Thought for the Day — With school years having largely ended and summer upon us, this column goes on summer hiatus. Congratulations to all the graduates for their achievements.
As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.”
HEY Awards
Our first honoree is a junior member of the Philadelphia University women’s rowing team. Shenandoah Valley grad Ahna Huss, a fashion merchandising and management major, has been named a National Scholar-Athlete by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association.
To earn that distinction, a student-athlete must have earned at least a 3.5 grade-point average and have rowed in an NCAA-eligible boat in at least 75 percent of spring races.
Huss has a 3.635 GPA and made the Dean’s List in the spring 2015 semester. As far as the rowing goes, the Philadelphia varsity eight finished the spring season ranked sixth in Division II and was runner-up in the NCAA Division II Championship Petite Final.
Other HEY winners include all-conference performers in baseball and softball.
• Waynesburg University junior outfielder/first baseman Matt Bensinger of Hamburg was named second-team All-Presidents’ Athletic Conference after a season in which he batted .346 and led Waynesburg in hits (54), doubles (13) and triples (6). He finished second in RBIs (30) and slugging percentage (.526).
Bensinger started all 42 games for the Yellow Jackets, who finished 21-20-1.
• Wilson College freshman center fielder Jennifer Hornberger of Shamokin was named second-team All-North Eastern Athletic Conference South Division.
Hornberger batted .286 in 34 starts and led the conference in stolen bases with 21, having been caught only once.
She had 16 RBIs and made 49 putouts in center field as Wilson (20-14) made it to the opening round of the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament.
• Freshman softball pitcher Cassidy Pinchorski was named the Fan Choice Millersville Marauders’ Freshman of the Year in online fan voting, outpolling eight other freshman student-athletes.
Pinchorski, a Williams Valley graduate, was the Marauders’ ace, winning nine games and recording a 2.38 ERA. She ranked fourth in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference in strikeouts (116), fifth in innings pitched (147.0) and eighth in batting average against (.230). Pinchorski’s 147 innings pitched also places her fifth in Millersville program history.
• We’ve already reported on Keystone College sophomore outfielder Emily Long’s selection to the Colonial States Athletic Conference All-Conference second team, but a look at her season-ending stats is in order.
She led her team in batting average (.413), hits (38), doubles (11), RBIs (23), walks (13), slugging percentage (.565) and on-base percentage with a .486 mark.
Conference
championships
University of Virginia freshman Carter Green of North Schuylkill picked a good time to throw her season-best mark in the discus.
At the Atlantic Coast Conference Outdoor Championships, the 14th-seeded Green uncorked a throw of 151 feet, 7 inches to finish seventh.
The UVA women’s team finished ninth overall.
• Bucknell junior Cody Haupt of Mount Carmel finished sixth in the decathlon at the Patriot League Outdoor Championships. Haupt’s 5,875 points ranks seventh on the all-time Bucknell list.
• On the women’s side of the Bucknell ledger, another Mount Carmel graduate, freshman Alison Varano, finished seventh in the heptathlon at the Patriot League meet, helping the Bison women to the league title. (The men finished third).
• The Arcadia men’s baseball team (20-15-1) made it to the semifinals of the ECAC tournament, losing to top-seeded McDaniel. Arcadia was led this season by first-team All-Commonwealth Conference third baseman Nick Todero of Pine Grove.
Todero started every game and led the team in hitting (.368) and hits (49) while finishing second in doubles (12), slugging (.504) and OBP (.433). Todero’s 28 runs and 19 RBIs ranked third.
• Former Williams Valley pitcher — now a St. Thomas University junior — Ben Ancheff, who worked out of the Bobcats bullpen most of the season, made his first start a good one in the finals of the Avista-NAIA World Series, where the ninth-seeded Bobcats matched up against fourth-seeded Lewis-Clark State.
Ancheff allowed just one run on two hits, striking out five in his longest stint of the season — 4.1 innings — and left with St. Thomas leading 7-1.
Ultimately the game got away from the Bobcats, who lost 10-7 after Ancheff’s departure.
On the season, Ancheff was 3-2 in eight appearances, throwing 21 innings with a 4.71 ERA.
• Lehigh University won the Patriot League baseball title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament before losing to Tulane. An important contributor to the Mountain Hawks’ successful season was sophomore outfielder Jacen Nalesnik of Lehighton.
Nalesnik started 53-of-56 games and batted .303, third on the team. He ranked second in doubles (14) and RBIs (35).
Diamond Doings
Catching up with some season-ending stats of some other local student-athletes who saw significant action this season.
• Goldey-Beacom freshman softball pitcher/infielder Kylie Doyle of Williams Valley started 30 games while making 21 appearances and 14 starts on the mound. It was a long season for Goldey-Beacom (6-29), but Doyle had a very respectable 3.69 ERA and eight complete games, and will look to improve on her 1-10 record next season. She also had five doubles and 12 RBIs.
• Another freshman, King’s infielder Helena Supsic of Shamokin, started 31 games and batted .292 with 12 RBIs for King’s (17-14).
• A Penn State redshirt-junior outfielder/DH with local ties, Greg Guers (a Germantown Academy graduate), made 48 starts for the Nittany Lions, batting .284 and leading the team in RBIs (38), home runs (8) and doubles (13).
Guers, who has family from Shenandoah and whose parents graduated from Cardinal Brennan, also stole 14 bases in 15 attempts for the Nittany Lions.
Not Forgotten
A shout-out to a Division I football player that I overlooked in the column this year — Sacred Heart University (Fairfield, Conn.) rising junior Brett Polinsky of Minersville.
Polinsky split time at nose guard for the Pioneers, who were 9-3 overall, 5-1 Northeast Conference. The Pioneers have won the conference title two seasons running.
Polinsky will be looking to nail down the starting nose guard job in the upcoming season.
Bad Joke Department
To paraphrase a timeworn entry from the stale joke book, if you’re heading on a vacation this summer, have a nice trip. … See you next fall.
(MacLaughlin’s college column runs bi-weekly. To make contributions, email Sports Editor Leroy Boyer at Lboyer@republicanherald.com)