central.
Cherington won a World Series ring as general manager of the Boston Red Sox in 2013. He was fired following the 2015 season and spent the last three years as vice president of baseball operations for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Cherington called joining the Pirates the “ideal opportunity.” He is the second high-profile hire by Pittsburgh during the offseason. Travis Williams was brought on as team president last month when Frank Coonelly stepped away after 12 years.
One of Cherington’s first jobs will be finding a manager. The Pirates fired Clint Hurdle on the final day of the regular season and put the search of his replacement on pause until a new general manager was brought in.
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Reddick wins 2nd consecutive Xfinity Series championship

Reddick wins 2nd consecutive Xfinity Series championship
By JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer
HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — Tyler Reddick won his second consecutive Xfinity Series championship by snatching the lead away from Cole Custer in a spirited season finale Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Reddick and Custer traded the lead three times in a single lap with Reddick finally surging his Richard Childress Racing entry to the front for good with 18 laps remaining. Reddick is the first to win consecutive Xfinity championships since Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in 2011 and 2012 and ninth driver with multiple titles.
It’s the only championship for manufacturer Chevrolet, which was shut out in Friday night’s Truck Series finale when Matt Crafton won the title in a Ford. Chevrolet is not represented in the Cup championship race Sunday.
Reddick’s title comes in his final ride as full-time driver of the No. 2 for RCR. He’s being promoted to the Cup Series next season to drive the No. 8 Chevy.
Custer finished second and runner-up to Reddick in the championship race for the second consecutive year. Stewart-Haas Racing announced Friday that Custer is being promoted to the Cup Series next year. Same for Christopher Bell, who finished fifth in the race and third in the championship picture, who was probably the title favorite but his Toyota dropped off in the final stage of his final ride before he moves to Cup.
Justin Allgaier, who won at Phoenix last weekend to make the final four, finished 14th and last in the championship race.
Reddick won the title last year driving for JR Motorsports, but he had already made the decision to move to Childress for this season. He had to win at Homestead to claim both titles.
Childress has likened the 23-year-old to Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough and believes the driver will feature heavily in the future of the organization, and Reddick is the first driver in the Xfinity Series to win consecutive titles for different teams.
“It’s all about Richard, man,” said Reddick. “He’s the one who believed I could be a champion even before I won the first one.”
Reddick ended the season with six victories, shy of Bell’s eight wins and seven from Custer. Reddick and Custer had a pit road confrontation during these playoffs and raced each other hard before Reddick used a crossover move to take the win for good.
“It sucks to come home second two years in a row. We will take it. We were a lot closer this year,” Custer said. “I am looking forward to next year and seeing what we’ve got.”
Bell has now lost two titles he was favored to win.
“We got beat my 17 seconds there,” Bell said. “For some reason I can’t hit on what I need to get around this place for a 30-or 40-lap run. I’m ready for the next chapter.”
The Xfinity Series driver title is the fifth for Childress as Reddick joins Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer and Austin Dillon as champions for the organization celebrating its 50th season. Childress also tied Joe Gibbs for a record five Xfinity owner championships.
The title was the first for Reddick crew chief Randall Burnett.
“Best team I’ve ever been a part of, amazing group of guys, and amazing driver, too,” said Burnett.
Chase Briscoe won rookie of the year and said after the race Stewart-Haas Racing has not yet found enough funding to bring him back in 2020. Briscoe said he’s hopeful the organization can put something together because he has no other ride planned.
___
More AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/apf-AutoRacing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Vera Clemente, Roberto Clemente’s widow, has died

Vera Clemente, Roberto Clemente’s widow, has died
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Vera Clemente, the widow of Hall of Fame outfielder Roberto Clemente and a goodwill ambassador for Major League Baseball, has died. She was 78.
MLB and the Pittsburgh Pirates announced her death Saturday. She died in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
MLB says Vera Clemente had health issues recently. The Pittsburgh Pirates tweeted on Nov. 1 that she had been hospitalized.
Vera and Roberto Clemente got married in November 1964, according to the Roberto Clemente Foundation. Roberto Clemente was a 15-time All-Star with the Pirates. He was killed in a plane crash on New Year’s Eve 1972 while attempting to deliver supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says Vera Clemente “impacted countless children and extended her family’s humanitarian legacy of helping those in need.”
Vera Clemente served as the chairwoman for the foundation, which works “to promote positive change and community engagement through the example and inspiration of Roberto.” Vera and Roberto had three sons: Roberto Jr., Luis and Enrique.
Pirates owner Bob Nutting called Clemente “a cherished member of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Major League Baseball family.” He says she “epitomized grace, dignity and strength in the wake of heartbreaking tragedy and loss.”
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

