The Fox Chapel girls flag football team knocked off North Catholic, 21-20, Wednesday night at home.

Josh Fremd was contrite about the mistakes he made in his past during the PFL Pittsburgh event last month. After being cut from the UFC, he was hoping to find a spot in mixed martial arts somewhere. Fremd knocked out Jarrah Hussein Al-Silawi with a left hook to improve to 12-6 as a pro.

Fremd, who now lives in Colorado, announced on social media Wednesday that the PFL has chosen to offer him a new deal following the fight.

"Job interview in Pittsburgh went well," Fremd wrote. "Try blessed to STILL chase this dream in the Rockies."

Fremd, who wrestled at Connellsville High School before attending Slippery Rock University, went 2-4 in the UFC. He was 20-15 during his senior season with the Falcons and placed second in section.

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be submitted to Rizzo42789@gmail.com or on X @J_oshRizzo.

PENN HILLS -- Shaler softball coach Tom Sorce wanted the Titans to think about each plate appearance Monday night at Linton Middle School. Every at-bat, Sorce had a plan. Don't pull this one. Try to think about where your hands, hips and feet are positioned.

Facing an overmatched Penn Hills pitching staff, Sorce wanted every hitter to be working toward the future. Later this week, the Titans will have a tough matchup with North Hills. Shaler beat Penn Hills 17-0 in three innings in Section 1-5A matchup.

"For the most part, we work on those little things because we believe it's more important than the stuff that comes out of the stats," Sorce said. "We want to do the little things to win games. That's one of the things I go with."

Freshman Gia Colamarino delivered one of the things Sorce was looking to see. Colamarino looked strong in fall ball, but her power hitting hadn't shown through in the early stages of the varsity season. She smashed a three-run home run in the second inning to stretch Shaler's lead to 15-0.

"It's going to build her confidence up and show that all the hard work she's been putting in has been paying off," Sorce said. "This is a good game to do that. Now, if we could transition that and get in bigger swings as we move along, the hard work she's been doing in the gym and the stuff we've been tracking, it will give her confidence. Sometimes you have a little bit of wide eyes as a freshman."

Shaler (5-1, 3-0) has won two in a row since losing to defending PIAA champions Penn-Trafford. The Titans pressed the issue with Penn Hills early, plating 12 runs in the first inning. Addison Aleski delivered a double and a triple in the first inning for Shaler.

Jayla Antomachi, Olivia Gieraltowski, Leah Eich, Ellie Nickel and Alyssa Schaffold also collected hits for the Titans in the opening inning.

"When we're up like this, we can work on things," Sorce said. "Nothing is better than going against live pitching. When you are going against live pitching and have runners in scoring position, we want to hit behind the runner. That's one of the things I was talking about during the game. It's tough to duplicate in practice."

Penn Hills (0-5, 0-3) has a young team and has had a hard time generating runs against a difficult schedule. The Titans didn't throw star pitcher Bria Bosiljevac against the Indians. They instead had Taylor London step inside the circle. She only allowed one hit, a single to Penn Hills sophomore Addy Helsel.

London finished with nine strikeouts.

"Her windup was a little odd to try to time up, but I got it down," Helsel said. "It was pretty slow at first, but she had a good whip and a lot our girls were struggling, but it happens."

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be sent to Rizzo42789@gmail.com or on X @J_oshRizzo.

MOON TWP - Ariane Da Silva considered retiring after her time with the UFC came to an end. After all the time the Brazil native spent honing her martial arts skills, she wasn't quite ready to let things go.

When da Silva made her debut in front of a crowd that hadn't seen a global MMA promotion come to town in nine years, she felt good about her decision to stay in the sport. Da Silva picked up a 29-28 (x3) unanimous decision win over Sumiko Inaba during a flyweight bout.

"Pittsburgh was amazing from the first day we came here," da Silva said. "Everyone was cheering and enjoying the fight. I enjoyed my night in Pittsburgh and debut in the PFL."

da Silva last fought for the UFC in June 2025, which saw her lose her third straight fight against Wang Cong at UFC 316. During her UFC tenure, da Silva never quite lived up to the championship-level hype she came into the promotion with. Da Silva, who is 18-11 on her career, was 6-8 in the UFC.

