'Wildcat Weekly' Keeps Tabs on Jam-Packed Spring Sports Schedule

Vol. 5, No. 35

Record/Results/Upcoming Games(Through Sunday, April 9)

BaseballOverall record: 11-4 PSUAC record: 17-2 (includes first-half fall season)

Saturday, April 8 host Penn State Abington at Bowman Field, W, 9-2; W, 10-0 Sunday, April 9 host Penn State Delaware at Bowman Field, L, 9-2; W, 12-2 Tuesday, April 11 host Penn State Fayette at Bowman Field, 2 p.m. Saturday, April 15 host Penn State Harrisburg at Bowman Field (2), 1 p.m. Tuesday, April 18 at Northampton Area Community College, 1 p.m.

SoftballOverall record: 9-5 PSUAC record: 7-5

Tuesday, April 4 host Penn State New Kensington, L, 14-4; L, 18-13 Saturday, April 8 host Penn State Abington at Elm Park, W, 29-4; W, 1-0 fft. Sunday, April 9 host Penn State Mont Alto at Elm Park, W, 8-0; L 11-9 (8 inn.) Tuesday, April 11 host Penn State Fayette (2), 3 p.m. Wednesday, April 12 at Penn State McKeesport (2), 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 18 host Penn State Harrisburg at Elm Park (2), 2 p.m.

Men's VolleyballOverall record: 20-5 Final MACVC regular-season record: 7-1

Wednesday, April 5 host Harrisburg Area Community College, W, 3-0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-12) Saturday, April 8 MACVC championship at Haverford, 5-1, def. Haverford, 25-16, 25-19; def. Kutztown, 27-25, 25-15; def. Penn State Abington, 25-16, 25-17; def. Lock Haven, 25-22, 25-17; def. Villanova, 27-25, 21-25, 15-12; lost to Messiah, 25-21, 9-25, 15-17. Monday, April 17 vs. Lehigh Carbon Community College and Harrisburg Area Community College at Harrisburg Area Community College, 6 p.m. Saturday, April 22 EPCC Championships at Northampton Community College, 10 a.m.

Archery Saturday, April 15 at Atlantic City Challenge (Mays Landing, N.J.), canceled Saturday, April 22-23 host East Regional Outdoor Intercollegiate Championships

'Cat TalesBaseballIn a sweep of Penn State Abington, James Woodring (Waynesboro) went 4-for-5, Ryan Eshleman (Penn Manor) went 4-for-6 and Devon Liquori (Hawley) went 3-for-5.

Facing Penn State Delaware, the Wildcats split Sunday. Eight errors proved costly in the first-game loss, but Penn College rebounded with a 15-hit attack in the nightcap to win. During the doubleheader, the Woodring brothers of Waynesboro were a combined 7-for-13 at the plate Phil was 4-for-7 and James 3-for-6.

SoftballDuring a doubleheader loss to Penn State New Kensington, the Lady Wildcats committed 14 errors.

"In our first four games we had just one error; then, over our last four, we've had 26. We've got to stop the bleeding," said coach Roger Harris.

A potent offense is one way to overcome defensive lapses, and a 13-run first inning and a 15-run fourth gave Penn College more than enough runs to whip Penn State Abington. Bethany Hoffman (East Juniata) went 4-for-4 to pace the offense while Amy Kawchak (Johnstown) and Sarah Mehlman (North Schuylkill) each went 2-for-3. Penn State Abington then forfeited the second game.

On Sunday against Penn State Mont Alto, Annie Allton (York Catholic) went 5-for-6 in a twin-bill split.

Men's VolleyballPenn College went 5-1 in the Middle Atlantic Collegiate Volleyball Club League championships Saturday, losing only to season-long nemesis Messiah in three games in the championship match.

During pool play, the Wildcats beat host Haverford, 25-16, 25-19; Kutztown, 27-25, 25-15; and Penn State Abington, 25-16, 25-17. That put them into the single-elimination portion of the event as the Pool B winner.

"We had a couple of tough ones. Kutztown was up for us. It came out ready to play. It has some good players, but they just weren't quite good enough," commented Penn College coach Wes Strayer.

Facing Lock Haven, which finished second in Pool A, in the quarterfinal, Penn College prevailed, 25-22, 25-17. The Wildcats then defeated Villanova, the Pool C champ, in the semifinals, 27-25, 21-25, 15-12.

"Lock Haven played extremely well all day. It beat Messiah one game," Strayer said. Commenting on Villanova, he continued, "It had a good team. It came in ranked third or fourth, but we played real lackadaisical (against it). I think it was a matter of us never having played Villanova before and a hint of us looking past them to Messiah in the finals."

Last week, as his team was preparing for the tournament, Strayer said he expected to meet Messiah in the finale. His prediction proved correct.

Penn College won the first game against Pool A winner Messiah, 25-21. It then dropped the second 25-9 before falling 17-15 in the decisive third game.

"We were on fire (in the first game)," Strayer said. "The kids won, but I could not settle them down. They counted their chickens before they were hatched. ... The second game was just as bad as it looks," the coach continued.

Strayer called the third game the best of the day, pointing out that it went back and forth all the way. Messiah led 3-0 before Penn College went up 5-4 and 7-5. Messiah battled back to lead 8-7 and eventually the Wildcats had game point, 14-13, but let it slip away when Messiah made a couple of outstanding plays to turn things around and win.

"It was an outstanding match. It just went the wrong way," Strayer said.

"We had a lot of good praise down there. Going into the season, nobody wanted to play us, it was like, 'Who is Penn College?' 'Where are they from?' 'They can't be any good.' But by the time we left, we had three or four colleges who want to scrimmage us. It was very nice," he said.

At the end of the day, besides finishing second and making a name for the college in yet another intercollegiate sport, three Wildcat players juniors Kyle Flook of Cedar Cliff and Cody Umberger of Lower Dauphin and sophomore Bill Hayes of Conneaut Valley were named to the all-tournament team.

Penn College, now 20-5 overall, still has matches against Lehigh Carbon and Harrisburg Area Community College on April 17 before it wraps up its season in the Eastern Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference championships April 22.

ArcheryAt the Adam Wheatcroft Memorial on April 1 in Harrisonburg, Va., Penn College finished second to host James Madison University in men's and women's compound and men's recurve team events. Individually for the Wildcats, Michelle Wright (Kendall, N.Y.) was fourth in women's compound, Chris Adams (Pen Argyl) was fourth in men's recurve and Brock Smith (Brookville) was fifth in men's compound.

"I was very pleased with the way they shot outdoors for their first time. They looked a lot better shooting outside, compared to what they were shooting inside, other than Michelle Wright, who shot really well indoors, too," coach Chad Karstetter said.

Complete rosters and season schedules are available on the college's Athletics Web site .