“Thru the Eyes of Sly Washington” WPIAL 3A Final, Aliquippa vs. Central Valley

(Pittsburgh, Pa.) In our second edition this weekend of “Thru the Eyes of Sly Washington” we are off to Heinz Field and the WPIAL 3A Championship. It was a rematch of a game from earlier in the season when The Central Valley Warriors dominated the Aliquippa Quips at the Pit in Aliquippa. The Quips had revenge on their minds heading into kick-off. Beaver County Radio’s Bob Barrickman, Tom Hays and Bruce Fry had the call of the action.

WPIAL Gold on the line and this time the game was a totally different  it was all defense in the first half  until Aliquippa found the end zone with 22 seconds left till the intermission when Running Back Isaiah Towler found Wide Receiver Chinua Soloman in the end zone with a 12 yard touchdown pass. Aliquippa took a 6-0 lead into the half after the failed PAT. The Quips and Warriors both had numerous chances to score in the hird quarter but the score remained 6-0 after three quarters in favor of the Quips. The fourth quarter told a differnet story when Central Valley found the end zone on a 6 yard touchdown pass from Quarterback Ameer Dudley found Running Back Jaylen Guy and the Warriors tied the game at six missing the extra point the game stayed tied at the end of regulation play.  In overtime The Warriors got the ball first and scoered on the first play when Wide Receiver Michael Barbuto took the sweep into the end zone from ten yards out. They added the extra point and made it 13-6, Then it was the Quips turn and on the second play of their possession Towler took it in from 11 yards out and made the score 13-12. The Quips, who are not really known for kicking field goals, went for two and the win Towler was stopped two yards short of the Goal Line and the Warriors would go on to win the 3A WPIAL Championship and advance to the PIAA State Play-offs. Central Valley will be off next week then play either Friday November 29th, or Saturday November 30th against a opponent to be determined, time and site will also be determined at a later date. The Quips finished another impressive season by making their 12th consecutive trip to play in a WPIAL Championship Game.

Check out all of the action from Heinz Field below in this edition of “Thru the Eyes of Sly Washington”  ……

 

 

“Thru the Eyes of Sly Washington” WPIAL 2A Semi-Final, Riverside vs. Avonworth

(Imperial, Pa.) In the first of two editions of “Thru the Eyes of Sly Washington” we ere off to Imperial and West Allegheny High School for the WPIAL 2A Semi-final as the upstart Riverside Panthers were playing the Avonworth Antolopes for the chance to advance to the WPIAL Championship next weekend.

It was a rough Friday night for the Panthers as they struggled to put numbers on the board. Avonworth started the first quarter off with a touchdown and carried that momentum into the second quarter with another touchdown. The Lopes missed the extra point  ending the half with a 13-0. Avonworth didn’t take their foot off the gas in the second half scoring  another two touchdowns. Avonworth headed into the fourth quarter leading  27-0.  Avonworth continued to put numbers on the board, invoking  the mercy rule but the Panthers refused to go down without a fight scoring two touchdwns in the fourth quarter.  In the end the Lopes cruised to a 41-14 victory and a trip to Norwin for the WPIAL Championship next weekend against the Washington LIttle Prexies who defeated Brentwood 20-14 in the other semi-final game.

The Panthers season comes to an end after an impressive play-off run that saw them being the only team out of the MAC to advance to the semi-finals. Check out all of the action below in “Thru the Eyes of Sly Washington”…..

 

Link for Riverside vs. Avonworth Friday 11/15/19

 

 

   vs. 

WBVP-AM 1230, WBVP-FM 99.3 and WMBA-AM 1460’s Bob Barrickman and Tom Hays have the call from have the call from West Allegheny High School of this 2019 WPIAL Class 2A Semifinals high school football playoff game as the Panthers battle the Antelopes.

