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Seton Hill athletic programs have dealt with tragedy before | TribLIVE.com
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Seton Hill athletic programs have dealt with tragedy before

Bill Beckner
Bill Beckner
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Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review
Penn-Trafford pitcher Maclean Maund delivers against Upper St. Clair during a WPIAL Class 6A quarterfinal Tuesday, May 21, 2019, at West Mifflin High School.
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Seton Hill once again is mourning the tragic loss of someone from one of its athletic programs.

Freshman baseball player Maclean Maund was killed Saturday from injuries he sustained in a vehicle accident on Route 130 near Jeannette.

The 19-year-old was a budding, left-handed pitcher who led Penn-Trafford to the WPIAL Class 6A championship last season.

“This is a tragedy that we can never prepare for, one that has rocked the Seton Hill and Penn-Trafford communities, our baseball program, and the Maund Family,” Seton Hill baseball coach Marc Marizzaldi said. “Mac’s energy, passion, and genuine charisma will live in all of our memories and through the Griffin baseball program.”

This is not the first time Seton Hill has been struck by tragedy.

Maund’s death brought back memories of others whose lives were claimed too soon, and in devastating fashion.

With it, too, came a reminder of the school’s collective ability to persevere in perilous times while carrying on the memory of those lost.

Volleyball player Maggie Murray, who had just graduated college, was killed in a boating accident in late September of 2018. She was 22.

The school has since retired her number (9). The volleyball team used the loss of their teammate to fuel a playoff run and dedicated every move it made thereafter to Murray.

The Griffins won eight of nine matches to close the regular season and won the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference title before upsetting Shippensburg in the conference semifinals and knocking off Gannon in the finals for their first PSAC championship.

The Griffins went 2-1 in the NCAA Tournament after a loss to Wheeling Jesuit in the regional finals.

Seton Hill earned the YWCA’s Sports Team of the Year.

In 2013, a bus crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike killed Kristina Quigley, the pregnant coach of the Seton Hill women’s lacrosse team.

Quigley, 30, was six months pregnant with a baby boy. She was traveling with the team to a game at Millersville.

The accident, like the others, sent waves of disbelief and melancholy through the tight-knit, Roman Catholic liberal

arts school of 2,000-plus students.

But the campus bounced back.

Ask officials and coaches why that is, and they’ll tell you that unity is the anchor.

“The first thing is that we truly are 21 teams, two colors and one family,” Griffins athletic director Chris Snyder said. “When you live that mantra and combine that with the Sisters of Charity and the Mission of Seton Hill, you have a great deal of support behind you. Everyone at Seton Hill plays a role, faculty, staff and students, are crucial elements to ensure that we will survive, persevere, and overcome difficult times. While each tragic accident you mention is somewhat different, the end result is the same. The love, support, the genuine care and concern will carry us all through the most difficult times.”

One coach said the school’s reactions to such awful events are natural.

“Simply put, it is our university’s Setonian values coming into action,” women’s basketball coach Mark Katarski said. “The university community reacts organically and without hesitation in these times of need, much the same way that Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton did for those in her community centuries ago.

“It shows that our mission is truly in the fabric of all students, faculty and staff.”

An outpouring of support from the outside also has greeted the Seton Hill community.

“As with past tragedies, we will come together this time and support Mac’s family, teammates and coaches to the very best of our ability,” Snyder said. “While challenging, I have the utmost confidence that we all will come through these most difficult days and emerge stronger than before.”

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

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