Archive for the ‘YSU Baseball And Softball’ Category

Youngstown State Head Coach Brian Campbell was deemed the 2012 Horizon League Coach of the Year in a vote by the league’s head coaches, the league announced on Tuesday (May 8).

Campbell, who is in his fourth season at Youngstown State, guided the Penguins to their most overall wins since 2004 with 28 victories. He led the Penguins to a seven-win improvement in Horizon League play with a record of 12-10, and YSU’s fourth-place finish was four spots higher than the league’s coaches predicted in the preseason. Last season, YSU placed eighth with a 5-16 Horizon League record.

Coach Campbell enjoys his position with the Penguins and has really started to carve out his legacy as a winner.  The girls always hustle and have a good mix of hitting and pitching that pushed the 2012 version of Lady Penguins softball over the top.

Congratulations Coach Campbell on a great season!

Sophomore Casey Crozier (above) scattered seven hits and struck out six, but the Youngstown State softball team dropped a 3-0 decision to Butler in the first round of the Horizon League Tournament at the Valparaiso Softball Field.

Crozier was out-dueled by Butler’s Leah Bry, who allowed just three hits to the league’s top offense and struck out four.

Senior Jordan Ingalls, junior Caroline Krombach and sophomore Sarah Ingalls each collected hits for the Penguins.

The Penguins fall to 28-20-1 and will play the loser of the No. 6 Green Bay-No. 2 Loyola contest, Thursday, at 5 p.m. (EDT). The Bulldogs improve to 24-30 and advance to play top-seeded Valparaiso, Thursday, at Noon (EDT).

Butler’s Erin Falkenberry hit a solo home run in the top of the second and that is all the offense Bry needed.

The Bulldogs added runs in the top of the fourth and top of the seventh to seal the victory.

Despite future YSU Hall-of-Famer, Haley Thomas, ending her home career as a Lady Penguin with a home run, very little went right for the Youngstown State softball team on Thursday.  The Penguins dropped a pair of games to Robert Morris, 8-0, and 12-4.

With the two losses, YSU fell to 27-18-1 on the season.  Robert Morris improved to 33-20, as both teams prepare for tournament play.

Senior Jordan Ingalls, junior Caroline Krombach, Thomas, and sophomore Courtney Ewing each collected two hits for the Penguins. Thomas also drove in two runs.

Youngstown State was hurt by two errors in Robert Morris’ eight-run sixth inning that expanded a 4-3 lead to a 12-3 advantage.  After the Colonials scored two unearned runs in the top of the first, Samantha Snodgrass singled in Ingalls to cut the deficit to 2-1.

In the bottom of the fourth, Thomas singled home Ewing to get the Guins within 3-2, but the Colonials answered with a run the top of the fifth to take a 4-2 lead.

Kristen Philen got YSU back to 4-3 with a double to center field that plated Snodgrass.

In the opener, Youngstown State was limited to just four hits – a double by Thomas and singles by Snodgrass, Philen and Ewing.

The Penguins close out the regular season with a three-game series against Green Bay, May 5-6, in Green Bay, Wis.

Youngstown State’s Jeremy Banks and Blake Aquadro have been named the Horizon League Baseball Players of the Week for the period of April 23-29, the conference office announced on Monday.

Banks earned Batter-of-the-Week accolades for the third time this season while Aquadro picked up Pitcher-of-the-Week honors for the first time in his career. Both players played a big part in YSU’s first-ever series sweep of UIC over the weekend.

Banks batted .636 with seven hits in 11 at bats in three games for YSU, reaching base at least twice in each game. He had three RBIs in YSU’s 11-3 win on Friday and added three more in YSU’s 9-0 win in the series finale. Banks was 4-for-4 in the finale and recorded his 200th career hit with an eighth-inning single. Despite missing 14 games with an injury, Banks ranks among the top five in the Horizon League in doubles and RBIs and is sixth in home runs. His .400 batting average, .657 slugging percentage and .492 on-base percentage are tops among all league players with more than 100 at bats.

Aquadro pitched the Penguins’ first nine-inning complete-game shutout since 2004 against UIC on Sunday. The junior southpaw scattered eight hits and struck out three while throwing 144 pitches. Only one of the Flames’ hits went for extra bases.

Youngstown State will try to remain hot when it plays Pittsburgh on Wednesday at 3 p.m. at Eastwood Field.

