Cites, Hammond immortalized on title merchandise
ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM) – Two NCAA Tournament bound softball players will see their teams on some special championship apparel.
Horseheads’ Tess Cites and Waverly’s Wendi Hammond’s collegiate teams are featured on their respective conference championship t-shirts. Cites, a senior outfielder at Villanova University, was on the Big East Championship team this season for the Wildcats. Tess was named The Big East Player of The Year last season and has helped Villanova get back to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in four seasons.
You can view the title shirt on the Villanova Wildcats website which was made after Villanova beat Creighton 4-1 for The Big East Championship on Saturday. Cites scored a run in the win.
Villanova (31-22) faces #17 Arizona (34-16-1) this Friday at 6 pm in the Fayetteville Regional on ESPN+ in their first round of the NCAA Tournament. This season, Cites is batting .313 with nine home runs and 24 RBI. Tess is the only player on the roster to start every game this season for the Wildcats with 53.
Hammond was named the America East Pitcher of The Year after a standout year for The SUNY Albany Great Daynes. The graduate student threw two no-hitters this season and racked up a (24-8) record with 21 complete games and 129 strikeouts. Hammond had a staggering 1.91 ERA in helping Albany win the America East Conference Championship.
Hammond was on the mound in the winning effort for Albany’s 4-0 win over UMASS-Lowell in the title game. Wendi pitched seven scoreless innings with six strikeouts and gave up just three hits for Albany (33-12).
The Great Daynes’ championship apparel can be found at the school’s athletic website and we’ve shared a photo below of some of the choices you can make.
Next up for Albany is their opening round game of the NCAA Tournament at #16 Texas A&M (40-13) Friday at 6:30 pm in the Bryan-College Station Regional on ESPN+ NCAA Tournament regionals are a double-elimination format.
(PHOTOS: Villanova and Albany Athletics)
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WETM - MyTwinTiers.com.
