A AI Behrend Beacon X
111 April 9> 2010 Y-J
I \S I www.thebehrendbeacon.com A
SOFTBALL
Behrend Lions split double header against Westminster
KAELA BISHOP
The Penn State Behrend
women’s softball team traveled
to Westminster to win their first
game 9-4 but lose the second, 1-
10.
“When 1 see my teammates
on the bases, I try to put the ball
in play and make things hap
pen,” said sophomore Amy
Greene. “Striking out only
helps the other team.”
During the first game, the
designated hitter, Greene, lead
her team with a strong bat.
Greene went 3-for-4, drove in
three runs, and scored one her
self.
Greene said, “In the batter’s
box, I focus on getting a hit to
help my team in any way I can.”
Junior Maddie Wieser batted in
a run, scored one, and ended
the game 2-for-3. On defensive,
Wieser was able to turn a dou
ble play.
Freshman Kessi Osborne did
not allow her inexperience to
be a factor during the first
game. Osborne displayed her
skill level by batting a .500,
scoring two runs, and driving in
one.
Freshmen Julie Heinl and
Brooke Tarasovich handled the
Westminster offensive game.
Heinl started on the mound and
TRACK AND FIELD
Track team takes
fourth
Wheeling
AMANDA STETZ
sc/ not rvpnrtvr
fhe Lions men’s and
women’s team finished strong
in the Bill Van Horne Invita
tional at Wheeling Jesuit Uni
versity the weekend of March
26-27.
The men took fourth out of
fourteen teams with a score of
90 points.
Standout performances came
from Denny Kang, who set a
new Behrend record in the pole
vault, clearing tahlon, finish
-4.69 meters. “We are competing in S with 3147
This put Kang r ° • event points.
in the ECAC with the top teams in TanishaWheat
qualifying r . * e y a ' so a
mark. division three this succ u essfu > run
Success also in the steeple
came to Ron- weekend...there are event, fm
son Mazany, ishing third
who took first some qreat individu- ?i t !‘a timeof
in the triple ° 12:55.12.
jump, leaping als on this team...” A cha^ e
13.35 meters. the track and
He also placed
second in the
long jump
(6.69 meters) and third in the
high jump, where he jumped
1.85 meters.
Junior Mike Stark also had a
great weekend, running the de
cathlon and finishing first. Al-
though he had a great finish,
Stark believes that there were
setbacks to his performances.
“I competed hard through the
first seven events, but then
started to have some calf
cramps which made me strug
gle to perform where I wanted
to,” Stark said. “I won the meet
Daniel Smith / The Behrend Beacon
Junior Mike Stark finished first in the decathlon this past weekend.
Jon Klein / The Behrend I
Freshman pitcher Brooke Tarasovich earned the win in game one striking out four in the effort.
finished three innings. Taraso
vich finished the last four in
nings earning the win.
Tarasovich only allowed
three hits, one runs, and struck
out four.
The second game was a bit of
a turnaround for the Lions.
Westminster played well of
fensively, attaining nine hits
and ten runs in the five inning
game. The Behrend women’s
offense facilitated their oppo
nent by allowing four errors.
“Westminster came out and
in the
invite
but was disappointed on my
overall point score.”
Stark accumulated 5,649
event points at the meet.
The women also made an im
pression at the Invitational.
They placed ninth out of seven
teen teams and racked up 40.7
points.
Jenna Fatica ran impressively,
who took third place in the 800-
meter run, finishing with a time
of 2:20.97.
Victoria Harwood secured a
second place finish in the hep-
Mike Stark
Junior
lnstead of
Bucknell, the Behrend Lions
will go on to compete at
Carnegie Mellon on Saturday
April 10, where the Lions will
face some of their greatest chal
lenges.
“We are competing with the
top teams in division three this
weekend,” Stark said.
“As a team, we are really
strong. There are some great
individuals on this team that
have already broken records,
set personal bests, and won
meets this early in the season.”
really hit the ball,” said Greene,
“but our errors didn’t help us ei
ther.” Defensive errors were
not the team’s only weakness.
Greene scored the team’s
lone run during the shortened
second game. Only Greene,
Marissa Lisanti, and Jenna
Yourish were able to get a hit.
The Blue and White experi
enced difficulties at bat and
running the bases as well.
“We made mistakes running
the bases but we were able to
learn from them,” Greene said.
BASEBALL
Behrend falters in
In game one of a four game week,
Behrend would lose to the Washington &
Jefferson Presidents on Tuesday.
The afternoon game saw plenty of ac
tion, as both sides combined for a total of
25 runs and 31 hits.
Behrend would jump out to an early and
definite lead. Senior Jonathan Gray would
lead the way for Behrend. He would serve
as th,§ catalyst for the .offense, getting on
base early and often.
‘here’itsieTfrtir Sh&rtstop Josh Fyffe
would triple in two runs. Behrend would
not be denied. With the bases loaded,
Behrend would answer with six more runs.
Ryan Kragnes, Harry Latta, Geoff Lang,
and Jonathan Gray would all contribute
with runs-batted-in. Behrend would be out
to a commanding lead, batting around the
order once and scoring a total of 8 runs.
