MEN’S GYMNASTICS
NORMAN, Okla. – Penn State sophomore Scott Rosenthal of Clearfield punctuated an extraordinary regular season on the still rings by scoring 15.750 in Saturday evening’s tri-meet with Oklahoma and Illinois in MaCasland Fieldhouse, and that performance boosted him to No. 1 in this week’s GymInfo national rankings.
The No. 5-ranked Nittany Lions, though shorthanded with Warren Yang competing in the Canadian Open Championships, posted a season-high 356.750 but suffered their first losses as No. 2 Oklahoma totaled 366.400 in front of the Senior Night crowd and No. 4 Illinois scored a season-best 359.100. One of Penn State’s 10 wins was 352.100-351.000 over the then No. 2 Illini on Feb. 19.
Penn State’s only win was on the still rings with Rosenthal, Miguel Pineda (15.500), Nihir Kothari (career-high 15.100) and Parker Raque (15.050) combining for a season-high 61.400 that enabled the Nittany Lions to hurdle Stanford into the top spot in the nation for that event. Pineda matched his personal-best score.
The Nittany Lions did tie Oklahoma for first place on the high bars with a season-high 59.300.
Rosenthal, tied for second place with Stanford’s Tim Gentry behind Ohio State’s defending NCAA champion Brandon Wynn in last week’s rankings, earned No. 1 laurels for the first time with his ninth title effort of the season. Wynn and Gentry did not compete for their teams over the weekend and were not listed in the latest rankings.
Previous rankings were based on three-score averages. This week, GymInfo selected the gymnast’s five highest scores, counting no more than two home meets, and dropped the highest one.
Rosenthal’s four-score average is 15.662.
Pineda is second at 15.450.
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SOFTBALL
NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – Sophomore pitcher/outfielder Holly Lansberry of Curwensville won all four of her starts and hit .316 as one of the keys to Lycoming’s 6-2 record at the National Collegiate Sports Invitational last week.
The highlight for the right-hander was a five-inning 8-0 Mercy Rule victory over future Commonwealth Conference foe Arcadia University Wednesday at the Central Park Complex. She hurled a three-hitter and struck out five while walking three in her third career shutout.
An unearned run cost Lansberry a shutout on Tuesday when she fired a four-hitter at Suffolk (Mass.) University in an 8-1 win. She registered 10 strikeouts, one off her career high, and issued one walk. And she helped her own cause by singling twice, driving in two runs and stealing a base.
In Lycoming’s opener on Monday, Lansberry gave up six unearned runs to Division II Barton (N.C.) College in the first inning but settled down and went the distance, surrendering 11 hits and only one earned run while fanning six and walking five. The Lady Warriors took her off the hook by overcoming the big early deficit to triumph 13-8. Lansberry, hitting in the leadoff spot, had one single, two runs scored and two RBIs.
Lansberry saw double-duty in the Lady Warrior finale on Thursday, pitching a complete-game six-hitter with six strikeouts and four walks while singling and scoring once in an 8-4 win over Principia (Ill.) College.
She played left field against Principia Tuesday, breaking a 1-1 tie with a two-run single in the second inning and adding an RBI-groundout in the fourth as Lycoming breezed 13-2 in five frames.
She was the designated player and had one of the Lady Warriors’ five hits in a 7-0 loss to Barton Wednesday.
Lycoming also beaten 11-6 by Arcadia Monday and defeated Suffolk 14-1 in five innings Thursday.
Lansberry is tied for second in wins and is fifth in earned run average (1.15) in the Commonwealth Conference.
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SALEM, W.Va. – Senior first baseman Brittany Pataky of Clearfield continued her torrid hitting for Lock Haven in the Salem Tournament with six hits, including her third career home run, in five games, driving in six runs.
Her bases-loaded double broke a 3-3 tie in the fourth inning against Seton Hill Friday, and she added an RBI-single in the sixth as the Lady Eagles logged an 11-3 Mercy Rule win.
Pataky singled home the first run in Lock Haven’s 4-2 victory over Wheeling (W.Va.) Jesuit Saturday.
On Sunday, she had two hits and drove in the lone run in a 4-1 loss to Glenville (W.Va.) State and later belted her homer with one on to trigger a seven-run outburst in the fifth inning that gave the Lady Eagles a 9-1 Mercy Rule win.
Lock Haven (14-5) lost 3-1 to Shepherd Friday.
Pataky, who was 12-for-25 in nine games on Lock Haven’s trip to Orlando, Fla., for the National Training Center Spring Games March 6-11, leads the Lady Eagles with a sizzling .451 average.
She is second in hits with 23 and RBIs with 15 and third in runs scored with 11. She also has nine of the team’s 18 sacrifice bunts.
In the field, Pataky has handled more than 150 chances without committing an error.
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BASEBALL
SLIPPERY ROCK – Senior shortstop Adam Jury of Clearfield came through with the game-winning hit in the seventh inning as Slippery Rock (10-8) snapped a six-game losing streak to California with a 7-5 win in the nightcap of Saturday’s Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division doubleheader at Ross Memorial Park in Washington.
The Clearfield Area High School graduate’s one-out, two-run single capped a five-run rally by The Rock.
Jury, who had singled home a run in the first frame, also had two hits and scored both runs in the opener, won 9-2 by the Vulcans.
On Sunday, The Rock began an eight-game homestand at Jack Critchfield Park with a 3-2, 2-1 sweep of the Vulcans, who were the pre-season favorites to win the PSAC-West.
Jury, hitless in that twinbill, upped his average 11 points to .261 and is second on the team in hits (18) and RBIs (13).
He shares the lead in assists (42) and has participated in 11 of The Rock’s 14 double plays.
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WAYNESBURG – Freshman closer Chad Zurat of Clearfield slammed the door on host Waynesburg in the last two innings to preserve a 6-2 win for Penn State Behrend (7-3) in the opener of Saturday’s non-conference doubleheader at Waynesburg Field.
The hard-throwing right-hander faced only six batters, striking out three, in his second outing for the Lions. He retired two Yellow Jackets on grounder and one on a pop-up that he handled to end the game.
Zurat has fanned six and allowed only one hit and no walks in four innings.
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MIDDLETOWN – Sophomore Ben McGary of Curwensville notched his third save of the season for Pitt-Bradford with 2.2 shutout innings against Penn State Harrisburg in Sunday afternoon’s nightcap.
The left-hander worked out of a one-out, bases-loaded situation with the Panthers leading 8-4 in the fifth inning. He did surrender a sacrifice fly before stretching his string of consecutive scoreless innings to 7.1 over four relief stints.
Pitt-Bradford won 10-5 to complete a four-game sweep of the hosts and pad its record to 10-5. The Panthers prevailed 8-0 and 4-1 Saturday and 13-6 in the first game Sunday.
McGary allowed one hit and struck out one while lowering his earned run average to a team-best 1.56.
In five appearances, he has pitched nine innings, allowing only five hits, striking out eight and walking two.
McGary patrolled center field in the other three games and had two hits and two RBIs. He also walked three times, was hit by a pitch and stole three bases.
For the season, McGary is batting .212 with eight RBIs.