 

 

Pitt pulls away from Robert Morris 71-57

Pitt pulls away from Robert Morris 71-57
By WILL GRAVES AP Sports Writer
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) — A double-digit deficit on the road. A capacity crowd in full throat. Pittsburgh has been there plenty over last two-plus years. And faltered each and every time.
For once, the Panthers pushed back, a small sign of growth for a program hoping to take another step toward respectability in head coach Jeff Capel’s second season.
Trey McGowens scored 25 points and Terrell Brown added eight points, nine rebounds and a career-high five blocks as Pitt spoiled the unveiling of Robert Morris’ sparkling UPMC Events Center in a 71-57 win on Tuesday night. Three days after getting upset at home by Nicholls State, the Panthers (2-1) responded by snapping a 24-game road losing streak that stretched back nearly three years.
The Colonials (0-3) used an 18-0 run in the first half to take an 11-point lead. Six-plus years after upsetting defending national champion Kentucky in a National Invitational Tournament game at the since-demolished Sewall Center, Robert Morris again staggered a Power Five conference team.
The Panthers, however, recovered behind McGowens’ relentlessness and the 6-foot-10 Brown’s dominance in the lane as Pitt earned its first true road victory since beating Boston College on Feb. 8, 2017.
“When they made their run, it was loud, we could have folded,” Capel said. “We have to understand the importance of each day. We are not a program and we don’t have the type of talent where you can just show up.”
A lesson the Panthers learned painfully against Nicholls State, a game in which Pitt led for just 35 seconds against a team picked to finish 11th in the Southland Conference. The Colonials, perennial contenders in the Northeastern Conference under coach Andy Toole, represented a bit of a step up in class. Throw in the debut of their new $45 million, 4,000-seat gym — a building that’s a testament to both the program Toole has built and the rapid expansion at the school of more than 5,000 students located 20 miles west of Pitt’s Oakland campus — and Robert Morris had all the intangibles required to beat the Panthers for the first time in 31 meetings.
The Colonials just didn’t have the tools necessary to slow down McGowens or overcome Brown’s size.
“Terrell Brown was really the difference in the game,” Toole said. “His ability to protect the rim, and make it hard for our guys to finish around the basket had a huge impact on us offensively.”
Josh Williams led Robert Morris with 12 points, Jalen Hawkins added 11 off the bench and Yannis Mendy had 10 points and six rebounds, but the Colonials — who didn’t have a player over 6-feet-8 — couldn’t keep pace over the final 20 minutes. Pitt, which scrambled back from the early hole to tie it at halftime, opened the second half with a 22-10 surge that broke it open.
The Panthers outrebounded Robert Morris 39-27, dominated Robert Morris in second-chance points (14-2) and kept the Colonials off the free throw line. Robert Morris didn’t even attempt a free throw in the second half and finished with just six for the game. McGowens, by comparison, made 8 of 10 at the line after getting to the stripe just nine times total over his first two games.
“I was just letting it come to me,” McGowens said.
PACKED HOUSE, NEW DAY?
Toole hopes the response to the debut of the Colonials’ glittering new venue — particularly from a raucous student section — is a sign of things to come. Robert Morris has averaged 20 wins a season over the last 12 years but all that success didn’t necessarily translate to a rowdy atmosphere at the Sewall Center. He thinks that can change going forward.
“I think this could become a great home court for us if we can get the campus and community support that I think these guys deserve,” Toole said. “It was a fun environment for them to come and cheer and be connected as a university community. I think that’s something to build upon. There’s a great source of pride being able to be in this building finally.”
BIG PICTURE
Pitt: The Panthers need to find some sort of identity on offense if they’re going to take another step forward in coach Jeff Capel’s second season. Through three games, Pitt has relied heavily on McGowens and Xavier Johnson getting to the basket. When they’re either finishing at the rim or getting fouled, the Panthers are competitive. When they’re not — as they weren’t against Nicholls State — Pitt will struggle to generate offense.
Robert Morris: The Colonials will have a chance to make some noise in the NEC. Picked to finish fifth, Robert Morris should be plenty battle-tested thanks to a nonconference schedule that includes games against Marquette and UNLV before league play begins.
UP NEXT
Pitt: Faces longtime rival West Virginia for the 129th time on Friday when the Mountaineers visit the Petersen Events Center.
Robert Morris: Plays Howard on Friday night in Toledo, Ohio as part of the Men Against Breast Cancer Invitational.
___
More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25