Hart, Redington Named Athletes of the Week

Sophomore Jill Hart (Cowlesville, NY/Iroquois) batted .500 (5-for-10) with four RBI and three runs scored in Keuka’s three North Eastern Athletic Conference postseason games to claim Tournament MVP honors as the Storm won its sixth straight NEAC championship.

Junior Chris Redington (Tully, NY/Tully) matched his career-high by scoring eight points on seven goals and an assist to power Keuka’s men’s lacrosse team to its second straight NEAC postseason championship.

On Monday, Hart and Redington were honored by Keuka as its Female and Male Athletes of the Week.

Keuka softball (22-11) defeated Wilson (Pa.) College 4-3 and SUNYIT 5-3 to claim the school’s sixth straight berth into the NCAA Regional tournament.

Hart was 2-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored during Saturday’s 13-5, five-inning romp over Penn State-Harrisburg, was 1-for-3 with an RBI in the win over Wilson and added a pair of base hits with two runs scored during the championship win over SUNYIT.

Against Harrisburg, Hart staked the Storm to a 1-0 lead on an RBI double into left field. Keuka broke open the game with eight runs in the second, as Hart drove in a run on a fielder’s choice and closed out the mercy rule-win on a fifth-inning RBI double into right field.

Wilson jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the top of the first in the semifinals before Hart got Keuka on the board with a first-inning, RBI single. The Storm took a 4-2 lead and held on as the Phoenix loaded the bases in the seventh before starter Danielle Gravel (Sidney, NY/Sidney) induced a groundout to end the game.

Keuka hasn’t lost to a NEAC foe since a 12-1 loss to SUNYIT on April 7, a 15-game winning streak.

The Storm received the No. 8 seed in the eight-team, double-elimination Amherst (Mass.) regional tournament, which runs Thursday through Monday. Keuka will open up regional play against top-seeded SUNY Cortland (38-8), the runners-up in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) who earned an at-large bid into the field and is making its 18th NCAA appearance, including sixth in a row.

With its latest win, the second-seeded Storm men’s lacrosse squad (11-4) successfully defended its NEAC postseason championship with an impressive 17-5 win over No. 4 Medaille College (8-7) Sunday afternoon at Morrisville State University.

Redington matched a career-high with eight points on seven goals and one assist to pace Keuka, which jumped out to a 5-0 lead after one quarter, 9-0 at halftime and 12-0 before the Mavericks got on the scoreboard.

Redington, a second-team All-NEAC selection at attack, captured the NEAC Tournament MVP honors after scoring nine goals with one assist in two wins as the Storm outscored the competition 33-11 to win its second straight championship. It was his second eight-point outing of the season, and the seven goals were a career-high.

Redington had a hand in the first four Storm goals, scoring Keuka’s first two goals over a span of 1:38, assisting on the third Keuka goal and adding a man-up tally as part of his three-goal, one-assist first quarter.

Redington added two second-quarter goals during a spurt for the Storm, which had assists on eight of its first 12 goals.

The Green and Gold, who won their last seven conference games to earn the No. 2 seed in the tournament, picked up their second win over Medaille this year. Keuka also beat the Mavericks 13-10 in Buffalo on April 11.

Against Cazenovia in the NEAC semis, the Green and Gold got two goals from Redington during a 7-0 second quarter to knock off their rivals for the second time in a week.

Hart and Redington will be the final Keuka College Athletes of the Week for the 2011-12 school year. The Storm’s Male and Female Athletes of the Year will be announced later this month.