Ilissa Hamilton and the Case Western Reserve softball team are in Oklahoma City for the Division III Championship starting this week after Hamilton pitched the Spartans to victory in the Super Regionals last weekend in Holland, Mich. It’s the first time the program has advanced to the championship round.
A sophomore from South Abington Township and a Scranton Prep grad, Hamilton was named Most Outstanding Pitcher after she went 2-1 against 17th-ranked Hope College, including a 4-1 triumph in the title game last Saturday. She started all three games and had nine strikeouts in 17 innings of work.
Hamilton will take a 20-6 record and a 2.47 earned run average into the championship. The 5-foot-4 right-hander has started 28 games for the Spartans. She has 18 complete games and six shutouts. In 170 innings, she’s given up 135 hits and 65 runs, 60 earned, with 52 walks and 176 strikeouts.
When she wasn’t pitching, Hamilton plays in the outfield and is hitting .294 (35-for-119) with eight doubles, a triple, a home run, 24 runs scored and 12 runs batted in. And, in the field, she has made two errors on 38 chances (.947).
Hamilton is a transfer from Division I Drexel University. As a freshman, she pitched in 17 games with three starts and was 0-3 with the Dragons last season.
The 37-10 Spartans are seeded seventh in the eight-team field and will face No. 2 seed Texas at Tyler (43-3) in the first round of the double-elimination tourney at 5 p.m. Thursday at the American Softball Association’s Hall of Fame Stadium. This will be the fourth straight trip to the finals for the Patriots who captured the national title in 2016.
Carly Danoski (Abington Heights)
The Moravian sophomore is heading to the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track Championships starting Thursday in La Crosse, Wisc. She is seeded seventh in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:10.72. Danoski had a big performance at the Landmark Conference Outdoor Track Championship May 5-6 in Elizabethtown. She captured the 800 in 2:14.62 and finished second in the 1,500 meter run with a personal record time of 4:46.89. She also ran a leg on the 4×400 relay which finished second in 4:08.02. Danoski finished first in the 800 (2:16.92) and helped the 4×400 finish first (4:10.67) at the Landmark indoor championship Feb. 24 in Selinsgrove.
Tyler Ksiazek (Abington Heights)
The junior right-hander pitched in 12 games with six starts for the Monmouth baseball team, the Hawks 28-23 overall and 16-7 and the second seed in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament starting Wednesday in Staten Island, N.Y. Ksiazek has a 1-0 record and that came in a nine-inning complete game non-league 10-3 victory over Hofstra on May 8. He gave up eight hits, three earned runs, walked one and had a career-high nine strikeouts. Freshman Colin McCreary (Abington Heights) hit .375 (3-for-8) with two doubles, five runs scored and an RBI used mainly as a pinch-hitter or pinch-runner.
Mackenzie Duffy (Lackawanna Trail)
The freshman had a big season at the plate and behind it for the Scranton softball team, the Royals finishing 33-11 after going 2-2 in the Landmark Conference Tournament, losing the title game 3-0 to No. 1 seed Moravian on May 5 in Bethlehem. Catcher Duffy batted leadoff and hit .362 (51-for-141) with 11 doubles, four triples, 11 runs batted in and a team-high 35 runs scored. She also was 7-for-8 in stolen bases. Behind the plate, she made four errors on 247 chances (.984) and threw out eight would-be base stealers.
Alyssa McMinn (Abington Heights)
The junior won the discus throw with a personal record toss of 140 feet, 10 inches to help the Messiah women’s track team capture its second straight Middle Atlantic Conference outdoor title on May 3-5 in Chester. McMinn also finished sixth in the shot put (39 feet, 3 ¼ inches) and was 14th in the hammer throw (116 feet, 4 inches). She finished first in the discus (135 feet, 9 inches) at the Mid-Atlantic Last Chance meet May 16-17 in Chester.
Ashleigh Clarke (Lackawanna Trail)
The Marywood freshman finished third in the 10,000 meter run at the Colonial States Athletic Conference Outdoor Track Championship May 5-6 in Gwynedd Valley. Her time was 44:19.18. She also was fifth in the 5,000 meter run with a personal record time of 20:42.65. Clarke is a key member of the Pacers’ women’s cross country team. She finished seventh at the CSAC Cross Country Championships last October in Coatesville with a 6,000 meter time of 27:06.5.
Mary Lundin (Scranton Prep)
The Hamilton junior from Clarks Summit finished third in the 800 meter run at the All-Atlantic Region Conference Championships last Thursday in Brockport, N.Y. Her time of 2:16.10 was two seconds off the winning time. Lundin finished sixth in the 800 at the New England Small College Athletic Conference Championship April 28 in Hartford, Conn. with a personal best time of 2:15.29. She also ran a leg on the 4×800 relay which finished sixth in 9:25.51.
Matthew Harris (Lackawanna Trail)
The Keystone men’s lacrosse team suffered through a 0-14 season with a 0-7 record in the Colonial States Athletic Conference but the Giants got a solid season from the 6-foot-2 junior defenseman. The team captain started all 14 games and had 18 ground balls and was second on the team with eight caused turnovers. He was named to the CSAC All-Sportsmanship team. In his three seasons with the Giants, Harris has collected 48 ground balls with 20 caused turnovers in 35 games.
