WOMEN’S TRACK & FIELD
SLIPPERY ROCK — Clarion freshman Jessica Shomo (Clearfield) long jumped 17 feet, 3¼ inches to claim second place in the Dave Labor Invitational at Slippery Rock’s Bill Lennox Track Friday.
She qualified for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships with the 5.26-meter effort, which is a new personal record.
Her previous best was 17-½ (5.19m) at the PSAC Indoor Championships March 2.
It was a busy afternoon for Shomo as she also placed ninth among 23 sprinters from seven schools in the 100-meter dash, winning her heat in 13.04 seconds, and teamed up with Courtney Corban, Anna Pfingstler (DuBois) and Jessica Vitous for a second-place 49.79 in the 4×100 relay that was just a little over two-hundredths of a second off the Clarion record.
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SOFTBALL
OLEAN, N.Y. — Freshman pitcher Heather Picard (Clearfield) chalked up her first shutout for Mount Aloysius with a five-inning two-hitter against D’Youville (N.Y.) in the 8-0 nightcap of an Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference doubleheader played on St. Bonaventure’s McGraw-Jennings Field Sunday.
Picard struck out seven and walked three for her fourth win in seven decisions.
In the opener, the Mounties (9-7, 2-2 AMCC) got a shutout from Kelsey Ickes, who whiffed 12 and lost a no-hitter with two outs in the seventh inning of her 3-0 victory.
Mount Aloysius was swept by visiting Penn State Altoona 5-2 and 9-8 in eight innings on Tuesday, April 1, with Picard going the distance in the first game.
She gave up eight hits and five earned runs, fanning four and walking three.
Picard is 4-3 with three complete games in eight starts. The right-hander has pitched 41 innings with a 3.59 earned run average, 38 strikeouts, 18 walks and three hit batsmen.
Among AMCC hurlers, she is tied for fifth in wins, tied for third in starts, and ranks sixth in strikeouts, eighth in innings pitched and in the top 15 in complete games and ERA.
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BASEBALL
ERIE — Former Clearfield Area High School teammates Chad Zurat (Clearfield) of Penn State Behrend and Kurtis Krise (Woodland) were mound opponents in the first game of Sunday’s Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference twinbill at Behrend Field.
The right-handers matched four-hit, six-inning stints with Zurat and the Lions coming out on top, 6-3.
Zurat (3-1) struck out four and walked one while allowing two earned runs in his fourth start. Connor Semple pitched the seventh inning to pick up a save.
Krise (0-2) also gave up just two earned runs in his third start. He had one strikeout and three walks.
Penn State Behrend (10-6) also won the second game, 11-0, behind a two-hitter by Dante DeSantis (DuBois/DuBois Central Catholic H.S.) to even its AMCC record at 2-2 and drop Penn State Altoona (5-16) to 0-4.
Zurat, tied with DeSantis for third place in wins in the AMCC, has worked 22.2 innings with a 4.36 earned run average in five appearances. He’s totaled 15 strikeouts with three walks and one hit batsman.
Krise, who owns the only two complete games by the Penn State Altoona staff, has a 5.30 ERA for 18.2 innings in five appearances. He has fanned 10 batters, walked five and hit one.
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BRADFORD — Senior right fielder Sam Gardner (Curwensville) doubled twice and drove in a run for Pitt-Bradford (11-5) in a 4-2 non-conference loss to Fredonia (N.Y.) State at the Kessel Athletic Complex Sunday.
He was not a contributor when the Panthers opened their Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference schedule with a 5-1 and 3-2 sweep at Medaille (N.Y.) on Tuesday, April 1.
Gardner is tied for the team lead with a .317 batting average and is second in doubles (4), second in RBIs (11), tied for second in runs (10) and third in hits (13).
He tops the Panther regulars in slugging average (.488) and on-base average (.417).
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JOHNSTOWN — Junior second baseman Derek Danver (Clearfield) registered hits in seven of Clarion’s eight Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division games last week, all on the road because the Golden Eagles’ field remains unplayable.
Clarion (4-16, 2-12 PSAC-West) did manage a split with Pitt-Johnstown at Point Stadium on Monday, March, 31, winning 9-0 before falling 11-6. Danver singled and scored in both games while flawlessly handling 16 chances and being involved in three double plays in the field.
He had three hits in 27-10 and 13-4 losses at Slippery Rock (20-10, 9-6 PSAC-West) on Tuesday and three hits in doubleheaders against Seton Hill (24-9, 13-1 PSAC-West) Saturday and Sunday at Greensburg.
Danver singled in the 10-3 series opener for a seven-game hitting streak that was halted in the 9-2 nightcap loss and came back with hits in the 6-5 and 12-7 setbacks Sunday.
Danver hiked is batting average to .261, fourth best on the team, and is second in hits with 18.
