Penns Valley’s Avelyn Van Heyst is the Centre Daily Times’ Athlete of the Week for May 31-June 4

Editor’s note: The Centre Daily Times will publish a weekly poll on Monday mornings for readers to choose the high school Athlete of the Week for the previous week of competition. The winner will be announced on Sundays. Check for the poll at CentreDaily.com.

The Centre Daily Times’ Athlete of the Week from May 31-June 5 has been determined by our readers. Penns Valley softball’s Avelyn Van Heyst earned the honor with 44.79% of the vote in the poll that ran from Monday to Friday on CentreDaily.com.

After knocking off the No. 4 and No. 1 seeds, No. 5 Penns Valley’s Cinderella-like run through the District 6 class 2A tournament came to an end on June 3 with a 9-8 loss in nine innings against Mount Union in the championship game at St. Francis.

Van Heyst gave the Rams the lead in the top of the six inning when she doubled in teammates Jordan Anderson and Kailen Winkleblech, then scored, herself, on a wild pitch. Penns Valley was able to score twice more to end that inning up 8-7, but was unable to hang onto that lead as Mount Union scored in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings.

Van Heyst finished the game 2-for-5, including a double, and with two RBIs and a run scored.

Check back next Monday for the Athlete of the Centre County Spring Sports Season poll.