Softball sweeps forward; other Wildcat teams reflect

One down, one to go for the women’s softball team.

Entering Friday’s United East Volt Division playoffs, Pennsylvania College of Technology coach Angela Stackhouse said, “It is anybody’s game.” And her Wildcats were more than happy to make it theirs alone with a three-game sweep to the divisional crown and a berth in this weekend’s UE Championship series at Elm Park.

Also, this past week, the college’s men’s lacrosse team went 1-1 in its UE playoffs and finished second for the second time in four seasons.

SOFTBALL
Opening UE Volt Division play on Friday against third-seeded Penn State Berks, Mackenzie Weaver of Montoursville tossed a two-hit shutout, striking out six, and the second-seeded Wildcats used two two-run innings for a 4-0 win. Weaver aided her own cause with the bat by going 2 for 3 with an RBI double, and Lexi Snyder of Hegins went 2 for 3 and drove in two runs.

Later Friday, Penn College completed a perfect day and advanced to the title tilt with a 7-4 victory over top-seeded Penn State Harrisburg, with pitcher Fayth Anderson of Lykens going the first six innings for the win and Weaver coming on in relief for the final three outs. On offense, the top four in the batting order went 9 for 14 with Margaret Mangene of Boalsburg going 3 for 4, with four RBIs and two runs scored.

Facing PS Harrisburg in the division championship game on Saturday, Weaver fired her second two-hit shutout in as many days and got all of the run support she needed in the first inning from her teammates in a 7-0 win as Snyder plated two runs with a single and Jesse Brumbaugh of McClure drove in two more runs with a double. The Wildcats ended the game with nine hits, and despite the lopsided score, still left 11 on base.

“I am very proud of the mindset these ladies played with all weekend. We worked on creating and playing in a championship mindset. They executed that plan all weekend,” Stackhouse said.

The Wildcats will now play the yet-to-be-determined Skye Division winner in a best-of-three tournament hosted by Penn College. The games will be played on Friday and an “if necessary” game on Saturday.

Due to weekend rain postponements with games rescheduled for Monday, top-seeded Wilson College (25-11 overall, 14-4 all UE), second-seeded Rosemont College (16-6, 14-4) and third-seeded Notre Dame (Md.) University (20-17, 12-6) are still in the running for the Skye title.

Also, Madison Shaffer of Trout Run was selected as the United East Volt Softball Player of the Week for April 21-27, after she finished the regular season hitting a combined 14 for 20 at the plate with four doubles and three triples in the final six games.

Schedule/Record/Series History
Overall: 28-9
UE Volt Division: 18-5 (15-5 regular season)
UE Volt Division Playoffs
Wednesday, May 1 — UE Volt Division play-in: No. 4 Penn State Abington 6, No. 5 Lancaster Bible College 5 (LBC eliminated)
Friday, May 3 — No. 1 Penn State Harrisburg 2, No. 4 Penn State Abington 1 in 11 innings
Friday, May 3 — No. 2 Penn College 4, No. 3 Penn State Berks 0
Friday, May 3 — No. 2 Penn College 7, No. 1 Penn State Harrisburg 4
Friday, May 3 — No. 4 Penn State Abington 6, No. 3 Penn State Berks 4 (Berks eliminated)
Saturday, May 4 — No. 1 Penn State Harrisburg 7, No. 4 Penn State Abington 6 in 9 innings (Abington eliminated)
Saturday, May 4 — Volt Championship: No. 2 Penn College 7, No. 1 Penn State Harrisburg 0
Friday, May 10 — UE Championship at Elm Park: Penn College vs. TBA

MEN’S LACROSSE
A 13-0 start paved the way for Wednesday night’s 22-9 home semifinal win over third-seeded Keystone College that sent the No. 2-seed Wildcats to the championship for the second time in their four years of existence.

AJ Dotson of Wilmington, Delaware, led the offense against Keystone with six goals and three assists, while Jake Small of Bloomsbury, New Jersey, and Aidan McFalls of Gilbertsville each had three goals and two assists. Alex Hammond of Lincoln University, the first of three Penn College goalkeepers, got the win with four saves in 24 minutes of work.

