Friday, April 10, 2009
Babish
The Lady Lions softball team
had a close call this past week
end against AMCC opponent
Penn State Altoona, but a sixth
inning rally in the second game
of the doubleheader led by sen
ior Allison Babish put the
Lions ahead as they defeated
Altoona in both games.
"Because we were the AMCC
champs last year, everyone is
out to get up," said head coach
Stacy Pondo. "We need to step
up a notch for each game we
play."
The Behrend Lions won their
Lindsay Baughman fires the ball to second to catch a runner.
Athlete Spotlight: Katie Whitby
comes up big in doubleheader sweep
first game 3-1 and the ensuing
match 5-4. The victories
extended their record in the
AMCC to an undefeated 7-0.
"In the first game, we did not
play to our fullest potential;
however, we still stayed in the
game and fought back and
never gave up," said Pondo.
Senior Laura Frischkorn
took the mound for the first
game and recorded four strike
outs, five hits against her while
giving up one earned run, and
walked only one batter as she
earned a win.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
SPORTS
Senior pitcher Julie Koman
then came in to relieve
Frischkorn and picked up a
save as she took over the game
in the top of the seventh and
struck out two batters.
Penn State Altoona was the
first to put runs on the score
board when the leadoff hitter
doubled and advanced to third
on a bunt. Scoring on a wild
pitch, she put Penn State
Altoona up 1-0.
Athlete of the Week Katie
Whitby, one of the team's sen
iors, was the first to score for
Behrend.
She walked to lead off the
bottom of the first and
advanced to third on a sacrifice
bunt.
Freshman Ashley Gruber's
sacrifice fly scored Whitby and
tied the game at one apiece.
Neither team scored again
until the bottom of the fifth
when Babish stepped up by hit
ting a double which drove in
Whitby.
Babish's RBI gave the
Behrend Lions the lead 2-1.
The Blue and White added
another run in the bottom of
the sixth when senior Lindsay
Baughman doubled in senior
Rachelle Lawrence.
Lawrence had a productive
day at the plate as she led the
Behrend Lions going two-for
three in the first game. The
final score was 3-1 in favor of
Behrend.
In the second game, the
Behrend Lions found them
selves making errors which led
to Penn State Altoona having a
4-0 lead in the top of the third.
"Our defense did not play
well," said Pondo. "We had a
lot of errors, that were not typ
ical of the team, but we worked
through the errors."
Koman came into the game
in the fourth and stopped
This week's ENTERPRISE
RENT-A-CAR Athlete of the
Week is Behrend softball play
er Katie Whitby.
Whitby, a senior biology
major, had an outstanding
week for the Blue and White.
The Lions went (6-0) this
past week, and in that stretch,
Whitby was an impressive 10-
19 from the plate and tallied
four RBI.
Behrend would take on Pitt-
Bradford first in the week; and
Whitby made a spectacular
showing. She was 3-4 from the
plate and would continue her
great play against the team's
following opponents.
Against Hiram, Whitby was
2-4 and collected two RBI in a
6-0 win for the Blue and White.
In the second game of a dou
ble header with rival Penn
State Altoona, Whitby would
show her skill on the defensive
side with a flash of the leather.
With two outs and the tying
run on second, Whitby would
make a diving catch in center
field to end the game.
Whitby was a perfect 4-4 in
the game and snatched up
another RBI.
As a senior, Whitby is among
the leaders in several hitting
categories for Behrend soft
ball.
She currently has 197 hits,
147 runs scored, 29 doubles, 26
triples and has a career batting
average of .410.
At this point in the season,
Whitby is posting a .448 bat
ting average, which places her
fifth in the league. She also is
tied for first in the leagues with
triples; she has four.
Whitby also has an impres
sive 26 hits, showing that she is
comfortable and confident at
the plate.
"I'm more disciplined than
I've been in the past," she says,
"and through experience I
By Christine Newby
sports editor
censos6@ psu.edu
Altoona from scoring more
runs.
She struck out seven, walked
one, and gave up only one hit.
The turning point of the
game was the bottom of the
sixth inning, when the Lions
went on a rally.
The Blue and White scored
all of their five runs in the
sixth, on six hits.
Once again, Babish was the
reason for Behrend's scoring.
With two outs and runners on
first and second, Babish came
through by hitting a double to
drive in a run.
"Babish was the turning
point in both games," said
Pondo. "She started the ball
rolling for both games."
Frischkorn also believes that
the game turned around after
Babish's double.
"I believe that the turning
point was when we got that
first hit in the bottom of the
sixth," said Frischkorn. "It
sparked a rally that brought in
five runs."
The Blue and White singled
five consecutive times to bring
in four runs in the sixth to take
the lead 5-4.
"We didn't give up," said
Pondo. "We played through
tough situations. We kept hit
ting the ball, but right to our
opponents. I told the team just
to keep hitting the ball and it
would go to the gaps. And we
did just that."
In the final inning, Koman
struck out the first batter.
Altoona got a sense of a possi
ble comeback when the next
batter reached first due to the
fourth error of the day for the
Behrend Lions and then
advanced to second on a
grounder to Koman.
With two outs and the tying
run on second, Whitby would
make a vital diving catch on a
have gained a lot of confidence
I need to get on base."
Whitby came to Behrend
planning to only play softball
for two years, but that obvious
ly didn't turn out to be the case.
"I was planning on playing
softball here for two years and
transferring down to main
campus," Whitby said. "I fell in
love with this place and could
n't leave my team."
Whitby is a leader on and off
the field as a senior.
Leadership is an important
quality, and she chooses to
lead
line drive hit to centerfield to
end the game.
Whitby ended the second
game going 4-for-4 and an RBI.
Sophomore Lia Sorce and
Gruber each had two hits in
the game as Berhend had a
total of eleven hits.
"The second game was
rough but we battled through it
and came out on top," said
Frischkorn. "I was very proud
of the team for holding our
composure at the end and not
giving up."
The Lady Lions travel to play
Mt. Aloysius and Pitt-
By Nick Blake
sports editor
npbso4l@@psu.edu
"I'm not really a vocal leader,
but more of a lead by example
type of player," Whitby said.
"Off the field, it is important to
show underclassmen that our
focus is on being a student
before an athlete. None of us
are ever going to play profes
sional softball, so it is an
important to get a good educa
tion first."
As for life after college,
Whitby has not yet nailed
down definite plans.
"It's a work in progress."
Whitby has had a great
career at Behrend and she has
.: • • Al' •y abo • •• • • •• • l't • • ' g •:•g . 'l' •
The Behrend Beacon I 11
Greensburg next week and
return home to play
Westminster on April 14 at 3:30
p.m. and Washington and
Jefferson on April 16 at 3 p.m.
"Against Washington and
Jefferson we need to focus on
the speed of the pitchers since
one pitcher is fast and one is
slower," said Pondo. "We need
to bring our A game and adjust
our hitting. Westminster
always plays a top notch game
against us. We need to stop the
ball and make sure we have no
errors like this past week."
Pitcher Laura Frischkorn fires the pitch
accumulated a lot of memories,
but there isn't one that stands
out.
"I don't think 1 can pick out
one memory," Whitby said.
"There are so many, from
going to NCAA for the first
time, winning two AMCC
championships, beating rival
Ithaca in Florida and just
spending time with my
friends."
Whitby and the Behrend
softball team will take on Pitt-
Greensburg on April 11th at
1:00 p.m.
CONTRI FITI) PHOTO
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO