High School Notebook: Alderson hired as Chartiers-Houston Athletic Director
Chartiers-Houston has turned to an accomplished alum as its new athletic director.
Dan Alderson was officially hired as the Bucs’ new athletic director Tuesday night. The vote was 6-1 in favor.
Alderson takes over for Scott Sakai.
A 1990 Chartiers-Houston grad, Alderson was a standout pitcher who played college baseball at Ashland University in Ohio.
He was the Bucs’ baseball coach from 2001-09 and guided them to three section titles and two state semifinal appearances.
More recently Alderson has been an assistant coach for the Chartiers-Houston softball team with his wife Tricia Alderson. The Bucs won the WPIAL Class A championship in 2024 and were the Class 2A district runner-up and state semifinalist this season.
Char-Houston searching for new baseball coach
One of Alderson’s first tasks will be finding a new baseball coach at Char-Houston.
Andy Manion will not return.
The Bucs went 7-10 this year and lost 1-0 to Shenango in the first round of the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs.
Manion had coached the Bucs since 2020 and his teams made the playoffs every season he was at the helm.
Double first base coming to high school baseball
It’s been a staple on softball fields for years and starting in 2027, the baseball diamond will feature a double base at first.
The NFHS announced the rule change Tuesday.
New language was added to Rule 1-2-9, which notes that the double first base must be white and a contrasting solid color. The white portion of the base is located in fair territory while the colored half is located in foul territory, split by the first base foul line. There is to be no space between the two portions of the double base.
Another rule change for 2027 limits player defensive meetings to one per inning. The rule book defines a player-to-player defensive meeting as having two or more defensive players.
Umpires will deny any subsequent defensive team requests for that half-inning.
Coaches can visit the mound once before being forced to change the pitcher.
South Fayette girls racking up college offers
Coming off a season in which they made history by winning the program’s first state title, South Fayette girls basketball might be just getting started.
The Lions have the potential to put out a starting five this winter of players with a Division I offer.
Five Lions -Juliette Leroux, Ryan Oldaker, Haylie Lamonde, Lailah Wright and Ella Vierra- have received at least one Division I offer.
Leroux picked up an offer from Brown last month, which was added to a long list. She has a long list of other suitors, which include Le Moyne, Loyola (Md.), Sacred Heart, Kent State, St. Bonaventure, Air Force, Delaware, UMass, Cleveland State, William & Mary, Lafayette, Iona, Eastern Michigan, Florida Atlantic and Boston University.
Oldaker received an offer from Marist last week. She also has offers from Mercyhurst, Campbell, Albany and Rider.
Lamonde got her first Division I offer from Cornell in April.
Wright’s first offer came from Le Moyne.
Vierra has offers from Duquesne, Robert Morris and Kent State.
Leroux, Oldaker and Lamonde will be seniors. Wright will be a junior and Vierra a sophomore.
College interest picking up for Welsh
Peters Township girls basketball won’t have standout Natalie Wetzel this winter, who’s now at Miami (Fla.), but plenty of talent returns from their WPIAL Class 5A championship team and that includes Jordyn Welsh.
Welsh, who will be a sophomore this fall, has picked up three Division I offers since the season ended, including one June 30 from Princeton. She also has offers from Toledo and St. Bonaventure to go along with one from Youngstown State that she received before her freshman season.
Another sophomore, Taylor McCullough, has an offer from Youngstown State.