Sports briefs
College baseball
The battle for first place in the PSAC’s West Division will go down to the final week of the regular season.
Gannon moved into a tie for first place with Mercyhurst by sweeping a doubleheader from California, 5-2 and 11-5, Sunday Wild Things Park.
California falls two games behidnd the leaders at 16-8 in the division and 32-12 overall.
Gannon’s Eric Sapp threw a five-hit complete game in the opener. The Golden Knights broke a 4-4 tie in the second game by scoring single runs in the fifth and sixth innings and tacking on five more in the seventh. Gannon’s Jared Beach, a Canon-McMillan graduate, went 3-for-3 with a home run and three RBI.
Aaron Previsky had a home run and double for Cal.
- Tyler Godwin homered and drove in five runs, and Tyler Reis also hit a home run as Waynesburg rolled to an 18-7 victory over visiting Saint Vincent in a Presidents’ Athletic Conference game.
Colton Uzzell was the winning pitcher with 2 1/3 innings of relief for Waynesburg, which improved to 12-7 in the conference and 18-15 overall.
Saint Vincent is 10-9 in the PAC and 18-15 overall.
The teams will play a doubleheader today at Saint Vincent.
College softball
California University finished the season with a split of a doubleheader at Seton Hill in PSAC West Division action on Sunday afternoon, suffering a 1-0 loss in the opener before taking a 3-2 extra-inning victory in the second game.
The Vulcans close the year with a 14-22 overall record and finish fourth in the division standings with a 10-10 mark. Cal entered the last day of the regular season in contention for the PSAC tournament, but ultimately finished two games back of the final playoff spot. Seton Hill is 28-16 with a 13-7 mark in league play and enter the league tournament as the second seed from the West Division.
In the second game, Cal capitalized on a two-out fielding error in the ninth that allowed second baseman Kaitlyn Corle to reach base safely. Corle advanced into scoring position on a stolen base before Brooke Wilson lined an RBI single into center field for a 3-2 score.
Taylor Robblee threw a complete-game victor, allowing two runs on 11 hits and three walks. She finished the year as the team’s leader with 10 wins.
Crosby is Hart finalist
Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby has been named a finalist for the Hart Trophy, which is awarded to the NHL player judged most valuable to his team.
The winner will be announced at the NHL Awards Show at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on June 19.
Crosby, 31, is a finalist for the award for the third time in the last four years and fifth time in the previous seven seasons. Most recently, the two-time winner (2007, 2014) was a runner-up to eventual winners Patrick Kane and Connor McDavid in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
The Penguins’ center finished the season with 100 points (35G-65A) in 79 games. Crosby led his team in assists and points, and ranked second in goals. He recorded his ninth 30-goal season and sixth 60-assist campaign of his career. Crosby’s dominant play earned him his eighth Penguins team MVP.
Since 2007, Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have been finalists for the Hart Trophy 10 times in 13 seasons. This is Crosby’s seventh time as a finalist for the award, while Malkin has been a finalist three times, winning the Hart Trophy in 2012.
If Crosby’s name is announced this year, he will join Mario Lemieux (1988, 1993 and 1996) as the only three-time winners of the award in franchise history.