Into the month of May we go.
The Penn State football team celebrated Cinco de Mayo on Saturday after charges against four players were dropped on Friday afternoon. After a marathon day at the Centre County Courthouse, charges against Justin King, Lydell Sargeant, Tyrell Sales and Jerome Hayes were dropped.
But two players still face very serious charges.
In this edition of Morelli OnLion, we’ll take a look a closer look at the court proceedings and we’ll travel around University Park from Medlar Field to the Lady Lion softball field.
Let’s start with the big news.
(Anthony Scirrotto. Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated)
Charges Dropped
After a preliminary hearing that lasted almost 10 hours, charges were dropped against four Penn State players. But two players — Anthony Scirrotto and Chris Baker — still face charges that stem from an apartment invasion on April 1.
Scirrotto still faces charges of burglary, criminal trespass and criminal solicitation, all felonies; simple assault and criminal solicitation, both misdemeanors; and summary harassment. He could face one to two years if he’s convicted.
Testimony on Friday indicated that Scirrotto and his girlfriend were walking along College Avenue when they got into an altercation with three men who were passing them on the street.
After that, Scirrotto called several teammates and they organized a mob of football players who made their way to the Meridian II apartment complex but not before a detour to the wrong building.
Baker still faces of burglary and criminal trespass, both felonies; simple assault, a misdemeanor and harassment, a summary offense.
While Penn State fans are celebrating the fact that charges were dropped against four players, the fact that two are still being charged is not good news at all for the 2007 Nittany Lions.
Scirrotto is a key cog for this football team. And his charges are serious, make no mistake about that. An attorney we spoke with said that jail time for Scirrotto and Baker is a very real possibility.
“If I were his parents or his coach, I would be very concerned,” the attorney, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said. “These are very serious charges and if it goes to trial, a conviction is quite possible.”
No matter what happens, this is a black eye on the football program. It is embarrassing, uncalled for and inexcusable. I’m sure coach Joe Paterno isn’t happy with this behavior. He’d like to hand down his own form of discipline, but it may be out of his hands.
(Chris Baker. Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated)
From the police blotter back to the field, let’s take a look around campus at some spring sports:
(Track and Field Star, Gayle Hunter. Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated.)
Women’s Track & Field
Already a national power heading into the 2007 season, the women’s track and field team has not fallen off that pace, turning in record performances all season long, most recently at the Penn Relays at the end of April.
The team collected three school records at the event with freshman Bridget Franek starting things off by turning in a blistering time of 9:59.21 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Two days later, two other school records fell; the sprint medley team of Aleesha Barber, Dominique Blake, Shana Cox and Brine Simmons were clocked at 3:47.90, besting the old mark by more than two full seconds. Following them, the 4×1500 team of Meghan Noecker, Franek, Leah Rosenfeld and Claire Percival turned in a time of 17:57.28, bettering the old time of 18:07.25 from 2004.
Men’s Track & Field
The men turned in strong field performances at the Penn Relays at the end of April. Sophomore All-American Ryan Fritz cleared a personal outdoor best 7-2 1/2 (2.22m) to finish as the runner-up in the men’s championship high jump.
Fritz’s leap is the best in the East Region, and ranks among the top five performances in the NCAA. Classmate Clarence Smith also improved his previous regional performance, posting a career-best 50-4 3/4 (15.36m), good for third in the college section of the men’s triple jump.
Softball
Robin Petrini’s team has been battling some tough opponents, but none tougher than the weather.
The team’s opening Big Ten series at Michigan was canceled due to snow and the Lions have been up and down since then. Penn State has won four of its last six, including sweeps over Maryland (May 2) and Indiana (April 27-28). Between those highs, however, the Lions dropped two at home to Purdue and went into last weekend’s action with a 26-20 mark on the season, including a record of 8-9 in conference action.
Baseball
Bad weather has irked the Nittany Lion baseball team as well; the squad’s last non-conference home game was rained out, denying fans a chance to see new women’s basketball coach Coquese Washington throw out the first pitch. Penn State has been hot in Big Ten play, putting together a seven-game win streak in April. Behind the batting of Joe Blackburn, who is hitting at a .367 clip, the Lions swept Northwestern earlier this year and have series against Michigan and Ohio State left on their slate.
Women’s Lacrosse
Nittany Lion standouts Renee Cipro, Jessi Lieb and Kerry Shea all won All-American Lacrosse Conference accolades for the No. 18 Lions. Following the announcement, the trio helped Penn State make history by winning the first-ever ALC Tournament game, a 9-7 victory over No. 19 Ohio State on May 3. The victory also gained the Nittany Lions a measure of revenge for the last-second regular season loss it suffered to the Buckeyes on April 20 at Jeffrey Field.
That’s it for another week. If there’s something you would like to see in a future edition of Morelli OnLion, send an e-mail to morellionlion@gmail.com