Westmoreland campus clippings: Mt. Pleasant's Brunson excelling at plate for Penn State softball

The Penn State softball team is cooking — with a new chef in the kitchen.

First-year Nittany Lions outfielder Haylie Brunson, a junior from Mt. Pleasant and a former TribLive Westmoreland player of the year, is hitting a team-best .385 (15 for 39) with two homers and 14 RBIs.

She has a 1.092 on-base percentage for the Nittany Lions (11-1).

Brunson transferred from Pitt. She went 4 for 5 with a home run, two doubles and six RBIs in a 12-5 win over Penn over the weekend.

Bloomsburg: Junior pitcher Callie Sowers (Hempfield) allowed two hits and struck out eight in a complete game as the Huskies defeated Saginaw Valley, 4-1, at the MEC/PSAC Crossover.

Sowers moved to 2-0.

Freshman outfielder Josie Straigis (Latrobe) delivered a 2-for-3 performance, with two doubles, in a 13-5 loss to Lincoln Memorial.

Bowling Green: Freshman Katie Hutter (Mt. Pleasant) delivered in her first college at-bat. She ripped a two-out, pinch-hit single to drive in a run in the fifth inning of a 5-3 loss to Furman in Conway, S.C.

Marist: Grad student Kiley Myers (Latrobe) is 2-2 with a 2.90 ERA in seven appearances early in the season for the Foxes. She had a team-leading 31 strikeouts and has walked only six in 125 at-bats.

IUP: Sophomore Maddie Griffin (Ligonier Valley) is hitting well out of the gates for the Crimson Hawks, although she has yet to throw a pitch this season in five games.

Griffin is 7 for 19 (.368) with two doubles and eight RBIs. She transferred from Youngstown State.

Ohio: Junior catcher Emma Hoffner (Hempfield) went 2 for 4 with an RBI and two runs to help the Bobcats defeat Valparaiso, 5-4. She is hitting .375 through 15 starts.

Seton Hill: Camryn Murphy doubled, homered and drove in three, and junior Grace Paredes and senior Lauren Dellett also homered in the first game of a doubleheader sweep of D’Youville.

Dellett pitched a one-hitter in an 11-1, five-inning victory.

Junior Brooke Cleland (Penn-Trafford) homered, grad student Morgan Toal had an RBI double and senior Mackenzie Zang and Paredes homered in a 9-1 win in six innings in game two for the Griffins (7-2).

Men’s basketball

Pitt-Greensburg: UPG rallied from 23 points down and had a chance to win late but fell to La Roche, 81-76, in the AMCC semifinals to end the season at 13-15.

Freshman Trent Rozich had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and sophomore guard Matthew Marinchak (Ligonier Valley) and sophomore James Evans-Mcquay each scored 12.

Saint Vincent: After a high-flying regular season that saw fans pack the Carey Center, the Bearcats fell at top-seeded Geneva in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Championship, 83-63.

The Bearcats (23-4) were awaiting their possible selection to the ECAC Tournament.

Senior guard Osyon Jones and sophomore guard Dev Ostrowski made the all-tournament team.

Seton Hill: The Griffins clinched a PSAC playoff berth for the second straight year under coach Ben Wilkins, a Mt. Pleasant native, with an 81-60 victory over Edinboro.

Seton Hill (15-11, 10-10) shot 59% from the field as senior Caleb Whitaker scored 15 points, and grad student Jimmy Moon added 14.

Women’s basketball

Cedarville: Sophomore Brianna Zajicek (Norwin) poured in a season-high 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds and dished four assists in 29 minutes, but Kentucky Wesleyan proved to be too much for Cedarville, 95-55.

Last year, Zajicek was the top-scoring freshman in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (12.8 ppg) while playing for Illinois-Springfield.

Chatham: Sophomore forward Ashley Laukus (Norwin) had 13 points, seven rebounds, six blocks, five steals and three assists as the Cougars won the PAC championship with a 77-50 victory over Geneva.

It was the first conference title in program history for Chatham (24-3), which earned an automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Edinboro: Sophomore guard Maura Suman (Penn-Trafford) played 39 minutes in her return to the area, finishing with 10 points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals in a 71-68 win at Seton Hill.

The Fighting Scots moved to 15-10 overall and 13-7 in the PSAC West.

Marietta: Olivia Gribble (Norwin), a senior guard, scored her 1,000th career point in a 91-43 victory over Capital in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals.

Gribble had a game-high 18 points in the win, making 7 of 14 shots, including 4 of 8 3-pointers. She had exactly 1,000 points going into the conference final.

Marietta (21-6), the OAC runner-up, received an at-large bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Mercyhurst: Sophomore forward Bailey Kuhns (Greensburg Central Catholic) scored 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting as the Lakers fell to Cal (Pa.), 65-56, to move to 16-10 overall and 12-8 in the PSAC West.

Pitt-Greensburg: Freshman Sarah Penrod (Franklin Regional) scored a career-high 27 points, and junior guard Melina Maietta (Greensburg Central Catholic) added 23 but the Bobcats fell to Mount Aloysius, 88-73, in the first round of the AMCC Tournament to end the season at 12-14.

Wrestling

Pitt: Redshirt senior 125-pounder Colton Camacho (Franklin Regional) claimed a victory via technical fall as the Panthers (9-8, 1-3 ACC) defeated Rider, 29-9.

Redshirt freshman Finn Solomon (Franklin Regional) helped Pitt take down Virginia, 35-7, with a major decision at 149.

Pitt-Johnstown: Junior Isaiah Vance (Hempfield), ranked No. 3 at 285 pounds in NCAA Division II, pinned his opponent as the Mountain Cats won their eighth consecutive PSAC dual-met championship.

UPJ finished 7-0 in conference.