However, Washington & Jefferson would
not go down without a fight. They nickeled
and dimed runs-in from inning to inning,
and by the top of the sixth inning saw W&J
strike back. Luckily, with the bases-loaded,
freshman Jay Condit would hold W&J to
only one run after being summoned from
the bullpen.
Everything appeared to be smooth sail
ing for Behrend, as they went into the top
of the ninth inning with the game in hand
with an 11-10 score. W&J would strike with
four runs in the top of the ninth. This
would be the only time that Behrend would
surrender their lead.
field schedule
was made.
With the bases loaded, senior Frank
Quirin would single in two-key runs. This
would give W&J their first lead of the
game. Behrend could not answer in the
bottom of the ninth as Mike Kennedy
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Kessi Osborne gets hot mid-season
Not many freshman softball
players can claim they start for
their collegiate team the first
day on the job, even more can
not claim they earned an honor
for it halfway through the sea
son.
Kessi Osborne was named
Athlete of the week after going
on a hot streak at the plate with
successful times at bat, includ
ing a vital RBI in the win
against Thiel, where runs were
few and far between.
Osborne has helped lead the
softball team to their success,
with a .368 batting average
early in the season.
After playing softball since
the age of seven, playing at
Penn State Behrend seemed
like the perfect fit for Osborne.
Osborne was not alone though
in coming to Behrend; she had
her twin sister Kali with her
during the transition from high
school to college.
“I started playing when I was
seven years old, they had just
SEAN NEELY
ELESE MERKOVSKY
senior reporter
Emma Hahn pitched the first
three innings. Hahn stuck out
three but allowed four hits, six
runs, and walked three batters.
Coming in during the last in
ning was freshman Leah Diet
rich who allowed five hits and
four runs.
“We have taken what we
could from this game,” said
Greene, “we are definitely
ready for the next game.”
The non-conference games
have taken Behrend to an over
all record of 7-9.
stall writer
Jon Klein / The Behrend Beacon
Junior second baseman Ed Kessler had two hits and walks in the teams effort this week.
would close out the game, and hold
Behrend to a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth giv
ing W&J their 12th win of the season.
“The effort was here today, we just need
to put together a complete game,” Gray
said. “For us, we must look ahead to tomor
row’s game against Allegheny.”
Head coach Paul Benim said, “We came
out with some authority, but give W&J
credit, they came back and outplayed us.
For us, we must realize that our two of
three opponents this week are NCAA tour
nament teams (W&J, Allegheny.) So our
focus, and growth as a team, will need to
be here this week.”
Behrend attempted to bounce back fol-
started a fast pitch league at
our school at that time in my
life so Kalli and 1 wanted to try
it out,” said Osborne.
Osborne enjoys the opportu
nity to play the sport she loves
and represent the Penn State
name.
“I chose Behrend because
I’ve heard a lot of great things
about their athletics and be
cause it is, in my opinion, the
best branch of Penn State,’’Os
borne said. “The best part
about playing for Behrend is
representing another Penn
State team, and trying to keep
up with the great reputation we
have.”
Behrend has had a mediocre
start early in the season with a
7-9 record leading into this
week. The team is young, but
they are closely bounded. Os
borne has a close bound with
her teammates, and enjoys the
support the give each other.
“I love being with the girls on
my team because they are my
great friends and when I see
them succeed, it makes me
want to help out the team the
Jon Klein / The Behrend Beacon
Sophomore Amy Greene led the team going 3-4 in the first
game and batted in three runs in the process
high scoring affair
best I can,” Osborne said.
Osborne, along with her
teammates seemed to notice a
increased closeness with her
teammates after
their trip to
Florida
“The best part
about Spring
Break was getting
a lot of quality
time with my
teammates, be
cause now they
are the best
friends I have,”
Osborne said.
Like many of
the other spring
sports at
Behrend, softball
took a Spring
Break trip to Jon Klein/The Behrend Beacon
Florida, for spring Freshman Kessi Osborne
training.
Head softball
coach Stacy Pondo saw the
positive results based upon the
experience gained in Florida.
“We have a young team right
now and still have a lot to learn.
However, they did grow as a
lowing their disappointing loss to Washing
ton and Jefferson on Tuesday. The follow
ing day, Behrend faced Allegheny College.
Behrend lost to the Allegheny Gators, as
they would only manage three runs on
seven hits. On the other side, Allegheny
would score 10 runs on 12 hits.
Behrend, after their two-straight loses,
would surrender their record to 13-7 over
all (4-2 in AMCC Conference). Allegheny
would improve to 13-6 overall.
Behrend still sits in a tie for second place
in the AMCC Conference.
They will now turn their attention to a
doubleheader against Pitt-Bradford this
Saturday.
unit throughout the week.
In order to be successful, the
team needs to put the bat on
the ball on a more consistent
ference,
“We all have team goals,
which is to win our conference,
win AMCC's, and make it
through the NCAA tourney,”
Osborne said.
orts
The defense
did come
through in clutch
situations,” said
Pondo to PS-
Blions.com.
Osborne will
continue to be a
go to player for
the Lions in their
upcoming games
at Pitt-Greens
burg on April 10,
and against
Hilbert at home
on April 13.
These confer
ence games will
be detrimental in
the Lion’s hope to
winning the con-