'Wildcat Weekly' Chronicles Teams' Conference Superiority

Vol. 6, No. 9

Schedule/Results/Records (Through games of Sunday, Oct. 15)

BaseballFinal overall fall record: 13-7 Final PSUAC fall regular season record: 8-1 Final overall PSUAC fall record: 11-1

Oct. 14-15 PSUAC Mid-season Tournament (Saturday, Pool A: Penn College defeated Penn State Harrisburg, 7-5; Penn State Beaver defeated Penn State Harrisburg, 7-6; Penn College defeated Penn State Beaver, 7-3. Pool B: Penn State Fayette defeated Penn State Abington, 2-1; Penn State Delaware defeated Penn State Abington, 3-2; Penn State Delaware defeated Penn State Fayette, 14-4. Sunday, Penn College defeated Penn State Delaware, 18-17; Penn State Beaver defeated Penn State Fayette, 3-2; Penn State Harrisburg defeated Penn State Abington, 9-7).

Cross CountryOverall record: Men 21-13 Final PSUAC regular season records: Men 10-0, Women 2-3

Saturday, Oct. 14 Penn State University Athletic Conference Championships at University Park, men finished first among five teams and women finished second among three teams Saturday, Oct. 21 at Albright Invitational (men only)

Women's VolleyballOverall record: 14-0 PSUAC record: 13-0

Wednesday, Oct. 11 host Penn State Scranton, W, 3-0 Monday, Oct. 16 at Lycoming College, 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 17 at Penn State Hazleton, 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21 at Penn State Wilkes-Barre, 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28 PSUAC divisional playoffs, TBA

GolfFinal regular season PSUAC record: 23-0

Monday-Tuesday, Oct. 16-17 at PSUAC Championships (Penn State Blue Course)

Men's SoccerOverall record: 7-1-2 PSUAC record: 7-1

Wednesday, Oct. 11 at Penn State York, W, 6-0 Saturday, Oct. 14 at Penn State Harrisburg, W, 1-0 OT Monday, Oct. 16 at Penn State Hazleton, 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19 host Penn State Schuylkill, 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21 host Penn State Scranton, 2 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 24 at Penn State Wilkes-Barre, 4 p.m.

Women's SoccerOverall record: 7-1 PSUAC record: 2-1 EPCC record: 3-0

Tuesday, Oct. 10 host Reading Community College, W, 10-0 Thursday, Oct. 12 host Davis College, W, 7-0 Saturday, Oct. 14 at Manor College, W, 11-0 Tuesday, Oct. 24 at Reading Community College, 4 p.m.

Team TennisOverall, PSUAC record: 5-2

Tuesday, Oct. 17 at Lehigh County Community College , ppd. rain

Saturday, Oct. 21 host Penn State Hazleton, noon

Saturday-Sunday, Oct. 28-28 PSUAC Tournament at University Park

'Cat TalesBaseballThe Wildcats won both of their pool games Saturday to advance to Sunday's midseason tournament championship against Penn State Delaware, also a double winner in pool play. James Craft (York) went 2-for-4 at the plate in the first game against Penn State Harrisburg while in the second game against Penn State Beaver, Phil Woodring (Waynesboro) and Devon Liquori (Hawley) both went 3-for-4, Levi Bailey (Harrisburg) 2-for-3 and Craft 2-for-4.

In the title tilt Sunday, Penn College opened a 17-6 lead midway through the fifth inning, but its final run in the top of the seventh proved to be the most important in an 18-17 win.

Tai Mitchell (Milton) led off the seventh with a double for the Wildcats, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Craft and scored what proved to be the winning run on a passed ball.

"I knew that run was going to be important. It was obvious that every run was going to count. It was important to get him over to third base any way we could, because, when you get a guy to third, there are a lot of ways he can score," said Chris Howard, Penn College's first-year coach.

"I told the guys afterward, there was a game where we were up by 11 runs, and who would have thought that something as basic as or fundamental as bunting a guy over would mean the difference in the game. Eighteen to 17, but it was 'small ball' that won the game,"he said.

During the championship game, Bailey, called the key to his team's final five games by Howard, went 4-for-5, Woodring went 4-for-6, Liquori 2-for-4 and Chris McGinley (Coatesville) 2-for-5 with four runs batted in.

