The postponement of two WPIAL baseball championships earlier this week left four coaches with a decision. Their quandary was basically a question of what meant more -- a WPIAL title or a first-round PIAA playoff game.

They all chose a WPIAL championship.

The WPIAL Class A and AAA championships were postponed Tuesday and again Wednesday before finally being played Friday. That meant a pitcher who worked more than five innings Friday was ineligible to pitch again until Tuesday. The PIAA playoffs begin tomorrow.

So the coaches had to decide whether to use their No. 1 pitcher, or maybe save him for the PIAA playoffs. Serra coach Brian Dzurenda said he was thinking seriously about what he should do. But Moon, Chartiers Valley, Serra and Carmichaels all used their No. 1 pitchers in the WPIAL final.

"I asked the kids after we got rained out [Thursday] whether they wanted to go after the WPIAL, or the state," Dzurenda said. "Unanimously, they said the WPIAL."

So Serra started No. 1 pitcher Oliver Girman -- and he led the Eagles to a 7-1 win. Carmichaels started ace Joby Lapkowicz.

"I don't save anyone for anything," Carmichaels coach Dave Bates said of his decision to start Lapkowicz.

Moon and Chartiers Valley also started their top pitchers -- Moon's Brad Schnelle and Char Valley's Dan Colavincenzo.

"The WPIAL is what we shoot for," Chartiers Valley coach Jim Jaskowski said. "The WPIAL is what we talk about at the beginning of every season. The state is kind of like the cherry on top of things."

Eighty of the top senior baseball players in the WPIAL will play in the sixth annual WPIAL Baseball Coaches Association All-Star Games June 14 at the Burkett Complex in Robinson. The 1 p.m. opener matches Class A against Class AA with a 4 p.m. pitting Class AAA against Class AAAA. Tickets are available at the games.

Some of the top players in the games are Blackhawk's Ben Rawding, South Park's Tarran Senay, Seton-LaSalle's Derek Law, Hopewell's Max Vogel, North Allegheny's Jon Wilson, Pine-Richland's Vinny Nittoli, Riverview's Gus Benusa and Kiski Area's Nate Antone.

Maybe one of the most remarkable things about Peabody's Pierre Carr winning PIAA track titles in the 100- and 200-meter dashes is not that he is only the third City League runner to win both events. It is that he practiced track very little.

"I rarely went to practice, I'm not going to lie," Carr said.

Asked how much he practiced during the season, Carr said, "Maybe once every other week. I'd go, do a few things and then disappear like Houdini."

When it got closer to the PIAA championships, he changed his practice habits.

"I practiced every day for two weeks before the state meet," Carr said.

Maybe he would have been faster with more practice.

Pitt football recruit Todd Thomas, a senior at Beaver Falls, remains uncertain of whether he will attend Pitt as a freshman or go to a prep school. Thomas, a two-time member of the Post-Gazette Fabulous 22, signed with Pitt in February, but he does not know if he will be academically eligible.

Thomas has been added to the Pennsylvania roster for the Big 33 all-star game June 20.

Longtime North Allegheny boys' tennis coach John Woffington went out on top. North Allegheny won WPIAL and PIAA titles this season, and Woffington, 64, announced his retirement at the team banquet Thursday. Woffington had a 612-131 record in 38 seasons, with four WPIAL titles and two PIAA championships. His teams won 21 section titles, and Woffington was inducted into the Western Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame this spring.

Olympic gold medalist John Woodruff and Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Lujack head the list of the first class to be inducted into the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame. Both are graduates of Connellsville High School.

Among others who will be inducted at July 18 ceremonies are former Uniontown football stars Chuck Muncie and Sandy Stephens, former Laurel Highlands basketball star Wil Robinson and legendary Uniontown basketball coach Abe Everhart. For tickets, call 724-430-4100, extension 4886.

Chartiers Valley boys' basketball coach Tim McConnell doesn't have golf clubs and rarely plays. But for one shot last Saturday, he was unbeatable.

McConnell had a hole-in-one on the 155-yard par 3 at Hickory Heights Golf Club in Bridgeville. McConnell used a 5-iron in a "scramble" event. The clubs belonged to McConnell's assistant coach, Shawn Sherry.

Lucky? Of course. But McConnell predicted it.

"I swear to God this is the truth," he said. "Right before I hit, I looked back at the other people in my foursome and said, '412-263-1975. That's the Post-Gazette number. Call them because this is going in.' Ask anyone there. That's exactly what I said."