May 30, 2020 2:13 am
WJPA’s Championship Classics for May will focus on what should be happening right now–high school baseball & softball. Teams should be concluding their regular seasons and heading into the WPIAL playoffs. But COVID-19 put a halt on all of that. So, we’re looking back over the past decade, remembering the Washington County teams that played in WPIAL championship games, some of them against Greene County squads. We couldn’t fit all of the games (13) into our Tuesday-Thursday-Friday schedule, so we added a Memorial Day Weekend Saturday feature to close the run.
Our broadcasts air at 1 pm and again at 7 pm. Championship Classics are available on WJPA-AM (1450) and online. LISTEN HERE!
Here’s the schedule for the rest of the month:
Saturday, May 30–2018 WPIAL baseball: Canon-McMillan vs. North Allegheny
May 29, 2020 3:48 am
UNDATED (AP) – NFL owners approved several rules on Thursday without accepting an alternative to the onside kick. Owners have tabled a proposal that would have offered a fourth-and-15 play as an alternative to the onside kick. Atlanta Falcons President Rich McKay said there were more clubs receptive to the onside kick alternative than in the past and it will be further explored and likely brought up again. Owners approved testing expanded use of video replay in the preseason to aid in officiating, and they also increased the number of players who may be designated for return from the injured list during a season from two to three. The owners voted to make permanent the expansion of automatic replay reviews to include scoring plays and turnovers negated by a foul, and any successful or unsuccessful extra points. Also approved was the competition committee’s recommendation to expand defenseless player protection to a kickoff or punt returner who is in possession of the ball but has not had time to avoid or ward off contact of an opponent. Another approved recommendation stops teams from manipulating the game clock by committing multiple dead-ball fouls while the clock is running. That’s an issue that came up several times in 2019, including during the postseason. Using video replay for pass interference calls was dropped after a one-year experiment that led to more uncertainty than clarity. A proposal to have a booth judge serve as an eighth official on each crew was tabled.
May 28, 2020 2:36 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Pittsburgh Penguins will head into whatever becomes of the NHL postseason without forward Nick Bjugstad. The team says Bjugstad underwent spinal surgery to repair a herniated disk. General manager Jim Rutherford said the surgery was necessary after Bjugstad had a “setback” while recovering from a lower-body injury suffered just before the NHL went on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While Bjugstad is out, All-Star forward Jake Guentzel is on schedule to return from a shoulder injury when the NHL resumes at some point this summer.
May 27, 2020 3:46 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick thinks a potentially altered preseason schedule could benefit one of the league’s best defenses. The Steelers are returning 10 of 11 starters from a unit that finished fifth in the league in 2019. Fitzpatrick believes that continuity would be an advantage if the COVID-19 pandemic disrupts preparations for the 2020 regular season. Fitzpatrick says while he is missing the chance to hang out with his teammates during organized team activities, he believes the team will get up to speed quickly whenever players are allowed to get together.
May 26, 2020 3:52 am
UNDATED (AP) – Patrick Ewing’s son says the Georgetown basketball coach and former NBA great has been released from the hospital and is recovering from COVID-19 at home. The 57-year-old Hall of Famer who played for the Hoyas in college and the New York Knicks for 15 seasons announced Friday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus and was being treated at a hospital. Patrick Ewing Jr. said three days later on Twitter that his father was getting better and thanked the doctors and nurses who looked after him during his hospital stay. He also thanked fans for their thoughts and prayers.
May 26, 2020 3:51 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – The Korean Baseball Organization has suspended ex-Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang for a year and ordered him to perform 300 hours of community service over a series of historical drunk driving cases. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reports the suspension for Kang will come into effect when he joins a KBO team. He applied to come off the voluntarily retired list last week in a bid to return to the Korean league. Yonhap said the 33-year-old Kang was in the U.S. and didn’t attend Monday’s KBO disciplinary committee hearing. Kang was the first position player to jump directly from the KBO to the majors when he signed with Pittsburgh in 2015.
May 25, 2020 3:24 am
UNDATED (AP) – Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning won “The Match: Champions for Charity,” earning a 1-up decision over Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady. Woods and Manning took the lead on the third hole and never trailed, building a 3-up lead in fourballs on the front nine and closing it out on 18. The goal was to raise $10 million or more for COVID-19 relief funds, and online donations sent money climbing toward about twice that much.
May 24, 2020 6:05 am
Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are getting ready for another made-for-TV match, this time with friends from the NFL. Woods and Peyton Manning take on Mickelson and Tom Brady in what’s being billed as “The Match: Champions for Charity.” It will be the second straight Sunday live golf is on TV. The purpose is to raise $10 million for COVID-19 relief efforts and to provide entertainment.
May 23, 2020 10:35 am
UNDATED (AP) – The NHL Players Association has accepted a proposal on a 24-team playoff format, but there are other items to discuss in the league’s bid to resume play. Those questions include potential game locations, when players can return to their respective teams and what non-playoff teams will be allowed to do during what could potentially become a 10-month break between games. Under the plan proposed by the NHL/NHLPA Return To Play committee, the top four teams in each conference would play each other in a mini-tournament for seeding. The remaining 16 teams face off in a best-of-five series play-in round to set the final 16 to compete for the Stanley Cup.
May 23, 2020 4:25 am
UNDATED (AP) – Georgetown basketball coach Patrick Ewing has tested positive for COVID-19 and is being treated at a hospital. The Hall of Fame player and former Knicks center says the virus is serious and should not be taken lightly, adding that he wanted to encourage everyone to stay safe and take care of themselves and their loved ones. Ewing also thanked the healthcare workers and everyone on the front lines. The school said the 57-year-old Ewing is the only member of its men’s program who has contracted the coronavirus.
