Westmoreland County campus clippings: PSAC West champion Seton Hill set to open playoffs

Seton Hill locked up its second straight PSAC West Division baseball championship with a two-game split against Gannon.

Senior Andino Vecchiolla earned the 3-0 win in Game 2, the final game of the regular season, working five innings, while freshman Owen Henne, grad student Jack Oberdorf (Greensburg Salem), junior Max Mandler, senior Braden Durham and sophomore Jack Whalen (Norwin) had RBIs. The Griffins (36-13, 20-8) have won 11 straight conference games.

The No. 1 seed from the West will open the PSAC playoffs at 8 p.m. Wednesday against Shippensburg (26-19) at Slippery Rock.

Baseball

Cal (Pa.): Sophomore Jake Kramer (Hempfield) earned the win, striking out two in two innings of relief, as the Vulcans held off Pitt-Johnstown, 8-6.

IUP: Sophomore Elijah Dunn (Norwin) ripped an RBI triple top open the scoring for the Crimson Hawks in a 3-1 win over Mercyhurst.

Mercyhurst: Junior Jayden Walker (Norwin) went 5 for 6 with three RBIs but the Lakers dropped both back-to-back games to IUP, 3-1 and 13-8.

Pitt: Grad student designated hitter Josh Spiegel (Penn-Trafford) went 2 for 4 with an RBI, and redshirt sophomore Phil Fox (Hempfield) picked up his sixth save of the season as the Panthers defeated Notre Dame, 3-1.

When the Panthers clubbed Notre Dame, 15-8, Spiegel crushed two home runs for the second time in his college career. He homered in back-to-back at-bats. He had three hits in the win.

Spiegel was on a six-game hitting streak and had hit safely in nine of his last 10 games.

Pitt-Johnstown: Redshirt sophomore Justin Turcovski (Norwin) was named the PSAC West Athlete of the Week. He went 6 for 17 with two home runs, a triple and 12 RBIs last week.

He turned heads when he finished 4 for 5 with two home runs, seven RBIs and four wins in a wild, 24-13 win over Bloomsburg.

Saint Vincent: The Bearcats (10-25) split a doubleheader against Thiel to close out the season.

In a 3-2 victory, sophomore Vinnie Amatucci (Latrobe) went 2 for 4 with a double, junior Derek Hald (Kiski Area) scored twice, and senior Alex Hess drove in a pair of runs.

Grad student Tyler Dancu (Hempfield) was the winning pitcher, and junior Alex Polito earned his second save.

Washington & Jefferson: Senior Ethan Boring (Ligonier Valley) picked up his fourth save of the season as the Presidents defeated Allegheny, 6-2.

Westminster: Senior third baseman Donald Shimko (Latrobe) went 3 for 3, his second three-hit game of the season, in a 9-4 victory over Bethany.

Softball

Bloomsburg: Junior pitcher Callie Sowers (Hempfield) was named to the All-PSAC East First Team.

Sowers is 21-5 with a 1.38 ERA and 220 strikeouts in 172 2/3 innings.

The Huskies (33-22) won twice and lost twice in the PSAC Tournament.

St. Francis (Pa.): Senior Ashley Orischak (Hempfield) doubled as the Red Flash defeated Marrimack, 7-1, to set a program record with their 23rd conference win of the season.

St. Francis moved to 36-12 overall and 23-0 in the Northeast Conference.

Seton Hill: Another spring season, another ESPN-worthy defensive gem for the Griffins.

While the baseball team has made a habit out of appearing on SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays, softball cracked the code during the PSAC Tournament when junior center fielder Bre Athey made a diving catch and slid head-first into the fence against Bloomsburg in Quakertown. The play was No. 2 on Thursday’s show.

This is the fourth straight year Seton Hill has made the #SCTop10.

The Griffins went 2-2 in the PSAC Tournament to move to 37-17.

The team had a number of postseason accolades.

Kassidy Wittig was named the PSAC West Freshman of the Year.

Senior catcher Mackenzie Zang, sophomore outfielder Camryn Murphy, Wittig and senior pitcher Logan Hartman were all first-team selections.

Second-team players were junior second baseman Brooklyn Fukashima, junior third baseman Grace Parades and senior pitcher Lauren Dellett.

Westminster: Junior center fielder Sydney Lokay (Norwin) delivered a two-out hit to extend her hitting streak to 10 games as the top-seeded Titans downed Grove City, 5-3, in the PAC Tournament.

Lokay played a key role in the Titans’ run to a PAC championship, the program’s first in 19 years.

She went 2 for 5 with a double in a 5-2 win over Waynesburg to get to the title game and was named to the PAC All-Tournament Team.

