After losing 3-2 to Toronto Sunday, the Pirates  play two today.  They host the Atlanta Braves at Bradenton in the first game.  A split  squad  travels to Fort Meyers to play the Minnesota Twins.

When  Temple takes the floor against Iowa in the first round of the NCAA Basketball Championship, Lincoln Park Alumni  Devonte Watson will be in the line up. The senior from Ambridge just missed the big dance last year and played well in the NIT.  Hopewell grad Shatori Walker-Kimbough led the Maryland Lady Terrapins to a Big 10 championship and a number two seed in the NCAA Tournament.  They play the number 12 seed Iona. Walker-Kimbrough is Marylands leading scorer averaging 19.5 points per game.  Duquesne  Lady Dukes are in their first NCAA Tournament. Freshman  Chassidy Omogrosso  from Blackhawk has been a contributor to the team’s success. She has averaged 8.8 points a game. The number nine seed Dukes face number 8 seed Seton Hall Saturday afternoon. Beaver Falls Sheldon Jeter and Cameron Johnson from OLSH will play for Pitt  when they take on Wisconsin Friday Night in St Louis.

On Friday the Penguins got real bad news.  Their second leading scorer Evgeni Malkin will miss the rest of the regular season with an upper body injury.  Sunday they went into Madison Garden and beat the New York Rangers 5-3.  It was the Penguins third win  in four games.  Conor Sheary, who was just recalled From Wilkes Barre-Scranton on Saturday, scored two goals.  Matt Cullen scored the game winner in the third period and,  Sidney Crosby added  an empty netter to seal the victory.  The Penguins host the New York Islanders Tuesday night, the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday, and the Conference Leader Washington Capitols Sunday Evening.  They travel to Philadelphia Saturday to play the Flyers.

It is good news and bad news when it comes to local college basketball tournament action. First we have the good. Senior Guard  James Robinson made a steal and hit a running layoff with six seconds left to lift Pitt to a  72–71 win over Syracuse in the ACC Tournament.  It was the third win of the season against the Orange this season.  The win almost assures  them a berth in the NCAA tournament. They face the number one seed  North Carolina this afternoon. The bad news is the  Duquesne Dukes. They lost to last place LaSalle in the first round of the Atlantic Ten Tournament 88-73.  LaSalle was paced by Jordan Price. He had a near career high 36-points. The 14th seed Explorers face six seed Davidson. It was Duquesne’s 10th lost in 11 games

The Steelers  are not real big players in the first days of free agency.  They spent the first day signing one of their own.   Offensive guard  Ramon Foster agreed  to  a new three year deal.  They announced that they expect to work out an extension for the other offensive guard David DeCastro later this year.  The NFL Network reports the Steelers and free agent tight end Ladarius Green.  Green, who is  six foot six 237 pounds, spent four years with the San Diego Chargers. The deal is reported to be for four years  totaling 20-million dollars.  The Black and Gold can afford it.  They are a little over 11-million dollars under the salary cap.