McKeesport, PA. – The Penn State Greater Allegheny Athletic Department announced it’s male and female athletes of the week on Tuesday night. Baseball’s Zack Craven (McKeesport, PA./McKeesport HS) and softball’s Holly George (Homer City, PA./Homer-Center HS) take home this week’s awards after both players had big weekends at the plate despite their teams dropping all three of their games.
George led the way both at the plate and in the circle for PSUGA over the weekend in her team’s four-game series with PSU-DuBois. She hit .444 with two RBI at the plate, serving as one of the leaders of her team high seven run output over the four-game span. George got off to a hot start right from the get go reaching base in both at bats of game one of Friday’s doubleheader going 1-1 with a walk and one RBI in her team’s 14-4 loss. She finished the day going 2-2 at the plate in the second game while throwing four innings giving up 10 runs, nine earned, in the second game of the doubleheader.
Her on base streak reached five when she walked in her first at bat of day two’s doubleheader but, it would come to an end her next time up and she finished 0-1 with a walk in what would be a 10-0 loss. She finished the weekend 1-2 with an RBI single in the final game of the week and gave up 13 earned runs in five innings of work in the circle.
It was the best weekend to date for the PSUGA freshman, as she went 4-6 including that season long five at-bat on base streak to start the weekend. George has proven one of the better hitters on the 2019 PSUGA Softball team and will look to be one of the pieces that the team tries to build around both this season, and for years to come.
On the baseball side, Craven also found a way to get on base hitting .750 with two RBI over his team’s three games last weekend. He reached base in eight of his ten plate appearances and found ways to produce runs for his team. He started hot right out of the gate in game one of Friday’s doubleheader going 3-3 with a double and a run scored in the opener as his team fell 6-2. He wrapped up the day with his first RBI of the weekend in the bottom of the fourth cutting the deficit to 6-2. He would finish the day 1-3 with an RBI.
The final day would see the PSUGA first baseman reach in all four of his plate appearances going 3-3 with a walk and an RBI. His big hit of the day came in the bottom of the second when he helped get PSUGA out to a 2-0 lead on an RBI single. However, DuBois would find a way to fight back in that game as well handing PSUGA their third loss of the weekend.
Both Craven and George have been threats in the middle of their team’s lineups through the first half of the season. Craven is in the midst of his best season to date hitting .370 in his first 16 games and is tied for third on the team with 10 RBI. George leads her team with a .385 average through eight games and is tied for first on the team with two RBI.
Both the PSUGA Baseball and Softball teams are back in action on Friday when they head to Mont Alto. Both teams have first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m. with the women playing a doubleheader with the first pitch of game two scheduled for 4 p.m.