“It was one of the first games where we started ready to go. We got 10 goals in the first quarter, so it was really good to see the offense swinging the ball around. The faceoffs were good. The defense was pressing everywhere. It was a really good quarter of lacrosse,” coach Jordan Williams said. “It was our first playoff win in program history, which is pretty cool. It was good to get that monkey off our back.”

In Saturday’s title tilt at top-seeded defending champ St. Mary’s (Md.) College, the Wildcats lost 23-4 to complete their season with records of 5-2 in all conference games and 10-9 overall as Dotson led the team with two goals. St. Mary’s dominated shots on goal 40-9.

“We had a great first quarter, 4-2, and we had a great shot at the end of the quarter that they made an awesome save on that would have made it 4-3 in the last two or three seconds. We saw that we could run with really good teams for periods of time, but we were unable to stop the run,” Williams said.

“They are so talented; so skilled; so athletic, just very, very smart lacrosse players. They’re well-coached. Just top to bottom, it’s a great program. They’ve been around since the ’70s. I was talking with their coach afterward and he mentioned that they have a 40-year head start on us (program-wise). He said, ‘Keep your head up; you are on the right track. You are better and you’ve challenged yourselves.’ It was good to get his perspective,” Williams said.

“It didn’t go as planned, but I was really happy with the way our guys competed,” Williams said. “All in all, it was a bad result, but it was a big step forward for our program because not everyone gets to play in a conference championship.”

Also, Dotson was named the United East Offensive Player of the Week for April 21-27 after he scored four goals and added seven assists in a 1-1 week for the Wildcats. He added four ground balls and three caused turnovers against Keystone on April 27. It was the second Player of the Week award for Dotson, who previously won for the week of April 1.

Schedule/Record/Series History
Final overall record: 10-9
Final overall UE record: 5-2 (4-1 regular season)
Tuesday, April 30 — United East semifinal: No. 1 St. Mary’s (Md.) College 27, No. 4 Cairn University 3
Wednesday, May 1 — United East semifinal: No. 2 Penn College 22, No. 3 Keystone College 9
Saturday, May 4 — United East Championship: No. 1 St. Mary’s (Md.) College 23, No. 2 Penn College 4

REFLECTIONS:
BASEBALL
Although feeling a bit strange sitting behind a desk in early May rather than prepping his team for the playoffs for only the second time in his 18-year Penn College career, coach Chris Howard believes that lessons learned this season will pay dividends for several years to come.

“The frustration was kind of tempered because we are such a young team. We were literally rolling out sometimes with eight freshmen, and the ninth was somebody playing for their first time,” Howard said. “It was frustrating that we didn’t get to where we normally get to, competing in the postseason, but at the same time, we (believe) that this team could be really good in the next couple of years. Frustrating, but exciting to see what we’ve got working, what’s coming back and where we can go.”

Among the bright spots on the pitching staff, according to the coach, were freshman left-hander Griffin Vollman of Williamsport, sophomore Jonas McGrath of Ashland and senior Jason Cute of Glenside, who was coming back from an elbow injury.

“But the thing that I was really excited about is that we had a bullpen with some really good arms. It was probably the first time in quite a few seasons where we weren’t just going to the bullpen because our starters weren’t doing the job; we had legit arms down there that were getting outs,” Howard said.

Dropping a conference-opening three-game series against Lancaster Bible College put the Wildcats in a hole that they never dug out of and helped attribute to the team’s 5-10 UE record during a 17-21 overall season, Howard said.

“We had flashes of playing really good ball, then we would lose games,” Howard said. “As the season ended up, we scored like one run in our last 30-some innings. You’re not going to win any ballgames when you can’t put runs across the plate.”

Wins and losses aside, it was a solid building season.

“It was a year of experience that all of the freshmen needed. Some of the guys who stood out were Jaiden Augustine of Dillsburg, Jaydon Goebel of Honey Brook, Shawn Townsend of Hatboro, Brandon Shane of Boyertown, Matt Munoz of Tobyhanna, John Croasdale of Milford, New Jersey, Kevin Cute of Glenside and Dallas Griess of Williamsport, who transferred in. This team was probably the best defensive team I’ve ever had, and (most) were freshmen. Our infield defense was really good,” Howard said.

