WILLIAMSPORT – Lycoming freshman pitcher Holly Lansberry of Curwensville turned in arguably her most impressive rookie year performance at the Robert L. Shangraw Complex Saturday afternoon.
A few hours later, she was named the Lady Warriors’ Most Valuable Player for the 2010 season.
With two outs in the top of the first inning against Albright, Lansberry hit a batter and was touched up for three consecutive singles to fall behind 1-0.
She stranded three Lady Lions with the first of her eight strikeouts and then shut out the visitors over the next eight innings, allowing only two more hits and two walks. She also hit another Lady Lion.
Her teammates forced extra frames with a run in the bottom of the seventh and then scored in the ninth.
The 2-1 win was Lansberry’s third of the week and 10th win in 20 decisions.
She was the winning pitcher in 11-4 and 11-1 non-conference victories over visiting Keystone on Wednesday.
Lansberry started and then came back in to close the opener, hurling 6-1/3 one-hit, shutout innings with five strikeouts and two walks.
In the six-inning nightcap, she fashioned a two-hitter with eight strikeouts and no walks.
The right-hander is tied for third in wins in the Commonwealth Conference and third in starts (20) and complete games (14).
In 119-2/3 innings, Lansberry has struck out 92 batters, walked 51 and hit five. She has given up 107 hits and 49 earned runs (62 total) for a .287 ERA.
Lansberry has been the designated hitter when not pitching in recent weeks and sports a .319 average (22-for-69). She has four doubles, one triple and seven RBIs.
Freshman catcher Ashley Demchak of Curwensville pinch-hit in all four of Lycoming’s games last week, singling twice to hike her average to .268.
In 27 games, nine as a starter, she is 11-for-41 with two doubles, three home runs and 12 RBIs, tied for third on the team.
The Lady Warriors are 3-9 in the conference and 13-23 overall.
* * * * *
ALTOONA – Sophomore second baseman Alanna Luzier of Frenchville enjoyed a banner day at the plate Saturday as Penn State-Altoona swept D’Youville (N.Y.) 9-1 and 11-8 to climb into fourth place in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference.
In the six-inning opener, the Clearfield Area High School graduate had two singles and two doubles, the first four-hit game of her career.
She came right back with her first three-hit game of the season, the fifth of her career.
Luzier stole three bases in the twinbill after swiping five in 8-3 and 10-2 wins over visiting Franciscan (Ohio) on Wednesday.
Her 8-for-14 week jumped her batting average 42 points to .326. She is 30-for-92 with 25 runs and seven RBIs.
Luzier, who led in the AMCC in stolen bases last year, has climbed into sixth with 12 steals.
Freshman right fielder Jenessa Stiles of Curwensville played in only one game, scoring twice.
She is hitting .343 (12-for-35) with six RBIs in 17 games.
* * * * *
LOCK HAVEN – Junior first baseman Brittany Pataky of Clearfield collected six hits, including her second home run of the season and two doubles, and drove in five runs in Lock Haven’s six games last week.
She belted a two-run homer to give the Lady Eagles a 5-2 lead in the sixth inning of their Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Playoffs opener, but they needed a run in the top of the eighth to nip Western Division runner-up Mercyhurst 6-5 at West Chester Friday.
Pataky also drove in a run as Lock Haven, which finished third in the Central Division, followed up with a 4-0 win over Eastern Division champion West Chester 4-0.
However West Chester bounced back Saturday to beat Lock Haven twice and advance to the PSAC finals. In both games, West Chester came up with two runs in the seventh inning to win 5-4.
Pataky singled home two runs that gave the Lady Eagles a 4-0 lead after three innings in the finale.
She has 35 hits, tied for second on the team, for a .276 average. She has 15 runs and 16 RBIs.
Her fielding average is .989 for 275 chances.
Lock Haven (22-20) will be one of the teams hoping for invitations to the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region Playoffs.
* * * * * * * * * *
BASEBALL
BRADFORD – Senior right fielder Bart McGary of Curwensville rose to the top of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference with 10 more runs batted on nine hits in 19 at-bats for Pitt-Bradford last week.
McGary is tied with former Punxsutawney standout Dustin Dubensky of Penn State-Behrend with his school-record 54 RBIs.
He had five ribbies in an 8-2 win over Hilbert (N.Y.) Wednesday with a run-scoring single and a fourth-inning grand slam home run, his third of the season.
McGary cracked a single and two doubles for three RBIs in a 13-6 loss to AMCC leader Frostburg (Md.) State Saturday.
His hitting rated “Best of the Rest” mention in AMCC Player of the Week consideration.
McGary ranks high in several AMCC statistics, tied for first in sacrifice flies (6), fourth in official at-bats (127), fifth in hits (53), sixth in plate appearances (148), ninth in total bases (75) and 13th in batting average (.417).
He has 15 extra base hits, 11 of them doubles, and has scored 27 runs.
Senior catcher Phil Solley of Grampian (Curwensville Area H.S.) was 3-for17 in the three doubleheaders, his average dipping to .337. That’s No. 44 in the AMCC.
He has 32 hits in 95 at-bats with three doubles, one home run and 30 RBIs.
In the field, McGary has made only one error in 80 chances for a .988 average, while Solley is at .954 for 131 chances.
