Westmoreland campus clippings: Hempfield grad Sam Kline earns strength, conditioning award at Denison

Nobody ever accused Sam Kline of skipping leg day.

A senior softball player at Denison, Kline, a Hempfield product, was the recipient of a National Strength & Conditioning Association All-American Athlete Award through her school.

The award recognizes student-athletes’ commitment to staying in shape and working in the weight room.

Her work ethic and extra efforts are noticeable to coaches, teammates and colleagues.

“Over the course of her career, Sam has been one of the most improved athletes I’ve coached at Denison,” said Beau Scott, the school’s strength and conditioning coach. “This is due to her exceptional work ethic and the mentality in which she approached her workouts.”

On the field, Kline is a two-year captain who has started 52 games and has a .324 career batting average.

Softball

Carlow: Junior Morgan Nedley (Penn-Trafford) leads the Celtics in batting average (.327) and runs scored (12). She has three doubles and seven RBIs in 18 games.

Penn State Fayette: Freshman Sammi McGhee (Yough) was batting .306 with four doubles and six runs scored through 11 games. She had six hits in a doubleheader split against Penn State Greater Allegheny.

Pitt: Freshman Haylie Brunson (Mt. Pleasant) had a double, scored a run and walked twice as the Panthers downed Robert Morris, 7-2.

Brunson is hitting .288 in 26 starts with a home run, triple, six doubles and 13 RBIs.

Robert Morris: A pair of pitchers with local ties are two of the go-to arms on the Colonials’ staff.

Senior Dana Vatakis (Monessen) had a 4-3 record heading into the weekend, with a 4.81 ERA, a 1.42 WHIP and a team-leading 46 strikeouts. Sophomore Jane Garver (Ligonier Valley), meantime, was 1-2 in nine appearances, with 30 Ks in 35 1/3 innings.

Vatakis was recently named the Horizon League Pitcher of the Week. She allowed five hits and no earned runs in eight innings while striking out 10 over two appearances.

Saint Vincent: The Bearcats remained unbeaten, moving to 11-0, with a doubleheader sweep of Grove City. In a 5-4 win in the opener, freshman Katelyn Stokan homered and drove in three, sophomore Alex Dillner (Norwin) went 2 for 3 with a double and a pair of runs, and sophomore Leah Yoder (Norwin) had two hits and two RBIs.

Game 2 featured a grand slam by senior Abbey Ginter in the seventh inning that powered SVC to a 7-3 victory. Senior Kelsey Tobin (Hempfield) had two hits.

Seton Hill: The Griffins, who had a 22-3 record at week’s end, cracked the top-25 rankings for the first time.

Seton Hill, on a nine-game winning streak, checked in at No. 24 in last week’s National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division II poll.

They were the only team from the Atlantic Region in the Top 25.

Westminster: Freshman Sydney Lokay (Norwin) had two hits in a 10-2 victory over Washington & Jefferson.

Baseball

Rutgers: Grad pitcher Jared Kollar (Latrobe) improved to 5-0 as he struck out 10, walked two and surrendered four hits over six innings in a 6-4 victory over Minnesota.

Saint Vincent: Senior Zach Barberich worked six solid innings, striking out eight and allowing one earned run, and sophomore Billy Perroz went 2 for 3 with a double, and senior Casey Jones also added two hits in a 3-2 win over Chatham.

Jones also came on to earn a save.

Seton Hill: Freshman Jared Dowey and senior Caiden Wood (4-0) combined on a one-hit shutout, and senior Vincenzo Rauso, Neal McDermott (Greensburg Central Catholic), senior Omar Ward and junior Braden Durham had two hits apiece in an 8-0 win over IUP.

Ward had two doubles and junior Jack Oberdorf tripled.

Washington & Jefferson: Junior pitcher Tyler Horvat (Penn-Trafford) gave up two hits and struck out four over six innings as the Presidents took care of Chatham, 9-2. Horvat also scored a run and stole a base in the win.

Horvat tossed a complete-game shutout in a 6-0 win over Bethany. He struck out five, gave up four hits and did not walk a batter.

Horvat was named the PAC Pitcher of the Week.

Waynesburg: Sophomore Mike Bell (Yough) gave the Yellow Jackets six strong innings in a 4-3 loss to Thiel.

Bell allowed three earned runs on six hits and two walks in his first start of the season.