Never-give-up attitude important in 2022-23

It’s high school graduation season. Another high school sports year done in, seemingly, a flash.
The 2022-23 high school sports year began back in August, on the golf courses and the practice fields, in the searing heat, and ended last weekend at Penn State’s Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, where the Mt. Lebanon baseball team’s magical turnaround season ended in heartbreaking fashion, one clutch hit shy of a PIAA championship.
Though there were fewer state titles by local teams and individuals to celebrate this year than in recent campaigns, the seasons produced more than a few fantastic finishes and some record-setting individual performances and plays that will become the stuff of legend. Though titles were rare, storylines were plentiful.
The sports staffs at the Observer-Reporter and The Almanac have again combined for this “Best of Sports” publication that covers the 2022-23 high school sports year. With “Best of Sports,” we have put together a comprehensive list of the top athletes, Most Valuable Players and Teams of the Year for the recently completed seasons. “Best of Sports” aims to highlight the outstanding achievements of local athletes in their sport of participation.
Choosing from the 22 schools in the O-R’s coverage area, along with six in The Almanac’s area – two schools are included in both areas – we put together the best of the best. We also made any athlete who lives in Washington or Greene counties and attends Seton-La Salle, Bishop Canevin or Central Catholic eligible to be an MVP or honoree.
Such an undertaking was not easy. And it would not be possible without the cooperation of the area athletic directors and coaches. They have been cordial and helpful as O-R staffers Joe Tuscano, Jonathan Guth and this reporter, along with Almanac sports editor Eleanor Bailey and correspondents Bill Hughes, Joe Smeltzer and Dave Whipkey covered their teams, asked questions and requested statistical information.
When compiling such lists, a good place to start would be the championship runs. The area saw an undefeated state wrestling champion, a football championship that was solidified with an epic goal-line stand in the final seconds, a rare back-to-back rifle titlist and several other team and individual WPIAL and PIAA championships.
But what 2022-23 might be best remembered for is resiliency and a never-give-up attitude that permeated through many of our teams and athletes. How else do you explain Mapletown’s Ella Menear, a swimmer whose school does not have a swimming team or even a pool, refusing to let that stop her drive to six WPIAL and three PIAA gold medals in her career? Or Waynesburg’s Drew Layton having to be in a walking boot for much of the spring because of a stress fracture in his foot, battling back to get on the track and winning both the WPIAL and PIAA pole vault championships?
Perhaps but the best never-give-up story was penned this spring by the Mt. Lebanon baseball team. It’s one that every team or individual that is off to a bad start to the season should remember and draw inspiration from. The Blue Devils, you see, had an 0-8 overall record on April 10. Their section record was 0-4.
Most 0-8 teams would be eagerly awaiting the day it could pack away the equipment for the offseason.
Not Mt. Lebanon.
The Blue Devils simply refused to quit and won 10 of their final 12 regular-season games and finished in second place in the section. They won one playoff game, then another, then defeated North Allegheny in the WPIAL Class 6A championship game with of all things, a no-hitter.
Three more wins in the PIAA playoffs put Mt. Lebanon in the state finals before its run ended with a 4-1 loss to Father Judge. The Blue Devils had gone from 0-8 to within one victory of a state championship. They gave up only 10 runs in seven postseason games.
Yes, as former college basketball coach Jim Valvano was right when he famously said, “Never give up.”