Marsco left a legacy in Liberty Twp.

May 10, 2019

PARENTS always adorn their children with so many words of wisdom as they’re growing up, especially when it comes to sports. Some concepts are easy to grasp. Father: “Keep your eye on the ball, son.” Son: “Thanks, Dad. How many years of baseball school did you take to learn that secret?” Others aren’t so easily comprehended, like passing the ball to an inferior teammate, or coming out of the game to let someone else play — even though he/she may not be as talented as you. Then there’s dealing with losing and learning from it. It can be difficult for grown men and ...

Area’s best seek place on state podium

May 7, 2019

The last 100 meters lie directly in front of an area athlete. A second-place competitor is closing fast. Who crosses the line first? The allure of being a track and field state champion is like no other. This May 31 and June 1, some area athletes have a great opportunity to be high atop the illustrious track and field stage in the state’s capitol. Vinny Mauri is seeking his elusive state title before heading to Arizona State University. He’s ranked No. 1 in the state in the 3,200 (9:12.28) and No. 2 in the state in the 1,600 (4:12.73). Lakeview junior Ashleigh Bowker leads ...

April proves difficult for AAC

May 5, 2019

The irony was amazing. In the Tribune Chronicle sports department we keep stacks of our sports sections, piled by year — each stack includes 365 (or 366 for leap year) different issues. Each day we pull the bottom issue from each stack and put it on top of the next stack. It gives us an idea of what was going on in the sports world and what we were covering a year ago, two years ago, three years ago, etc. When we pulled the older papers 10 days or so ago, among the headlines on the sports section front page were the following: Thursday, April 27, 2017: “AAC to go to 3 tiers in ...

Weather affects coaches’ best plans

May 4, 2019

Not many coaches are put in the type of predicament of a high school baseball coach in northeast Ohio. With unpredictable weather and a season that’s basically a month and a half, coaches are practically preparing for the postseason from Day 1. Sure, coaches and teams in all sports have one eye on the playoffs from the outset, but things are quite different in baseball. You’re all but guaranteed to play every one of your games in other sports, so you can lay out a detailed plan to set up the best possible recipe for success. Coaches can start with the basics, find their flaws ...

Weather OK so far for spring season

April 21, 2019

Don’t tell anyone you heard this from me — I don’t want to be accused of jinxing things — but the weather for the high school spring sports season in 2019 has been downright decent. That has made for some busy evenings in our sports department, but we are OK with that as we try to cover as much as we can. It also limits those times when schools change the location of scheduled games and we don’t find out until we show up to a junior varsity game. The fact that postponements have been reduced to some degree this spring is a big help for baseball and softball coaches as ...

Plenty are working so kids can play

April 14, 2019

While waiting for my grandson Carter’s baseball team to get their photos taken on Saturday, I got to thinking about how much effort — not to mention expense — goes into providing organized sports opportunities for youngsters in our communities. As we start another baseball season, while winding up a final session of indoor soccer — not to mention squeezing in flag football in the next few weeks — I thought it was a good time to recognize those people who make it all work. And I’m not just talking about the people directly involved in a particular organization. Those leagues ...