Sports briefs 1/29
Pitt reduces football seating
Pitt announced Wednesday that it will block off sections of Acrisure Stadium starting with the 2026 football season to reduce capacity by 17,000.
The upper decks on the east and west sides of the stadium will no longer be open during Panthers games and the potential exists to tarp those sections.
The move will reduce the Pitt football seating capacity from 68,400 to 51,416. That means it goes from the second-largest to the 10th largest football stadium in the ACC. North Carolina, Stanford, Boston College, Syracuse, Duke, SMU and Wake Forest are smaller.
“Prior to getting here, I had heard about our capacity and heard about our fan experience,” athletic director Allen Greene said. “One of the first things that Coach (Pat) Narduzzi said is our players want to run out of the stadium and feel the energy from our fans. Creating a more intimate environment allows us to do that.”
Greene said there will be opportunities for those who sat in the upper deck to sit in the lower bowl ‘at an affordable price.’
WPIAL wrestling
Trinity won its first-round match but was knocked out of the WPIAL Class 3A Team Tournament by host Norwin in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Trinity rode pins by Dom Canali, Luke Poland and Jake Wright to overpower West Allegheny 50-6 in the opening round.
Norwin, however, was 35-31 winner over the Hillers and advances to Saturday’s semifinals at Peters Township.
Also in Class 3A, Peters Township won its preliminary round match over Shaler but was blanked by top-seeded Franklin Regional 69-0 in the quarterfinals.
In Class 2A, Beth-Center edged Quaker Valley 42-36 in the first round but the Bulldogs fell to top-seeded Burrell 51-19 in the quarterfinals.
Jefferson-Morgan was a 48-28 winner over Avella in the first round in a Class 2A match at Laurel. The Rockets were edged by Laurel, 42-30, in the quarterfinals.
Australian Open
Jessica Pegula defeated fellow American Amanda Anisimova 6-2, 7-6 on Wednesday to reach the semifinals of the Australian Open.
Pegula also beat defending champion Madison Keys of the U.S. in her previous match.
In the other women’s quarterfinal at Rod Laver Arena, Elena Rybakina defeated Iga Swiatek 7-5, 6-1. It ended Swiatek’s bid to complete a career Grand Slam of singles titles — at least for 2026.
The top four seeds reached the final four in the men’s draw with two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner and 10-time Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic advancing to a semifinal featuring No. 2 vs. No. 4. Top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz will face No. 3 Alexander Zverev in Friday’s other semifinal.
In golf
Patrick Reed is the second major champion to leave Saudi-funded LIV Golf, announcing Wednesday he will spend the rest of the year on the European tour with an eye on returning to the PGA Tour as early as September.
His stunning decision, just three days after he won the Dubai Desert Classic, comes the same week that five-time major champion Brooks Koepka returns to the PGA Tour at Torrey Pines.
In baseball
The New York Yankees added to their bullpen Wednesday by acquiring right-handed reliever Angel Chivilli in a trade with the Colorado Rockies.
New York sent minor league infielder T.J. Rumfield to Colorado for Chivilli, a 23-year-old from the Dominican Republic with two seasons of major league experience. He had a 7.06 ERA in 43 relief appearances for the Rockies last year and a 4.55 ERA in 30 appearances with them in 2024.
In the NBA
Houston’s Steven Adams will miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on his left ankle.
Adams had been out since suffering what coach Ime Udoka called a “severely sprained ankle” on Jan. 18 against the Pelicans.