Westminster moves on to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Men’s lacrosse

Seton Hill: Postseason honors rolled in for the conference-finalist Griffins.

Sophomore Will Cody was named the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Goalkeeper of the Year and All-GMAC First Team selection, while junior defender Alex Callahan, sophomore midfielder Carter Green (Penn-Trafford) and grad student short stick midfielder Kage Williams also made the first team.

Sophomore attacker Nate Herbster, junior specialist Mark Strunk, sophomore defender Charlie Hudson, junior defender Holden Charboneau and junior midfielder Braedan Lockyer were second-team picks.

Women’s lacrosse

Grove City: Freshman attacker Gwen Shilling (Franklin Regional) scored a free-position goal with 1 minute, 21 seconds remaining in the second overtime as the Wolverines edged past Allegheny, 14-13, in the PAC semifinals.

W&J went on to win its first PAC championship as Shilling earned all-tournament honors.

Seton Hill: Redshirt junior Skylar Orlowski was named the PSAC West Division Athlete of the Week. Orlowski helped the Griffins win the division title with a pair of clinching wins where she scored nine goals and handed out six assists.

Men’s track and field

Duquesne: Sophomore Joe Klanchar (Hempfield) finished seventh in the javelin with a throw of 155 feet at the Atlantic 10 Championships in Fairfax, Va.

Westminster: Grad student Ryan Beard (Franklin Regional) posted two top-five finishes at the West Virginia Last Chance meet.

He was third in the 200-meter dash with a season-best mark of 22.04 seconds, and also took fifth in the 100 (11.06).

Women’s track and field

Clarion: Leah Perry (Derry) finished 12th in the heptathlon at the PSAC Championships at Shippensburg.

Duquesne: Senior Emily Brozeski (Norwin) made it a three-peat in the heptathlon at the Atlantic 10 Championships.

Brozeski took the title with 4,825 points. She won the shot put (11.42 meters) and long jump, and took second in the 100-meter hurdles (14.69 seconds). She became the second Dukes athlete to win three individual gold medals at the outdoor championships and first since 2005.

Senior Hannah Seitzinger (Belle Vernon) finished second in the 800-meter run with a school-record time of 2 minutes, 5.60 seconds. But she also ran the anchor leg of the winning 3,200-meter relay team. The relay also set a program record at 8:50.27.

Senior Sadie Wetzel (Latrobe) took second in the high jump with personal-best mark of 5 feet, 7 inches. That mark is second all time in the program.

Edinboro: Sophomore Bernadette Zukina (Norwin) finished second in the 400-meter sprint with a time of 57.08 seconds at the PSAC Championships.

Zukina also anchored the fifth-place 1,600-meter relay (3:56.76).

IUP: Freshman Nataiah Robertson (Norwin) was awarded all-conference honors for the first time in her career as she took third in the long jump at the PSAC Championships at Shippensburg.

Her top jump was 5.65 meters.

Pitt-Johnstown: Sophomore Alexandra Walton (Norwin) took fourth place in a school-record time of 2 minutes, 21.77 seconds in the 800-meter race at the PSAC Championships.

She also ran a leg of the sixth-place 400-meter relay (49.09).

Seton Hill: Grad student Natasha Bernett won the heptathlon title at the PSAC Championships at Shippensburg, tallying 5,308 points.

She won the 100-meter hurdles, 400 hurdles, long jump, javelin and 800-meter run. Senior Isabella Myles finished second in the 10,000-meter run in a time of 37 minutes, 16 seconds.

Bernett was named the PSAC Field Athlete of the Year and meet MVP.

Slippery Rock: Senior Katie Plassio (Norwin) earned All-PSAC honors when she placed third in the 10,000-meter race at the conference championships at Shippensburg.

Plassio’s time was 37 minutes, 18.60 seconds.

Freshman Savannah Schneck (Norwin) took eighth in the hammer throw with a mark of 46.65 meters.

Women’s basketball

Kentucky: Former Jeannette and Charlotte star guard Ciara Gregory was hired as an assistant coach with the Wildcats.

Gregory spent five seasons as an assistant at Charlotte, starting out as a graduate manager from 2020-22 before a promotion to full-time assistant.

She holds Charlotte records for 3-pointers made (235) and attempted (695) in a career. Gregory, Jeannette’s all-time leading scorer with 2,130 points, had 1,031 points in college.

“I’m very grateful to be joining coach (Kenny) Brooks and Big Blue Nation on this new journey,” Gregory said. “I can’t express how excited I am to be a part of this tremendous staff and rich tradition that is Kentucky basketball.”