Westmoreland County campus clippings: Injury ends career for Penn-Trafford grad Emma Armstrong

Emma Armstrong let the world know her softball career was over.

The senior first baseman at Towson announced via social media last week that she tore her ACL and meniscus and is done for the season.

The Penn-Trafford alum had started 26 of 27 games this year and was hitting .208 with two home runs, 13 RBIs and 10 runs scored.

“I didn’t plan on hanging up the cleats this soon,” she said, “but God had other plans.”

In an overall thank-you note to the game itself, Armstrong also lauded family, coaches, teammates and friends for supporting her through ups and downs in her playing career.

She said she plans to give back to the game, and continue to support Towson.

Softball

Bloomsburg: Sophomore Emma Little (Penn-Trafford) has hit safely in eight of her last nine games to raise her average to .328. She has four doubles and two home runs, and leads the team in RBIs with 11.

Sophomore pitcher Callie Sowers (Hempfield) is 6-7 with a 2.99 ERA, and has struck out 102 against 27 walks in 87 1/3 innings.

Bowling Green: Freshman Katie Hutter (Mt. Pleasant) doubled and drove in a run in a 10-1 loss to Western Michigan.

Cal (Pa.): Junior outfielder Charity Henderson (Southmoreland) clubbed her third home run of the season in a 2-0 victory over IUP.

Marist: Senior pitcher Kiley Myers (Latrobe) gave up three hits and walked one in five innings in an 8-0, run-ruled win over Canisius. Myers moved to 3-4 on the season.

Mercyhurst: Junior Morgan Hilty (Penn-Trafford) earned a pair of wins in a PSAC sweep of Slippery Rock. In Game 1, she worked 2 2/3 innings of relief in an 8-5 win. Hilty allowed four hits and one run in the victory.

She pitched five innings in Game 2, scattering seven hits, and forcing 10 groundouts in a 12-0 victory.

Hilty is 6-4 on the season.

Ohio: Sophomore catcher Emma Hoffner (Hempfield) blasted a two-run home run, doubled and had three RBIs as Ohio topped Akron, 5-2.

She carried the momentum into the second game the doubleheader, going 2 for 4 with an RBI in a 9-5 victory for the sweep.

Penn State: Grad pitcher Bailey Parshall (Belle Vernon) picked up her 10th complete game and fifth shutout of the season as the Nittany Lions blanked Minnesota, 2-0.

Parshall struck out five and did not walk a batter in a three-hit shutout to move to 13-6.

Pitt-Greensburg: The Bobcats ended a nine-game losing streak with a pair of wins over Hilbert.

Senior Haley Liccketto, who hails from Texas, had two hits, including a triple, and three RBIs, while junior Madison Stonbraker also drove in three in a 9-0 win in five innings.

Senior Laila Smith earned the two-hit shutout.

Freshman Ava Martin delivered in the clutch with a walk-off single in the seventh for a 7-6 win in the second game.

Liccketto had two doubles and two RBIs, Paife Wertheimer doubled and drove in a pair, and sophomore Melanie Mienke scored the game-winning run.

Mienke, a pitcher who struck out 19 in the last two games, was named the AMCC Pitcher of the Week.

Point Park: Senior Angalee Beall (Franklin Regional) is 4-4 in the pitching circle this season with a 3.57 ERA. She also is batting .375 with two home runs and 14 RBIs.

Robert Morris: Junior Jane Garver (Ligonier Valley) worked 5 1/3 innings and scattered seven hits, and fifth-year Dana Vatakis (Monessen) came on to earn the save as the Colonials beat Kent State, 4-1.

Vatakis also recorded a save in the second game of the doubleheader, a 5-3 win.

Sophomore outfielder Jess Matheny (Southmoreland) had two hits and a run in the first game, and added a hit in Game 2.

Saint Vincent: The Bearcats swept a doubleheader from LaRoche, 7-6 and 6-0.

Junior Alex Dillner (Norwin) went 4 for 4 with a double, junior Jessica LaPorte went 2 for 3 with three runs, and junior Leah Yoder (Norwin) added two hits, including a triple, in the opener.

In the second game, Dillner went 3 for 4 with a double, LaPorte homered, and junior Olivia Persin (Hempfield) had two hits scored twice for SVC.

Dillner homered, and junior Haley Bicko pitched a complete game in a 2-1 win over Bethany. The Bearcats swept another twinbill with an 8-2 win in Game 2 as Persin went 3 for 3 with a double and four runs.

LaPorte doubled and scored three times, and Dillner went 3 for 4 with three RBIs.

The Bearcats (14-6, 5-1) had won seven in a row.

Dillner was named the PAC Hitter of the Week, while freshman pitcher Kiley Meek was tabbed the conference rookie of the week.

Meek went 2-0 with a 1,75 ERA in three appearances.

Seton Hill: Sophomore Brooklyn Fukushima went 2 for 3 with an RBI, while sophomore Brooke Cleland (Penn-Trafford) and freshman Camryn Murphy hit doubles as the Griffins toppled Edinboro, 7-3.

Shippensburg: Redshirt senior pitcher Maddie Uschock (Hempfield) is 1-0 with a 5.38 ERA in eight appearances (three starts) for the Raiders.

Washington & Jefferson: Sophomore Emily Schmucker (Latrobe) hit a solo home run but the Presidents fell to Thiel, 10-6.

Men’s lacrosse

Seton Hill: Senior attacker Jeremy Sforzo was named to the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Division II Team of the Week. The team is made up of 10 players nationally. Sforzo had four goals and seven assists over two recent wins.

The Griffins are still riding high after one of their most thrilling comebacks in recent team history.

They rallied to defeat No. 9 Frostburg State, 14-13, in overtime.

But here’s where it gets exciting: Seton Hill trailed the Bobcats, 13-9, with 1 minute and 36 seconds remaining.

The Griffins scored four goals in 30 seconds to tie it 13-13.

Sophomore Connor Zostant, junior Vince Cogliandro, Sforzo and sophomore Mark Strunk scored in succession to send it to overtime.

Senior Kage Williams netted the game-winner in extra time to cap the dramatic victory.

Cagliandro had four goals and an assist, while Zostant also scored four times, and Sforzo finished with two goals and four assists.

Freshman Carter Green (Penn-Trafford) also had a goal.

Women’s tennis

Cincinnati: Redshirt senior Maria Santilli (Norwin) helped the Bearcats to a 5-3 win over DePaul on senior day.

She recorded a 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 3 singles.

Women’s bowling

Pitt-Greensburg: Sophomore Kayla Gaughan (Greensburg Salem) was named to the All-AMCC Second Team.

She had a 181.4 Baker average, and scored 170.3 overall, and her 87.2% spare-percentage ranked fourth in the conference.

Saint Vincent: Four bowlers were named to the All-AMCC teams.

Juniors Monique Koehler and Jackie Koehler were first-team selections, while senior Olivia Emmonds and freshman Abby Justice made the second team.

Justice was tabbed the conference rookie of the year.

The women helped SVC finish 51-9 and make the conference championship for the third straight year. The Bearcats won the regular-season championship with a 19-1 mark.