Griess led the team with a .389 batting average and scored a team-best 38 runs, while DH Quinn Hanafin of Sayre hit .317 and topped the squad with 27 RBIs.

Work in the weight room will build players physically, which will go a long way toward getting the program back into the postseason because Howard said his team’s baseball IQ is the highest he’s ever had.

“They know how to play and they instinctively did the right things. I was very pleased with how they play the game and go about the game,” Howard said. “Now, it’s just a matter of getting our physicality matching our mentality.

“I’m very excited about the years ahead. It’s a good group and we have a really nice freshman class coming in that will fit in perfectly. The program will be pretty strong for the next four to five years.”

MEN’S/WOMEN’S TENNIS
“I very much enjoyed our spring season, and when it came up, every player said they did as well despite the fact it was not a winning season (the men finished 2-9 overall and the women were 4-9, their most wins ever in a season),” first-year coach David Straub said of his season that ended April 20.

“Meeting the new players and developing relationships with them, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I have additional women players coming in the fall, which should help. With a regular lineup, we would’ve won two to three more matches,” Straub said.

Looking ahead, Straub said, “Strategy and specific strokes in specific situations need to be worked on. We are making progress and I’m confident it will continue.

“Although it’s a little late in the season, I will be working on recruiting now that the demand on my time has lessened.”

Men’s players who had .500 or better records in at least eight singles matches included Logan Ogden of South Williamsport (6-2), Kyle Shuler of Williamsport (5-4) and Jayden Manbeck of Bernville (4-4).

Women with winning records in at least six singles and doubles matches include Lauren Peck of South Williamsport (5-1 singles) and Faith Murray of Dillsburg (6-5 singles), and in doubles Murray-Georgia Macensky of Wellsboro (6-2) and Peck-Ellen Buckley of Binghamton, New York (4-2).

ESPORTS
“It was another great season for the Wildcats esports team, with Rocket League, Overwatch 2 and Valorant making the playoffs. Overwatch 2 gave the program its best finish of second in the NACE Starleague Varsity + division, we finished third in Rocket League and Valorant lost a close match in the round of eight,” coach Joshua Young said of the spring season that ended April 17.

Young continued, “We had some amazing wins against some big-name schools in esports: 
—    Purdue - Fort Wayne - Valorant - 2-1 (13-9, 2-13, 13-7)
—    Lebanon Valley College - Rocket League - 3-0 (2-1, 1-0, 2-0)
—    Minnesota State University - Mankato - Rocket League - 3-0 (4-3, 2-1, 5-1)
—    DePaul University - Overwatch 2 - 3-2 (0-2, 3-2, 3-0, 1-0, 3-2)

“Our iRacing team competed in the Collegiate iRacing League for a third year in the NASCAR series and Open-wheel Formula Championship. Senior Austin DeLong of Pittsburgh had several top 10 finishes in the Formula series, with a seventh at Barcelona, Spain, and ninths at Okayama Circuit and Suzuka, Japan.

“The team sponsored the College Cup Series race at Pocono — The Future Made by Hand 200 Presented by the Pennsylvania College of Technology. The track is named the ‘tricky triangle,’ on which our drivers had a rough evening with DeLong 21st, Zack Tallman of Lewisburg 23rd and Michael Sydor of Reading 29th at our hosted event.”

The coach also praised the team’s graduates: DeLong, Sydor, Michael Shoemaker of Orefield, Drake Mankey of Williamsport, Jake Nguyen of Cogan Station and Michael Willow of Painted Post, New York.

GOLF
Schedule
Tuesday-Friday, May 14-17 — NCAA Division III Championship at Boulder Creek Golf Club in Boulder City, Nevada.

ARCHERY
Schedule
Friday-Sunday, May 17-19 — USA Archery Collegiate Target Nationals at Statesboro, Ga.

For more about the United East, visit the conference website.
For additional information, visit the Wildcats Athletics website.