College notebook: Cavenaugh caps big season with a PSAC first
When you talk about making an instant impact, nobody within the Slippery Rock University softball program has ever done it quite like freshman Maddie Cavenaugh did this season.
Cavenaugh, a former standout at South Fayette High School, was named the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division Athlete of the Year and its Freshman of the Year.
Cavenaugh is the first player in the PSAC to win Athlete of the Year and Freshman of the Year in the same season since the conference started tracking award winners in 1989.
Cavenaugh had a stellar season, leading the PSAC in batting average at an impressive .453 clip. She also led the league in on-base percentage at .549 and was among the leaders with 62 hits, 51 runs, 47 RBI and 12 home runs. She also stole 20 bases in 21 attempts. Her 51 runs set the Slippery Rock single-season record.
Cavenaugh led Slippery Rock to a 27-20 overall record including a 20-8 mark in PSAC play.
Baseball
Former Canon-McMillan standout Mason Fixx has had a strong season for Baldwin Wallace, which is ranked 10th in the nation and has qualified for the NCAA Division III tournament.
Fixx, a junior catcher, is batting .316 with six doubles and one home run. He has three more walks than strikeouts and has stolen nine bases in 10 attempts. He went 4-for-5 in a game last month against John Carroll and has 10 hits over the Yellow Jackets’ last five games.
Baldwin Wallace has a 31-10 record and will play Wartburg (Iowa) in the NCAA tournament in Decatur, Ill., on Friday.
• Andrew Bredel’s pitching has helped Penn State Behrend earn a spot in the NCAA Division III playoffs.
Bredel, a lefthander from Burgettstown, was named second team All-Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference after ranking third in the league with a 3.38 ERA and a 6-1 record.
A junior, Bredel also ranked fifth in strikeouts with 60. In AMCC games only, Bredel made seven appearances with a 5-1 record. He struck out 35 in 40 innings.
Behrend has a 31-10 record and won the AMCC tournament. The Lions will play at Lynchburg in the NCAA tournament on Friday.
Track and field
Jonah Pfender, a freshman from Bulger, helped Colorado School of Mines win the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference men’s team championship.
The former Fort Cherry field standout placed fourth at the RMAC Championships in the shot put with a throw of 51-8½. He also placed 14th in the discus at 143-1¼.
Pfender had an NCAA Division II provisional throw in the shot put of 54-8¼ during a meet last month in Golden, Colo.
Pfender was the state Class 2A silver medalist in the shot put and fourth-place finisher in the discus last year at the PIAA Championships.
Tennis
Waynesburg sophomore Ethan Clawson, a Trinity graduate, was named second team All-Presidents’ Athletic Conference.
Clawson finished tied for second on the Yellow Jackets with six singles wins and two PAC victories while competing in Waynesburg’s No. 1 singles spot in each of its 16 matches. Clawson’s most notable win was a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Westminster’s Ryan Crissman, who was an honorable mention All-PAC honoree.
Clawson also had a pair of doubles wins.
Softball
Ella Richey had a strong freshman season at King University in Bristol, Tenn.
A former all-state player at Chartiers-Houston, Richey batted .337 with 11 doubles, one triple and two home runs. She drew 11 walks and struck out only seven times in 105 plate appearances.
Richey’s best game at the plate came at Lees-McRae on April 17 when she went 3-for-5 with a grand slam and five RBI in a 10-6 victory.
During her days at Chartiers-Houston, Richey became Pennsylvania’s all-time home runs leader.
King finished the season with a 31-26 record.
• Two former Trinity players, Finley Hohn of LaRoche and Hanna Stedman of Mount Aloysius, were named to the All-Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference third team.
Hohn, a sophomore first baseman, batted .319 with seven doubles, a triple and a home run. Hohn led the Red Hawks with 34 RBI and she had six more walks than strikeouts. She had a four-RBI game against Mount Aloysius and went 3-for-4 with three RBI against Penn State-Beaver.
Hohn also pitched for La Roche, appearing in 14 games (four starts).
After having only six at-bats and no hits as a freshman, Stedman emerged as a key piece atop the Mounties’ lineup in 2026. The sophomore second baseman batted .298 with 13 doubles, two triples and one home run as Mount Aloysius’ leadoff hitter.