During the fight with Inaba, da Silva dropped Inaba in the second round and nearly finished the fight. With the win, da Silva has put herself in line to challenge Dakota Ditcheva for the championship.

"I feel amazing," da Silva said. "I feel great to not be retired. I went through, I recovered myself and gave myself a change for my career. With all my years in martial arts, I can't finish like that. The PFL gave me another opportunity. It was a really great opportunity."

MOON TWP - Ethan Goss laments the time he spent away from his 10-month-old daughter. He invested 12 weeks training for his Professional Fighters League featherweight fight with Frederik Dupras Saturday at UPMC Events Center. When everything ended with a contested stoppage in the first round, it was draining for Goss.

"I spent 12 weeks only getting to see my daughter 30 minutes a day in the morning because I was gone every evening and on the weekends," Goss said. "I was driving to Pittsburgh and training at other gyms to be 100 percent for this. It's one of those curve balls life throws at you."

Dupras didn't have any questions about the stoppage. The Canadian fighter was on top and wrenching a guillotine choke. He said he felt Goss go unconscious.  Referee Chip Snider agreed and stopped the fight at the 2 minute, 46 mark of the first round.

Goss believes the replay shows his head popping out of the hold before Snider stopped the fight

“I didn’t see the fight yet, but the way I was feeling, I was feeling like he was panicking,” Dupras said. “His arm was kind of trapped. I was feeling he had no way to tap. … At one point, I felt like he was getting numb. I feel he went out.”

Goss, a former two-division champion at locally-based 247 Fighting Championships, believes the replay shows otherwise. He immediately protested the stoppage in the cage. After watching the fight back several times, Goss said that he planned to file an appeal with the Pennsylvania State commission to try and overturn the result to a no contest.

"If you watch the fight, as he went over the top of my head, I immediately caught the arm and my hands were in," Goss said. "He was being coached by the ref to be active because he wasn't doing anything. He warned him like two or three times that he was going to stand us up. He tried to pull the choke underneath. You aren't going to choke someone out when you have both hands in. I wasn't pulling my hands out because I didn't want to slip and give him the choke."

Dupras, who improved to 2-1 in the PFL and 12-8 in his career, has seen all three of his PFL fights end by submission. He felt like Goss had gone out. Dupras lost his debut fight by rear-naked choke to Gabriel Braga, but has bounced back with a pair of guillotine wins over Nathan Kelly and Goss. 

Goss felt like Dupras' corner helped influence the stoppage.

"As soon as I started kick my legs, they were yelling that I was tapping and I wasn't tapping," Goss said. "Obviously, I was kicking and fighting and fighting. Then when I went flat for that split second to get him to regrip or reangle his choke, they yelled, 'He's out. He's out'. They persuaded the ref to stop the fight. If I would've went flat and laid there for three seconds it would have been understandable. But it was a split second, a half second."

MOON TWP - The Pittsburgh area will see the return of an global MMA promotion for the first time since Sept. 16, 2017, Saturday night when the Professional Fighters League hosts a fight card at Robert Morris' UPMC Events Center. 

PFL officials said at the weigh-in Friday at the Pittsburgh Airport Marriott that the event was sold out. Local fans will see plenty of talent from the area. Dalton Rosta, a Laurel graduate, is at the top of the list. He will compete in the co-main event against Impa Kasanganay.

The UFC last hosted a show at PPG Paints Arena nine years ago which saw Luke Rockhold defeat David Branch by second-round TKO in the main event. All three local fighters are coming off defeats in their last fight.

Rosta will be eager to bounce back after suffering his first-ever KO loss last April during the PFL Middleweight Tournament championship fight against Fabian Edwards. After two competitive rounds, Edwards, the brother of former UFC champion Leon Edwards, caught Rosta with a headkick to secure the win.

Rosta, who was previously on a three-fight winning streak in MMA, is 11-2 during his career. Rosta will have a difficult challenge against Kasangany, who has found a second life in the PFL. Kasanganay, a former UFC veteran best known for being on the receiving end of one of the most devastating knockouts in the promotion's history in 2020, has showed off his striking throughout his PFL tenure.

