Campus Corner: Shiner Repeats as 800 Champ for Fourth PAC Title; Luzier Named PSU-Altoona Athlete of Week

 

NEW WILMINGTON – Westminster senior Rebecca Shiner of Clearfield won her fourth Presidents\’ Athletic Conference championship in as many years Saturday by running 800 meters in a season-best 2:18.90 on the Harold Burry Stadium track.

 

She just missed the school and PAC record (2:18.67) she set a year ago with her two-second victory that helped the Titans repeat as champions with 150 points.

 

Shiner also was a member of the Titan 4×400 relay quartet that placed third in 4:04.85.

 

Her other PAC titles were in the 800 (2:24.04) in 2006 as a freshman and in the 1,500 (5:08.06) her sophomore season.

 

Shiner entered the season on the Westminster record books for both the outdoor (4:00.79 in 2008) and indoor (4:13.15 in 2007) 1,600 relay teams.

 

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Alanna Luzier. (Photo courtesy of Penn State-Altoona Athletic Department).

 

ALTOONA – Clearfield Area High School graduate Alanna Luzier of Frenchville was named Penn State-Altoona Athlete of the Week for softball after hitting .462, scoring three runs and stealing three bases in four games last week.

 

The freshman second baseman also received Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference recognition as one of the \”Best of the Rest\” players nominated for AMCC Performer of the Week.

 

Five of Luzier\’s six hits came in Sunday\’s 8-4 and 8-6 eight-inning losses to non-conference foe Westminster, hiking her multi-hit games total to seven.

 

She had one hit Thursday when the Lady Lions (6-26) ended their AMCC schedule with 9-0 and 12-1 five-inning defeats by Mount Aloysius.

 

Luzier leads the AMCC in stolen bases with 16 and is one of only 40 players hitting above .300 in the 10-team conference.

 

Her .320 average is third on the team, and she is second in hits with 32, doubles with seven and runs with 20.

 

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LOCK HAVEN – Sophomore Brittany Pataky of Clearfield made one pinch-hitting appearance as Lock Haven, ranked No. 3 in NCAA Division II, breezed past Shippensburg 7-0 Friday and 11-1 in five innings Sunday in the first round of the 2009 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament.

 

Lady Eagle ace Kristin Erb (39-4) fired a 2-hitter with 13 strikeouts in the first game and a one-hitter in the abbreviated clincher.

 

Kutztown and Bloomsburg were the other winners of the three-team, double-elimination tourneys.

 

As the No. 1 seed, Lock Haven (40-5) will host the 30th PSAC Softball Championships Sunday at Lawrence Field, where they have not lost in 69 games.

 

The Central Division champion Lady Eagles will meet the winner of the 1 p.m. game between East Division titlist Kutztown (43-8-1) and Central Division runner-up Bloomsburg (33-8), who knocked out West Division champ California 3-2 and 6-0.

 

In 17 games, Pataky has two hits and three walks. She\’s scored four runs.

 

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SLIPPERY ROCK – Sophomore Adam Jury of Bigler (Clearfield Area H.S.) remained in the .400 Hitting Club with a safety in each game as Slippery Rock went 3-1 against Clarion in their weekend series to nail down third place in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division.

 

The Rock (34-14) won 8-3 and 15-6 at home Friday and 15-3 following an 8-4 loss at Clarion Saturday.

 

Slippery Rock ended division play at 15-9 to finish behind Mercyhurst (18-6) and California (16-8) and will join those two teams, Lock Haven and four East Division qualifiers in the 50th PSAC Baseball Championships starting Monday in Clipper Magazine Stadium at Lancaster.

 

Jury, who ranks 10th in the PSAC with his .405 average, had four hits in only nine official at-bats, for he was walked five times and hit once by Clarion pitchers, sacrificed twice and added a sacrifice fly. He scored six runs and drove in three.

 

Now riding an eight-game hitting streak, one shy of his career high, Jury is 60-for-148 with 11 doubles, three home runs and 41 RBIs. He has walked 21 times and been hit four times.

 

Teammate Matt Adams continues to top The Rock, and the PSAC, with his .494 average on 86 hits, 23 doubles, 62 runs and .851 slugging average. His 13 home runs are second in the conference.

 

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BRADFORD – Junior right fielder Bart McGary of Curwensville had three hits and drove in five runs for Pitt-Bradford in 8-3 and 8-1 non-conference victories over Keuka (N.Y.) Saturday.

 

Junior catcher Phil Solley of Grampian (Curwensville Area H.S.) had the game-winning hit in the opener, his sixth-inning double breaking a 3-3 tie.

 

McGary\’s 5-for-7 performance rated \”Best of the Rest\” mention for the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference\’s baseball Performer of the Week.

 

His three-run double erased Keuka\’s 1-0 lead in the first inning, and he added a run-scoring single in the sixth to claim the lead in runs batted in with 25.

 

McGary\’s average climbed to a .341. He\’s 29-for-85 with six doubles, two home runs and 14 runs scored in 25 games.

 

Solley is 19-for-78, a .244 average. He has two doubles and 13 RBIs.

 

Behind the plate, he has thrown out eight runners.

 

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ERIE – Sophomore Kyle Kline of Clearfield maintained his .333 batting average with one hit in three official at-bats last week as Penn State-Behrend (27-7) locked up the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference regular season title by sweeping Hilbert (N.Y.) 18-3 and 14-6 Thursday and then rolling past Bethany (W.Va.) in a non-conference game Saturday.

 

Kline, who saw action at first base and second base, drove in two runs against Bethany.

 

He has four starts in 14 games, with seven hits, including three doubles, and five RBIs. He has scored three runs.

 

The Lions finished 18-2 in the AMCC and will host the conference championships May 8-10.

 

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NEW WILMINGTON – Westminster freshman Ryan Jones of Clearfield ran 800 meters in 2:08.21 for a 10th place finish at the 2009 Presidents\’ Athletic Conference Championships in Harold Burry Stadium.

 

The Titans wound up fifth with 47 points in the six-team event dominated by Grove City, which amassed 202 points.