Westmoreland County campus clippings: Mt. Pleasant grads find success in college softball

Mt. Pleasant has been one of the WPIAL’s better softball programs for a decade with WPIAL championships coming in 2016 and ’21, and PIAA championships in ’17 and ’21.

Some standout players — and a coach — from those teams have moved on to the next level, and, because of it, the Vikings’ fingerprints are all over the college game.

Take Haylie Brunson. The senior at Penn State had nine of the team’s 51 home runs through 33 games.

An outfielder, Brunson has blasted 20 career homers and was closing in on 100 RBIs, with 94. Five of the long balls came at Pitt before she transferred.

Courtney Poulich also is thriving at the Division I level after transferring. A redshirt junior at Robert Morris, Poulich was hitting .384 with eight homers and 32 RBIs in 25 games. She had a three-homer, seven-RBI game in a 16-6 win over Bucknell.

Poulich, an outfielder, initially committed to Liberty.

Another Mt. Pleasant alum is leading off at Bowling Green. Freshman Katie Hutter was hitting .287 with 25 runs, seven doubles, two homers and 14 RBI in 34 games.

Ashland sophomore Sophia Smithnosky had made 21 starts and had a pair of doubles, five runs, and seven RBIs.

At Pitt-Johnstown, two former Vikings are contributing. Sophomore Krista Brunson played in 19 of 22 games and had four doubles, a triple and seven RBIs.

Her teammate, senior Hannah Gnibus, had 20 starts and produced three doubles and seven runs for the Mountain Cats.

And don’t forget about former Mt. Pleasant coach Chris Brunson, who is in his first year as the top man at Waynesburg University.

The Yellow Jackets were 17-8 through 25 games and had a 3-5 mark in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference. The team’s 184 runs were leading the conference.

Brunson coached the Vikings for five seasons.

Bloomsburg: Senior Emma Little (Penn-Trafford) hit her fifth home run of the season, and 20th of her career, in a 7-2 win over Lock Haven in the first game of a PSAC East doubleheader.

In Game 2, senior Callie Sowers (Hempfield) moved to 8-3 as the Huskies won 9-1. She allowed two hits and one run in four innings.

Sowers has 67 wins in four seasons and is nearing 800 career strikeouts.

Sophomore Josie Straigis (Latrobe) went 4 for 4 with two runs in the victory.

Little went 4 for 7 with a grand slam and six RBIs in a two-game split with No. 9 East Stroudsburg.

Sowers was named the PSAC East Pitcher of the Week.

Cal (Pa.): Freshman Amarah McCutcheon (Southmoreland) is leading the Vulcans with a .369 average and five home runs. She has 17 RBIs and 13 runs in 27 games.

McCutcheon had four runs, a homer and two RBIs in a 19-11 win over Clarion.

IUP: Junior Maddie Griffin (Ligonier Valley) went 2 for 4 with two walks and two runs in a 16-10 victory over Slippery Rock.

Griffin was leading the Crimson Hawks with a .400 batting average and had 23 runs, three doubles, three triples and 13 RBIs. A former ace in the WPIAL, she has yet to pitch this season.

Marist: Grad pitcher Kiley Myers (Latrobe) tossed a five-inning no-hitter as the Red Foxes blanked Canisius, 8-0.

It was her second no-hitter of the season. She threw only 48 pitches and struck out four. One runner reached base, on an error.

Myers has been dominant this season. She is 14-0 with a 0.56 ERA in 16 appearances. She has 54 strikeouts and 10 walks.

Ohio: Senior Emma Hoffner (Hempfield) belted her team-leading fourth home run of the season in a 2-1 victory over Kent State. Her two-run shot was all the offense the Bobcats needed.

Pitt-Greensburg: Freshman Gabriella Grabiak (Southmoreland) doubled and drove in a run, while sophomore Jadyn Davis tripled and had an RBI in a 4-3 win over Carlow.

Freshman Paige Phillips tossed four innings to get the win, with help from junior reliever Autumn Powell for UPG.

Pitt-Johnstown: Isabella DePalma (Derry) was leading the Mountain Cats with a .304 average in 18 games. She had 14 hits and five RBIs.

She went 2 for 3 with two doubles against Cal (Pa.).

Sophomore Jenna Tallman (Latrobe), who went 4 for 4 in a recent game against Seton Hill, had a team-best 10 runs with three doubles, a triple, a homer and six RBIs.

Junior pitcher Mia Smith (Penn-Trafford) had a 4-7 record with a 5.01 ERA and 43 strikeouts in 14 appearances.

Seton Hill: Senior outfielder Bre Athey was named the PSAC West Athlete of the Week. Athey hit .571 (12 for 21) in six games with six doubles, eight RBIs and nine runs.

Westminster: Freshman pitcher Cheyenne Piper (Ligonier Valley) was named the PAC Pitcher of the Week. She won her eighth straight start as the Titans defeated Saint Vincent, 8-0, in the PAC. She struck out a career-high 13, including the first six hitters, in a three-hit shutout.

Piper also was the winner when the Titans ripped past Penn State New Kensington, 15-0, in five innings.