Freshman Kayla Haslett pitched her first career shutout allowing just five hits with one strikeout as the Youngstown State softball team defeated Wright State, 10-0, to split a doubleheader and win the season series against the Raiders. The Penguins dropped the first game, 8-0.

Sophomore Samantha Snodgrass went 2-for-3 with a double and four runs batted in while junior Vicky Rumph was 2-for-3 and drove in three runs for the Penguins.

The Guins improve to 25-13-1 overall and 10-8 in the Horizon League while the Raiders fall to 20-26 overall and 8-10 in the league.

Rumph began the scoring for the Guins with a single through the right side to plate  Caroline Krombach with the game’s first run.

Youngstown State used six unearned runs to the bottom of the third to cushion their lead to 7-0 with the help of four Wright State errors in the frame.

Snodgrass’ two-out bases-clearing double put the Penguins ahead 4-0, then senior  Kristen Philen single through the left side to score Snodgrass and sophomore Sarah Ingalls added a two-run single up the middle driving in Sarah Gabel and Philen.

In the bottom of the fourth, Rumph drove in senior Haley Thomas and Krombach with a single up the middle and moved to second on the play at the plate.

Snodgrass plated pinch-runner Kelly Fox with a single up the middle to give the Guins a 10-0 lead.

Wright State only threatened Haslett once with bases-loaded and two outs in the top of the fourth, but the right-hander induced an infield pop out to squelch the scoring opportunity.

In game one, Wright State’s Krystian DeWitt fired a two-hit, complete-game performance with eight strinkeouts to pick up her 13th win of the season.

The Guins face Toledo, Tuesday, April 24, in doubleheader starting at 3 p.m. in Toledo, Ohio.

Any baseball or softball team hits a stretch where they seem to struggle.  For the YSU softball team, the last couple of weeks had been tough ones.  Thursday afternoon, the Lady Penguins continued to swing the pendulum known as momentum forward as the pounded Detroit, 9-1, to complete a sweep and extend their winning streak to five games.

Senior Jordan Ingalls went 3-for-3 with three runs scored and junior Vicky Rumph went 2-for-3 with a two-run home run to lead the Penguins offense.  With the win, the Penguins improve to 24-12-1 overall and 8-7 in the Horizon League, while Detoit falls to 10-29 overall and 2-12 in the league.

Junior Sarah Gabel and freshman Brooke Meenachan  each recorded two hits while sophomore Sarah Ingalls belted a pinch-hit solo home run.  Sophomore Casey Crozier pitched 5.1 scoreless innings with five strikeouts to pick up her 11th victory of the season.

The Guins host Wright State in a three-game series, April 21-22, at McCune Park in Canfield, Ohio. First pitch Saturday is at 1 p.m.

The Youngstown State softball team dropped a pair of Horizon League games to Valparaiso, 4-3, and 13-12, on Saturday afternoon at the VU Softball Field.

In the first game, the Penguins seventh inning rally came up just short. Meanwhile in the nightcap, the Guins jumped out to a commanding 12-0 advantage after two innings only to see the Crusaders chip away at the lead and eventually overcome the deficit with a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning.

YSU (21-11-1, 5-6 Horizon League) sent 15 batters to the plate and collected eight of their 13 hits to take an 11-0 lead after one-half inning.

They tacked on an unearned run in the top of the second when senior Kristen Philen scored on a Crusader error.

Valparaiso (27-10, 11-0 HL), who was aided by 11 walks, chipped away at the YSU advantage scoring four in the third, three in the fourth, four more in the fifth and one in both the sixth and seventh innings to complete the improbable comeback victory.

Senior Haley Thomas went 3-for-5 with two RBIs to lead the Penguins offensive attack while senior Jordan Ingalls and sophomore Samantha Snodgrass each had two hits.

In the opener, the Crusaders scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to break a 1-1 tie and take a 4-1.

The Guins mounted a comeback attempt and plated two runs on Amanda Palmore‘s run-scoring fielder’s choice and Jordan Ingalls’ RBI-double. The Penguins, though, left the tying run stranded on second base.

Jordan Ingalls and sophomore Sarah Ingalls each had two hits for the Guins.

YSU and Valparaiso will conclude the series with a single game, Sunday, at Noon.

*Story courtesy of YSU Sports Information.