"It's like I said, we'll score runs, it just a matter of can we hold them," Howard said.

"I'm confident in the pitchers. We've got a good pitching staff. I like the pitching staff, it's just a matter of tweaking a few things," the coach continued.

Reflecting on the season, Howard said, "I'm very happy with the guys, all of them. They worked hard and did everything I asked them to do. I was very pleased. It's been a good group of guys to start out my coaching career."

Women's VolleyballThe Lady Wildcats eased past Penn State Scranton in their only match of the week, winning all three games.

Cross Country For the fifth time fourth in a row during Mike Paulhamus' seven years as coach, the Penn College men's team ran away with a conference championship.

Paced by the first-place finish of Greg Kammerle (Willow Grove), in 30 minutes, 42 seconds over a 5.3-mile course, the Wildcats finished with 22 team points to top a five-team field in the Penn State University Athletic Conference championship meet Saturday at Penn State Scranton. Penn State Harrisburg was second with 74 points, followed by the host school with 86, Penn State DuBois with 88 and Penn State Mont Alto with 89.

"Our top five were in the top nine of all the runners," Paulhamus said.

"I was standing at the top of the hill at the 2- and 4-mile mark, and, seeing the Penn College kids leading coming up the hill, it was a stream of white," the coach continued. "It was a nice picture."

"The guys did what I thought they could do the whole season. I knew they were talented.... And, as the season progressed, they got even smarter (in learning how to run longer distances). We did exactly what we thought we would do," Paulhamus said.

In the top 10 behind Kammerle for Penn College were Zach Lengel (Linden), third in 31:38; Jeff Faherty (Wantage, N.J.), fourth in 31:50; Brian Gardner (Drexel Hill), fifth in 31:53; and Brad Robinson (West Chester), ninth in 33:28.

"Throughout the whole season, if somebody was having a bad race, there was always somebody there to pick them up. That was one of the luxuries I had this year, I had a lot of very talented runners. We were pretty deep. It made it easy for me," Paulhamus said.

While the league season is over for the men's team, it has one meet remaining Saturday at the Albright Invitational against mostly NCAA Division III schools.

Topped by a third-place finish from Tracey Brewbaker ( Middletown ) in 24:14 over a 3.1-mile course, the Penn College women finished second in the conference meet. As a team, the Lady Wildcats scored 25 points. Penn State DuBois won the team competition with 14 points and Penn State Scranton was third with 38.

Also for the Penn College women, Melissa Francola (Bloomsburg) was fourth in 24:23 and Shannon Gibble (Coudersport) ninth in 26:37.

"We just didn't have enough women (to challenge for the team title) and I don't know what to do. I get three talented young ladies, but I don't get that fourth and fifth to come out," Paulhamus said.

Men's SoccerShane Fuller (York) scored three goals and Zack Yoder (Milton) had a goal and assist in a shutout win over Penn State York. Wes Miller (Reading) scored the only goal in a match against Penn State Harrisburg and the Wildcats' defense and goalie Corey Myers (Boiling Springs) made it stand up on a cool, windy Saturday.

Women's SoccerIn a dominating performance against Reading Community College, Blair Smith (South Williamsport) and Carrie Meyer (Ashland, Wisc.) each scored two goals. Meyer also had an assist. The Lady Wildcats had 51 shots on goal while limiting Reading to none.

In another shutout win, against Davis College, Sarah Coulbourn (Elysburg) scored two goals and added an assist while Meyer and Kara Bauer (Erie) each had a goal and one assist. On Saturday, Penn College closed out a perfect week during which it not only won all three of its matches, but outscored its opponents 28-0, by beating Manor College.

In doing so, the Wildcats clinched the Eastern Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference championship for the first time since winning back-to-back crowns in 2001 and 2002. In Saturday's match, Meyer had three goals while Smith, Bauer and Ashley Janoka (Shamokin) had two goals. All four also had one assist.

Team TennisSarah Bastian (Mansfield) and Angela Charcas (Deltona, Fla.) won their women's singles and doubles matches in helping Penn College past Penn State York. Bastian won in singles and then teamed with Charcas to win in doubles for Penn College's only points in a loss to Penn State Abington.

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