Bethany College softball's Josie Wise leads PAC in wins; Tim Orr tops Kent State baseball in hitting
Perry High School graduate Josie Wise is back where she belongs — the top pitcher for West Virginia’s Bethany College and one of the top performers in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference.
Wise, a 5-foot-9 senior right-hander, is 12-4 with a 2.06 earned run average and a 1.14 WHIP. In 18 games and 14 starts she has worked 95.1 innings and given up 82 hits and 36 runs, 28 earned, with 27 walks and 82 strikeouts. She leads the PAC in victories and is fourth in strikeouts. She tossed a one-hitter with nine strikeouts in an 8-0 conference victory over Thiel last Saturday
Wise posted a 15-8 record as a freshman and was 15-7 as a sophomore. She was a first-team All-PAC pick both years. The Bison suffered through an 8-21-1 record last season and Wise had a 4-11 record in 20 games.
But that was last season. This season Bethany is 22-7 and 8-6 in conference play, and once again Wise is a big reason why.
Tim Orr (Lake)
The senior infielder leads the Kent State baseball team in hitting with a .360 average. He has 41 hits in 114 at-bats with seven doubles, seven home runs, 28 runs and 29 RBIs. He is 5-for-7 in stolen bases. The Golden Flash are 17-17 overall and 8-7 in the Mid-American Conference. In a 10-3 win at Penn State on Tuesday, Orr had a single, double, two runs and a RBI. He is 12-for-31 entering Thursday in the team’s last seven games.
Balie Destefano (Perry)
The graduate student is primed for a big effort for the Charleston, W.Va. women’s track team at the Mountain East Conference Championship, April 28-30, in Frostburg, Md. Destefano is seeded first in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:04.21, is seeded second in the 100 hurdles (14.61) and is third in the 400 (57.84). She recorded that last time when she finished 25th at the Bison Outdoor Classic last weekend in Lewisburg. She was the third non-Division I finisher.
Clayton Elder (Louisville)
The senior is the top performer for the Alabama men’s track team in the 400 hurdles. He opened the outdoor season by finishing fifth in the Battle of the Bayou on March 29-30 in Baton Rouge, La. On April 5-6 he was fourth at the Crimson Tide Invitational with an improved time of 50.95. Last weekend, he posted a personal-record 50.48 when he finished 12th at the Tom Jones Invitational in Gainesville, Fla.
Elyssa Imler (Minerva)
The senior infielder is the top hitter on the Youngstown State softball team (27-13, 13-2 Horizon League). Imler has started all 40 games and is hitting .360. She has 40 hits in 111 at-bats with seven doubles, a home run and 13 RBIs. She is second on the team in runs with 32. Imler was a second-team All-Horizon League pick last year.
Claire Eberhardt (Central Catholic)
The senior won the 1,500 meters for the John Carroll women’s track team at the Tiffin Track Carnival Second Chance meet last Saturday. She posted a personal-record 4:36.74. That was an improvement from the 4:39.69 she recorded in winning the Wooster Invitational on April 6. The Tiffin time is ranked second on the Ohio Athletic Conference performance list. The OAC Championship is May 2-3 in Tiffin.
Sean Kavanaugh (Hoover)
The freshman has played in all 12 games with seven starts for the Cortland men’s lacrosse team (8-4, 4-0 State University of New York Athletic Conference). Kavanaugh scored a goal Wednesday in a 12-11 loss at Ithaca. He has six goals and eight assists this season. He had three goals and an assist in a 12-10 loss to Muhlenberg and a goal and three assists in a 12-10 win over Nazareth.
Anna Koehn (Jackson)
The sophomore attack is on a roll for the 7-6 Washington & Jefferson women’s lacrosse team, which has won seven straight, including all six of its games in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference after a 16-6 win at home over Westminster on Wednesday. Koehn had three goals in the game. She has 27 goals and four assists on the season but has scored 24 goals during the streak. She had six goals in a 20-13 victory over Chatham and three goals and three assists in a 21-12 win over Franciscan.
Jenna Delp (GlenOak)
The freshman is the top performer in the long jump on the Wittenberg women’s track team and in the North Coast Athletic Conference. Her leap of 17 feet, 2 inches came when she finished fourth in the Dennis Craddock Coaches Classic last weekend in Lynchburg, Va.
Meghan Frazier (Alliance)
The junior on the Wittenberg women’s track team finished second in the 100 (12.25) and third in the 200 (25.36) at last weekend’s meet. Both times rank first on the NCAC performance list.
Ky’Ara Ross (St. Thomas Aquinas)
The freshman had a busy and productive weekend for the West Liberty (W.Va.) women’s track team at the Cherry Blossom Invitational last Saturday in Athens. Ross finished second in the long jump (17-9), third in the 100 (12.77) and 17th in the 200 (26.69). She also ran a leg on the 400 relay which finished third (48.03). At the Golden Eagle Invitational on April 5 in Charlestown, W.Va. she won the 100 (12.36) and the 200 (25.76).
Destiny Blake (West Branch)
The 5-4 junior infielder is having a breakout season on offence for the Notre Dame softball team (28-19, 9-11 Mountain East). Blake has played in all 47 games with 46 starts and is batting .322 (46-for-143) with five doubles, 19 runs with a team-high 31 RBIs. She is 6-for-7 in stolen bases and has had three hits in three games this season and two hits 10 other times. Blake hit .229 in 55 games and 54 starts last season.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: College updates on Josie Wise, Tim Orr, Clayton Elder, others
