Norwin notebook: Baseball, softball teams earn spots in WPIAL playoffs

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Saturday, May 17, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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The Norwin baseball and softball teams learned their WPIAL playoff seedings and were primed to open the postseason.

The baseball team (12-7) was seeded No. 4 in Class 6A and was set to play No. 5 Butler (10-8) in the quarterfinals on May 19.

The Knights finished second in Section 2-6A behind Canon-McMillan, which received the No. 2 seed.

North Allegheny is No. 1, Seneca Valley No. 3, Mt. Lebanon No. 6 and Hempfield No. 8. In softball, Norwin (9-11) was seeded No. 6 and was scheduled to take on No. 3 North Allegheny (13-7) on May 14 in the quarterfinals at Fox Chapel.

Snowberger honored

Norwin fans probably won’t be surprised to hear that Bailey Snowberger is thriving in her first season of college softball.

In fact, the freshman shortstop quickly caught the attention Maine’s opposing coaches.

Snowberger was named to the America East Conference All-Rookie Team.

She had a .273 average with eight doubles and a home run heading into the conference tournament and had started all 46 regular-season games.

Maine went 1-2 in the conference tournament to finish at 12-37.

AMCC champs with Behrend

With an 8-2 win over No. 2 seed Alfred State, the Penn State Behrend baseball team (30-9) won its second consecutive AMCC title and eighth overall.

They advanced to play in the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Two Norwin alums are on the roster in sophomore outfielder Jake Awenowicz and freshman pitcher Nate Helphenstine (Norwin).

Lokay wins PAC title

Senior softball player Sydney Lokay, a Norwin alum, won a second straight Presidents’ Athletic Conference title.

Lokay had a base hit in the championship game, a 7-0 victory over Grove City. She was hitting .282 with six doubles, a triple and six RBI in 38 games.

Westminster (28-11) secured a berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament.

College scene

More updates on Norwin athletes competing at the college level:

Baseball

IUP: Senior Elijah Dunn was named to the All-PSAC West First Team. Dunn had 11 homers and 35 RBIs with a .639 slugging percentage going into the postseason. He ranks fifth at IUP in career home runs with 22.

Pitt-Johnstown: Redshirt junior Justin Turcovski was named to the All-PSAC West Second Team. During the regular season, he led UPJ in just about every offensive category, including average (.323), hits (50), runs (29), doubles (7), homers (7), RBI (28) and slugging (.529).

Seton Hill: Junior outfielder Jack Whalen was named to the All-PSAC First Team. Whalen was hitting .342 with 50 runs going into the postseason.

Men’s lacrosse

Washington & Jefferson: Junior midfielder Braden Petrarco was an All-PAC honorable mention selection.

Women’s track & field

Edinboro: Junior Bernadette Zukina broke the PSAC Championships record in the 400-meter dash with a time of 54.77 seconds to claim the title. It is an NCAA provisional time.

Slippery Rock: Senior Aleks Brozeski took seventh in the triple jump with a mark of 11.32 meters at the PSAC Championships, hosted by SRU.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

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