Feb 7, 2023 3 min read

Shawn Chory was looking for a way back into high school baseball.

Monessen provided him the opportunity.

Chory, who coached at Bentworth last season before having his position opened, is part of a unique trading of places.

Former longtime Monessen coach Bill Matush was hired late last year to succeed Chory at Bentworth. Chory, ironically, is Matush’s successor at Monessen.

The schools have essentially traded coaches.

“Bill’s willing to help me out and I am willing to help him out with any information,” Chory said. “It’s a little different.”

Chory, an Albert Gallatin graduate, started his baseball coaching career with the Colonials as an assistant under his father, the late Rob Chory, for 10 years. Shawn Chory was head coach at Albert Gallatin for 14 years covering two stints. He also was head coach at Geibel Catholic for a year and an assistant coach at Penn State-Fayette for a year. Before being hired at Bentworth, Chory served as an assistant under Carmichaels coach Richard Krause for three years.

Chory said he will stress fundamentals with the Greyhounds and correct mistakes or bad habits on spot.

He added that he doesn’t manage any particular way, rather adjusting style of play to the strengths of his team.

“First and foremost, I want to introduce myself to our players,” Chory said. “We’ll start conditioning but my first mission is to get to know them, talk with them as a group and individually. Building relationships is most important.

“In addition to conditioning, we’re going to start with fielding. We have several baseball players who are on the basketball team. Those who are not will get right to work. We’re behind, it’s late to just be getting started. But we’ll get caught up through hard work. This is a different kind of challenge for me.”

Monessen will compete in a new section (Class A Section 3) with Bishop Canevin, Carlynton, Clairton, Cornell, Eden Christian and Sewickley Academy.

Eden Christian and Bishop Canevin will be favored. Eden Christian was WPIAL runner-up and the Crusaders were a playoff team. Sewickley Academy was a WPIAL quarterfinalist. None of the other teams posted winning records in 2022. Clairton and Cornell were winless.

The Greyhounds won only three of 32 games the past two seasons, going 1-14 in 2021 and 2-15 last season.

Monessen made the WPIAL Class A playoffs three times in a row from 2017-2019.

The Greyhounds’ best season under Matush was 2019 when they went 12-7 and finished as the section runner-up before losing to St. Joseph in the opening round of the WPIAL Class A playoffs.

Monessen was expected to have its best team under Matush in 2020 with the return of three pitchers. But the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the season.

The Greyhounds lost two key players to graduation but return three senior starters – infielder Ben Speicher, infielder Dante DeFelices and outfielder-designated hitter Josh Arnold. Also returning is sophomore infielder/pitcher R.J. DiEugenio and junior infielders Josh Walters and Eli Covington.

“I think I can make a difference,” Chory said. “I want to be a positive influence for the kids.”