Valparaiso scored five runs in the third inning and got eight strong innings from starting pitcher Kevin Wild in a 10-0 victory over the Youngstown State baseball team on Saturday at Eastwood Field.

The Crusaders scored six runs on seven hits in the first three innings off Nic Manuppelli in his first start of the season. Reliever Ryan Krokos allowed just one hit and did not surrender an earned run in 4.2 innings of relief to give the Penguins a chance, but they missed on several opportunities against Wild.

Wild allowed five hits and two walks while striking out two in eight innings to earn his third win. Three of YSU’s hits came in the ninth against reliever Zack Walsh.

The top four hitters in Valpo’s lineup accounted for seven of its 11 hits, six runs and seven RBIs.

Small things went wrong for YSU in the first two innings, and they resulted in Valpo taking a 6-0 lead. With a runner on first and one out in the second, first baseman David Leon briefly bobbled a double play ball and had to settle for getting one out at first. Spencer Mahoney followed with an RBI single up the middle to put the Crusaders up 1-0.

The Crusaders started the third inning with five straight hits en route to batting around, but the chance for a big inning increased when Andrew Bain singled after fouling off two sacrifice bunt attempts. Tanner Vavra and Will Hagel followed with RBI singles, and Martin delivered a two-run double that made the score 5-0. Martin scored two batters later on Chris Manning’s sacrifice fly.

Down 6-0, YSU put two runners on with nobody out in both the fourth and fifth innings and couldn’t score. Kevin Hix led off the fourth with a double, and Jason Shirley singled sharply to center to put runners at the corners. Shirley was then picked off, Craig Goubeaux fouled out and Jeremy Banks struck out to end the inning. Marcus Heath led off the fifth with a double and Phil Lipari followed with a walk, but Wild struck out Leon and got back-to-back ground outs from Padraic Williams and Drew Dosch.

Valpo got an unearned run in the sixth to take a 7-0 lead, and the Crusaders tacked on three runs in the top of the ninth for the final tally. YSU loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the ninth, but David Saluga was hit by Lipari’s hard grounder between first and second for a dead ball and an out. Leon then fouled out, and Walsh struck out Jack Graham to end the game.

Youngstown State and Valparaiso will conclude their three-game series on Sunday at noon.

* Story Courtesy of YSUSports.com

Loyola scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning en route to a 5-1 victory and completed the series sweep of the Youngstown State softball team on Saturday morning.

The Penguins, who have now lost three straight, fall to 21-9-1 overall and 5-4 in the Horizon League while the Ramblers improve to 13-16 overall and 6-3 in the league.

Loyola’s Brittany Gardner picked up her third win of the series, striking out seven Penguins and allowing just five hits.

The Guins attemped a rally loading the bases in the top of the seventh on single by  Sarah Gabel and two hit batters. Senior Amanda Palmore reached on an error to score Gabel for the only YSU run.

A lineout double play and a strikeout ended the Penguins threat.

The Guins return to action against St. Bonaventure, Wednesday, April 11, at 3 p.m.

Freshman Kayla Haslett scattered seven hits in an impressive complete-game outing and clobbered a pair of home runs with her bat to lift the Youngstown State softball team to a 7-1 victory and a series sweep of Cleveland State on Sunday at McCune Park.

After allowing a run in the top of the first inning, Haslett, settled in and did not allow a Cleveland State runner past second base the rest of the game.

The Penguins, who improve to 19-6-1 overall and 5-1 in the Horizon League, again were added by the long ball to get back in the game.

Senior Kristen Philen, who went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, led off the bottom of the third with a solo homer – her fourth of the year – to left-center field to tie the game at 1-1.

Two battters later, senior Haley Thomas punched a one-out, 3-2 pitch over the left-center field fence to put the Guins ahead 2-1.

A two-out double by senior Jordan Ingalls and an RBI-single by junior Vicky Rumph added a third run for YSU in the bottom of the third.

The Penguins expanded their lead to 6-1 in the bottom of the fourth with two bases-loaded walks and a sacrifice fly by Ingalls.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Guins tacked on one more to close out the scoring. Philen led off with a single and was replaced by pinch runner Kelly Fox. Fox advanced to second on a wild pitch, moved to third on Brooke Meenachan‘s bunt single and scored on a throwing error.

Brian Campbell‘s Penguins host Saint Francis (Pa.) in a doubleheader, Tuesday, April 3, at 3 p.m. at McCune Park.