Danze helps Gwynedd Mercy win 5th straight CSAC title
GMA grad posts pair of wins in championship victory
Natalie Danze (Lansdale/Gwynedd Mercy Academy) won at both singles and doubles as the Gwynedd Mercy University women’s tennis team claimed its fifthstraight Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) championship with a 5-0 victory over Immaculata last Saturday the Legacy Youth Tennis and Education in Philadelphia.
Danze, a junior, did not drop a game in winning second doubles, defeating Susan Callahan 6-0, 6-0 and at second doubles Danze and Robyn Belen collected an 8-2 victory over Callahan and Caitlin Savage.
The CSAC title in the ninth in program history for the Griffins, who earned the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament with pairing announced May 7.
For the season, Danze is 14-4 in singles competition and 13-3 in doubles.
• West Chester baseball’s Jared Melone (North Wales/North Penn) was named Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East Player of the Week Monday after going 12-for-24 (.500) with two home runs, two doubles, 14 RBIs and seven runs scored as the Golden Rams went 5-2 last week.
Melone — who leads NCAA Division II with a .492 batting average — was 2-for-4 with a double and a run last Tuesday in WCU’s 6-1 loss to Wilmington in the Bill Giles Invitational championship game at Citizens Bank Park.
Last Wednesday, Melone hit a two-run home run in the eighth and finished 3-for-6 with three RBIs and a run in WCU’s 12-5 over East Stroudsburg in Game 1 of a doubleheader. Justin Horn (Willow Grove/Upper Dublin) added a double and two RBIs for the Golden Rams. In Game 2, Melone collected 3 RBIs in an 8-4 win.
Melone went 2-for-4 with four RBIs and
connected on a three-run homer in the second in WCU’s 10-3 Game 1 win over Kutztown last Friday.
Jon Fisher (Plymouth Meeting/Plymouth Whitemarsh) threw is second complete game of the season to earn the win for the Golden Rams, allowing three runs — all earned — on five hits, walked four and struck out six.
Melone added a two-RBI double while Horn was 2-for-3 with a double and two runs in a 7-6 loss in the nightcap.
Last Saturday in another doubleheader with Kutztown, Melone had a double and a run scored in a 2-0 win in the opener then in a 6-5 loss in the second game he was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored while Horn hit a triple and scored a run.
• Michael Sowers (Dresher/Upper Dublin) set a Princeton men’s lacrosse record for single-season assists as he finished with a goal and six assists as the Tigers defeated Harvard 15-10 in the 84th meeting between the Ivy League schools
Sowers now has 54 assists on the season while the sophomore’s 79 points in 2018 is second in program history behind on the 82 he put up as a freshman.
Sowers leads NCAA Division I in assists per game (4.5) and is second in points per game (6.58) for a Princeton side that has won its last four to sit 7-5 overall and 2-3 in the Ivy.
• Keystone College softball’s Shannon Lloyd (King of Prussia/Archbishop Carroll) was named CSAC Hitter of the Week as she finished with a .577 batting average as the Giants split eight games last week. Lloyd collected 15 hits, five doubles, two home runs and a triple.
Last Friday, she had two hits — one a solo home run — and two RBIs as the Giants snapped a 21-game losing streak to Neumann with a 5-4 victory. Lloyd had seven hits and seven RBIs as Keystone swept Notre Dame of Maryland last Saturday.
• Marywood baseball’s Jake Schuster (Lansdale/ North Penn) was named to the CSAC Weekly Honor Roll Monday after hitting .524 in five doubles and five RBIs.
For the season, Schuster was first on the Pacers in batting average (.484), hits (46), runs (33), doubles (14), home runs (3), tied for first in triples (3) and second in RBIs (25).
• Jackie Cerchio (Audubon/Methacton) scored twice while Jen Rodzewich (Hilltown/Pennridge) added a goal as the Temple women’s lacrosse team was edged by Villanova 14-13 last Saturday.
• Chris Kersey (North Wales/North Penn) was 2-for-4 as the Lehigh baseball team beat Bucknell 6-3 in the second game of the doubleheader last Saturday. Sunday, Kersey finished 1-for-3 and scored the Mountain Hawks’ lone run as they fell 4-1 to Bucknell.
• Dave Tatoian (Perkasie/Pennridge) was 2-for-5 with a double and
run scored and Jared Gorman (Lansdale/North Penn) struck out three and allowed just a hit in two shutout innings as the Gwynedd Mercy baseball team finished a doubleheader sweep of Clarks Summit last Saturday with a 15-2 victory in Game 2.
In the opening contest, Tatoian had an RBI sacrifice fly as the Griffins picked up a 11-2 win.
• Jovanna Alfonsi (Hatfield/North Penn) was 2-for-3 with a run while Erin Maher (Lansdale/ North Penn) went 1-for-3 with a run as the Jefferson University softball team fell to Post 4-3 in the opening game of a doubleheader Sunday.
Maher had a double and a run scored as the Rams won Game 2 5-4.
Last Friday, Alfonsi finished 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI and Erica D’Angelo (Broomall/Archbishop Carroll) went 2-for-4 with two runs as Jefferson topped Goldey-Beacom 4-1 in Game 1 of a doubleheader.
• DeSales baseball’s Ian Kacergis (Sellersville/Pennridge) gave up two earned runs over six innings to improve his record to 4-3 as the Bulldogs bested Delaware Valley 7-2 in the first game of a doubleheader last Saturday.
Kacergis allowed four hits, walked one and struck out four.
DeSales swept the doubleheader with a 6-2 win in the second game as it clinch a spot in the MAC Freedom tournament.
For Delaware Valley, Ben Lippincott (Perkasie/Lansdale Catholic) went 2-for-3 in Game 1.