Freshman pitcher Ben McGary of Curwensville made his first start in the second game of non-conference losses to Fredonia (N.Y.) State on April 20. The left-hander was tagged with the loss after surrendering 12 hits and eight earned runs in three-plus innings. He struck out two and walked two.
In 13 appearances, McGary has worked 21.2 innings with a 7.48 earned run average. He has struck out 12 and walked 11.
Pitt-Bradford (17-19) split the two AMCC twinbills for a 10-8 record that has them very much in the playoff hunt.
* * * * *
SLIPPERY ROCK – Clearfield Area High School grad Adam Jury of Bigler continued his solid hitting in the clean-up spot for Slippery Rock, going 7-for-19 in five non-conference games last week, raising his average to .329.
The junior shortstop hit a two-run homer, No. 3 for the season and No. 6 for his career, in the nightcap of The Rock’s 16-8 and 10-2 sweep of West Liberty (W.Va.) State on Tuesday and drove in one run in each of three weekend games against Lake Erie (Ohio).
Jury has hit in 12 of his last 13 games, including eight multi-hit performances, and is 52-for-158. He leads The Rock in runs batted in with 37 and is third in runs scored with 33.
Slippery Rock (25-21) earned a trip to this week’s Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Playoffs in Johnstown’s Point Stadium when Indiana knocked Gannon out of fourth place in the Western Division Friday.
* * * * *
ERIE – Junior first baseman Kyle Kline of Clearfield drove in three runs with a pair of doubles as Penn State-Behrend salvaged a split against visiting Medaille (N.Y.) with a 10-5 nightcap win last Wednesday.
Freshman right-hander Michael Moyer of Clearfield was the losing hurler in the 8-2 opener of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference doubleheader.
He gave up 11 hits and eight runs, seven earned, in 6-2/3 innings, the longest of his four starts for the Lions. He struck out five, walked two and hit one batter.
Kline walked twice, was hit by a pitch and scored two runs in a 13-1 victory over visiting Franciscan (Ohio) Saturday.
The 22-12 Lions rolled 20-1 in the nightcap to remain tied for second place in the AMCC at 12-4, one game behind Frostburg (Md.) State.
In 23 games, with 14 starts, Kline is hitting .229 (11-for-48) with five doubles. He has scored nine runs and driven in 12.
Moyer is 2-2 with a 5.06 earned run average. He has 13 strikeouts 13 and 12 walks in 21-1/3 innings.
* * * * *
UNIVERSITY PARK – Freshman left-hander Corey Bookhamer of Clearfield pitched a scoreless eighth inning for Duquesne in a 15-9 non-conference loss to Penn State with 429 fans on hand at Lubrano Park’s Medlar Field on April 20.
Bookhamer gave up two hits in his second appearance for the Dukes, who are 7-33 after losing two of three Atlantic 10 Conference games to St. Bonaventure over the weekend.
He retired two of three batters in his first outing.
* * * * * * * * * *
MEN’S TRACK & FIELD
BEREA, Ohio – Penn State-Behrend junior Michael Johnson of Clearfield posted a career-best time of 57.32 seconds to claim second place in the 400-meter hurdles at the Sparky Adams Invitational Meet hosted in Baldwin-Wallace’s George Finnie Stadium Saturday.
Johnson, whose previous personal record was 59.38 at the 2009 Mason-Dixon Conference Championships, won the second of four heats. The event attracted 24 hurdlers from 15 schools.
Johnson also placed fifth in the high jump, clearing 5-11½ (1.82 meters).
Teammate John Bowman of Clearfield placed in three throwing events, 12th in the javelin with a 150-5 (45.85m), 17th in the javelin with a 121-3 (36.97m) and 32nd in the discus with a 113-6 (34.59m).
* * * * * * * * * *
WRESTLING
UNIVERSITY PARK – Brad Pataky of Clearfield and two-time All-American Cyler Sanderson were co-winners of the Best Freestyle Award at the Penn State Wrestling Club’s annual awards banquet earlier this month.
Pataky finished 28-10 and one win away from All-American honors at the NCAA Championships.
The junior 125-pounder has a 74-29 career record, including 43-11 in dual meets.
Sanderson, who transferred from Iowa State to wrestle for his brother Cael, also earned the Most Bonus Points Award initiated this year for the Nittany Lion with the most pins, technical falls and major decisions in all varsity action. He placed sixth at 157 in the nationals for a career mark of 114-33.
The William Neidig Award for the team’s outstanding wrestler went to senior Dan Vallimont, another two-time All-American who lost in the finals at 165 last month. He was 30-8 to end his career at 108-35 with a superb 57-12 dual-meet log.
Also receiving special recognition were senior 184-pounder David Erwin, Larry Reilly Courage Award for returning from injuries to finish 31-10 with a 2-2 showing in his first trip to the NCAAs; junior 141-pounder Adam Lynch, Kaye Vinson Award as the most improved wrestler; freshman 184-pounder Quentin Wright, Eleventh Man Award for leadership and dedication during his redshirt season, which was highlighted by four open tournament titles, and David Taylor, Bill Koll Award as the outstanding freshman wrestler for notching a 21-2 record with four open tourney title during his redshirt season.
SOFTBALL