Piper allowed four hits and struck out five to move to 8-1 for the season. She had a 1.90 ERA with 74 strikeouts and 12 walks in 55 1/3 innings.

Senior center fielder Sydney Lokay (Norwin) went 2 for 2 with a double and two runs in the win.

Baseball

Patrick & Henry Community College: Sophomore Dylan Grabowski (Penn-Trafford) was named the JBB junior college baseball hitter of the week. He batted .571 with five home runs, 16 RBIs and 10 runs, with a staunch 2.428 OPS in 14 at-bats.

Pitt-Greensburg: Junior Thomas Smith, a native of the Czech Republic, delivered a walk-off single as UPG edged past Penn State New Kensington, 6-5.

Senior Diego Santos, who is from Puerto Rico, hit two home runs and drove in three runs, while junior Colin Solinski added a solo shot and two RBIs.

Seton Hill: Freshman Brady McGuire ripped a walk-off single in the bottom of the 12th inning to lift the Griffins to a 4-3 victory over Pitt-Johnstown.

Junior Jack Whalen (Norwin) had three hits and McGuire added two, while sophomore Luke McCoy picked up the win in relief.

The Griffins pulled off the sweep with a second one-run win in Game 2. Senior Max Mandler homered and sophomore Jacob Haynes (Penn-Trafford) stole home in a 3-2 win.

Redshirt junior Justin Turcovski (Norwin) homered for UPJ.

Men’s volleyball

Penn State: Senior Will Kuhns (Hempfield) had seven kills, seven digs, two blocks and three aces, while also hitting .385, as the Nittany Lions defeated Sacred Heart, 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-20).

Men’s track and field

Duquesne: Junior Joe Klanchar (Hempfield) finished second in the javelin and set the third-best mark in program history for the second straight week at the Dalton Ebanks Invitational at George Mason.

His throw sailed 56 feet, 15 inches.

Seton Hill: Sophomore Jacy Willis won the 200- and 400-meter runs, while junior Angelo Allen took second in the hammer throw at the Dave Labor Invitational.

Junior Dwight Sarver (Greensburg Salem) was second in the shot put.

Women’s track and field

Duquesne: Senior Hannah Seitzinger (Belle Vernon) took third in the 800-meter run in a time of 2 minutes, 7.37 seconds at the Dalton Ebanks Invitational.

Sophomore Cydney Blahovec and Seitzinger were part of the third-place 1,600-meter relay (3:48.60).

Saint Francis (Pa.): Freshman Rosemary Gaydos (Norwin) made her debut in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and finished fourth in a time of 11 minutes, 44.55 seconds.

The time is 10th all-time in the SFU program.

Women’s bowling

Saint Vincent: The Bearcats dropped their opening match in their first-ever trip to the NCAA Championships. Marian (Wisc.) won the best-of-three opener, 2-1, in the Rochester (N.Y.) Regional.

Women’s golf

Bethel: Freshman Izzy Aigner (Greensburg Central Catholic) tied for 10th at the Saddlebrook Spring Kickoff in Wesley Chapel, Fla. Bethel (998) finished second overall, behind Marian (956).

Seton Hill: The Griffins posted an 18-hole total of 366 to finish third at the Grove City Invitational.

Freshman Ali Boyle (Franklin Regional) was their top finisher. She tied for seventh with an 85.

Men’s lacrosse

Saint Vincent: Senior Justin Wodarek had three goals and two assists while reaching 100 career points as the Bearcats toppled Bethany, 24-8.

Two of his teammates were honored by the conference. Senior Brady Beard was named the PAC Specialist of the Week. Beard went 24 for 33 on faceoffs in two games and collected 15 ground balls.

Junior goalkeeper Garrett Ritts was named the PAC Defensive Player of the Week. He made 11 saves and allowed four goals in a pair of wins.

Seton Hill: Sophomore defender Cullen Green was named the Great Midwest Conference Defensive Athlete of the Week. Green caused four turnovers and added six ground balls in a 29-2 win over Malone.

Women’s lacrosse

Grove City: Sophomore Gwen Shilling (Franklin Regional) had two goals as the Wolverines moved to 5-0 with a 10-7 win over Chatham.

Seton Hill: Sophomore Mila Udovcic was named the PSAC West Division Athlete of the Week. She had five goals and seven assists as the Griffins won a pair of games.

Women’s volleyball

Pitt-Greensburg: Holly Saville was named the fifth head coach in program history.

Saville comes to Greensburg after serving as head coach at Penn State New Kensington for four years.

A UPG alum (2000-02) who coached the Franklin Regional girls, Saville was an All-American player for the Bobcats as an outside hitter and defensive specialist. She also leads the Alliance Volleyball Club in Mt. Pleasant.

Football

Edinboro: Max Bryer (Belle Vernon) was hired as tight ends coach for the Fighting Scots.

Bryer spent last season as a quality control coach at Eastern Michigan. He also helped with tight ends in practice.

He also has worked as an assistant offensive line coach at Robert Morris, and was a student assistant at Kenyon, his college alma mater.