Published: August 01, 2008 11:50 pm      

Local sports briefs 8/2

SOFTBALL

Thunder rolling at tourney

The Tri-County Thunder 18-under girls fastpitch softball team is 2-0 after two days at the ASA Class B Eastern Nationals in Sterling, Va.

The Thunder beat the South Jersey Breakers 10-5 on Friday and the Catonsville Chaos 5-4 on Thursday.

Emily Petrowsky went 2-for-3, Tara Townsend went 2-for-3 and doubled and Whitney Shearer went 2-for-4 with a double in Friday’s win. Starting pitcher Autumn Yoder earned the win and Carrie Shevock got the save.

On Thursday, Petrowsky went 2-for-4 and doubled, Carey Cox went 2-for-3 and doubled twice, Shearer homered and pitcher Shevock earned the win and Yoder picked up the save on Thursday.

SWIMMING

Area swimmers fare well at championships

Three Johnstown YMCA swimmers have earned top-15 finishes at the YMCA Swimming and Diving Championships in College Park, Md.

Kelly Dorian finished 11th in the 50-meter butterfly with a time of 26.58 seconds. He also took 14th in the 100 butterfly on Thursday.

Mitch Smith finished ninth in the 50-meter backstroke finals with a time of 28.37 seconds. And Sarah Kaneshiki finished 14th in the 1,500-meter freestyle finals with a time of 18:12.91.

BASKETBALL

UPJ names assistant

Pitt-Johnstown named former Bethany (W.Va.) College women’s basketball assistant coach Erin Eaton to the same position with the Lady Cat program under second-year coach Sasha Palmer.

Along with her duties as the assistant women’s basketball coach, Eaton will also serve as UPJ’s women’s cross country coach and the women’s golf coach.

Eaton spent three seasons as an assistant coach at NCAA Division III Bethany where she was responsible for recruiting, strength and conditioning, and guard development. In 2007-08, she helped lead Bethany to its best finish since 2004 with a 15-11 overall record, a six-game improvement from the previous season. Bethany finished third in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) regular season standings with a 10-4 mark.