Who is this week’s Centre Daily Times high school Athlete of the Week? Vote here
Editor’s note: The Centre Daily Times will publish a weekly poll on Monday mornings for readers to choose the Athlete of the Week for the previous week of competition. Please go to CentreDaily.com and click on this story to cast your vote.
Here are this week’s nominees for the Centre Daily Times high school athlete of the week presented in alphabetical order. They were selected by the Centre Daily Times sports staff via stats compiled by the CDT or sent to cdtscores@centredaily.com. Vote for your favorite.
If you’d like to nominate a player’s performance for future weeks, or believe a deserving nominee is missing from this week’s poll, please contact the CDT via email at cdtscores@centredaily.com.
The poll closes at noon Friday, and a short profile of the winner will appear in Sunday’s paper.
Kendra Bumgardner, Penns Valley
Bumgardner was instrumental in Penns Valley softball advancing to the Class 2A District 6 Championship this week. She pitched in both games and was a major asset at the plate. Bumgardner first held the Blairsville Bobcats to three earned runs in a five-inning complete game in the quarterfinals. She struck out five in the 15-3 victory and went 3-for-3 at the plate, hitting a home run in the process. The Rams’ pitcher then threw a one-hitter in a shutout of the No. 1 seed Marion Center Stingers in the semifinals. She struck out eight in seven innings in the game to lead Penns Valley to the win.
Lily Gardner, Bellefonte
Gardner and the Bellefonte softball team won the Class 5A District 6 Championship this week by defeating Central Mountain in a game that was played across two days due to weather. The Raider outfielder gave her team its first lead in the fifth inning of the game with an RBI single down the right field line, advancing to second on the throw. She then scored on Tori Reichert’s single to make it a 3-1 lead. The team never looked back from there on its way to a 5-3 victory.
Madison Peters, Bald Eagle Area
Peters and the Bald Eagle Area softball team advanced to the District 6 Class 3A finals with a 3-0 win over Westmont Hilltop Thursday. The senior pitcher earned the win by going all seven innings and throwing a shutout for the Eagles. She only gave up two hits in the game while striking out eight batters and walking none on her way to the victory.
Ethan Schimony, State College
State College baseball advanced to the District 6 Class 6A championship game by taking down Altoona 8-5 in the semifinals. Schimony helped break the win open for the Little Lions. He went 2-for-2 in the game and hit a two-run single in the fourth inning to break a 2-2 tie. The single opened up a six-run inning that ultimately helped the Little Lions earn the victory.
State College boys’ track and field
For the third time in five years, State College boys’ track and field finished the season as state champions. The team took first place with 36 points at Saturday’s PIAA Class 3A State Track and Field Championships, clearing second place Cumberland Valley by 11 points. The Little Lions boys’ team had four top-three finishes on the day. The 4x800m relay team made up of Bennett Norton, Sean Adams, Mathew Staniar and Brady Bigger took silver with a time of 7:55.69. The 4x100m relay team of Ryan Lindenberg, Carson Franks, Nolan Markowski and Eniayo Ogunranti earned a silver by running a 42.57. Conrad Moore added a silver in the high jump by clearing 6-04.00 and Bigger added a bronze medal by running the 1,600m in 4:18.23.