Kasanganay, who is 19-6 overall, is 9-3 during his time in the PFL. He set the PFL world on fire after he won a PFL challenger series fight before going on to win the 2023 PFL World light heavyweight championship.

The Mars graduates who have found their way to Major League Baseball have been finding important roles for their respective teams. JJ Wetherholt will have a long way to go in terms of building a solid career, but got off to an electric start Thursday against the Tampa Bay Rays. Wetherholt, who played collegiately at West Virginia, became the first St. Louis Cardinals player to homer in his MLB Debut on opening day since 1957.

The Cardinals beat the Rays 9-7. Wetherholt went 1 for 4 and drove in two runs.

The Western Pennsylvania basketball scene will have another new player on the scene next school year. Something that will be considerably different from the norm. The Life Male STEAM Academy, which is based out of Penn Center in Wilkins Township, hired former Imani Christitan coach Khayree Wilson to lead its boys basketball program.

Wilson will be the Director of Basketball Operations, including the middle school program, and be the head coach of the high school team. Life Male STEAM Academy is a charter school serving students from grades six through 11. Wilson said on X that this will be a program that has the aims of playing a national schedule.

Wilson resigned in March after spending three seasons with the Saints and guiding them to a 38-34 record. During Wilson's first season, Imani Christian won the WPIAL and PIAA Class 1A titles. The Saints then chose to bump up to Class 6A for the next two-year enrollment cycle. Imani Christian made the playoffs in both seasons, but finished 19-24 overall.

The Saints had a male enrollment of 33, but chose to play up after dominated Class 1A. 

Wilson said in a statement that he will always love the school. 

"This program and this  school will always be part of who I am," Wilson wrote. The memories we built together, the battles we fought, and the relationships we created will stay with my forever. Sometimes new chapters end so new ones can begin."

Josh Rizzo is editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be submitted to Rizzo42789@gmail.com or on X @J_oshRizzo.

John Calipari avoided becoming a victim to perhaps the most feisty of all of the mid-major entrants into the NCAA Division I men's basketball championships Saturday night. Calipari, a Moon graduate, help the fourth-seeded Arkansas men's basketball overcome High Point with a 94-88 victory at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. The Razorbacks only led by one point at halftime and the game saw 15 lead changes, 10 of which came after halftime.

​Former Lincoln Park standout Meleek Thomas scored 19 points for Arkansas. Thomas spent a few seasons with the Leopards before he transferred to play for Overtime Elite Academy in Atlanta. Thomas has had a standout season playing for Arkansas, being named to the SEC All-Freshman team.

The win puts Calipari back in the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive season. Calipari has gotten back on track at Arkansas. Two of Calipari's last three losses in the NCAA Tournament during his time at Kentucky were to mid-major programs. The Wildcats were eliminated by Oakland in 2024 and St. Peter's in 2022.

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be submitted to Rizzo42789@Gmail.com or on X @J_oshRizzo.

Blackhawk graduate Sean Miller made the leap back into a power conference this season when he took over as the Texas men's basketball coach. The Longhorns didn't make a perfect adjustment to the veteran coach, but Texas has figured things out on the big stage. After earning its way into the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament by getting a bid in the First Four, Texas has ran off three wins in five days.

The Longhorns' most recent masterpiece came during a 74-68 win over Gonzaga Saturday night in Portland, Oregon. No. 11 Texas took down No. 3 Gonzaga 74-68. Miller, who has a career record of 507-210, is back in the Sweet 16 for the first time since the 2022-23 season, when he took Xavier that far.

Miller will coach in the Sweet 16 for the ninth time in his career. Despite all of Miller's success, he has yet to break through to a Final Four. Miller has made it to the Elite 8 four times, including once during his first tenure with Xavier during the 2007-08 season and three times while he was at Arizona.

Texas is set to play the winner of Miami and Purdue in the next round. The Hurricane and Boilermakers are set to meet on Sunday afternoon.

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be submitted to Rizzo42789@gmail.com or on X @J_oshRizzo.