Roaring Lions forced to cancel baseball season
Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, has cancelled the remainder of its spring baseball season but the program is not in any danger of being shut down.
The Roaring Lions, guided by longtime head coach Ray Smitley and newly hired assistant coach Shawn Chory, will continue to recruit players and will pick back up in the abbreviated fall season.
Penn State Fayette went on a season-opening, five-game trip to Vero Beach, Florida, then returned home to play two more games before the decision was made. The team was set to play its home games at Hutchinson Field in the spring as it awaits the installment of a new baseball and softball facility.
But a dwindling roster due to injuries and lack of participation, partially due to some ineligible players, was reportedly the reason that forced coach Ray Smitley to forfeit the remainder of the schedule.
Smitley had no comment on the decision, deflecting all questions to Penn State Fayette athletic director Lou Zadecky, who chose to look ahead.
“We are looking forward to playing baseball in the fall and next spring at our brand new baseball facility here on campus,” Zadecky said.
The Roaring Lions were 0-7 this season with their depleted roster after going 14-13 last year.
Zadecky commended the Penn State Fayette softball team, which is 5-9 and has a 12-player roster made up entirely of local talent.
“I’d like to focus on our softball team which has been playing well lately,” Zadecky said. “They’ve won five of their last seven and are 2-2 in the conference (PSUAC),”
The Roaring Lions softball lineup is led by Brownsville graduate Miranda Nichols who was hitting .441. with five RBIs through the team’s first 12 games. Frazier graduate Monica Joseph was at .410 with three doubles and six RBIs and Connellsville graduate Felicia Thompson as at .364.
The Penn State Fayette softball roster also includes Hannah Kline (Frazier), Aubree Yates (Bentworth), Lauren Adams (Mapletown), Tiffany Markovitch (Brownsville), Emily Lewis (Carmichaels), Emily Blaker (Mapletown), Haley Rugg (Turkeyfoot Valley), Caitlyn Brown (Frazier) and Kelsey Rudzienski (Laurel Highlands).