MIDDLETOWN, Pa. – Milestones are a highly regarded part of sports. They convey a student-athlete's success through not just achieving greatness but longevity as well. It's that second part that is often overlooked. As thrilling as a player's buzzer-beater or walk-off home run certainly is, even more satisfying to those student-athletes and the fans that support them has to be the one who does it consistently over an extended period of time.
This past spring, Penn State Harrisburg saw junior softball player Gabrielle Wolfe (New Milford, Pa. / Blue Ridge) use that rare combination of consistency, success and longevity to become just the second Blue & White pitcher to reach the 200 strikeout mark for her career.
During the Lions' 2014 home finale on Apr. 16, Wolfe recorded seven strikeouts in just 2.2 innings of work while leading her squad to a 15-0 shutout over Valley Forge Christian. Those seven Ks gave her 200 even for her career. She joined former Penn State Harrisburg softball standout Kara Boyd (Alexandria, Pa. / Juniata Valley) as the only two women to pull off the impressive feat.
Following her 200th strikeout, Wolfe was met inside the circle by Penn State Harrisburg head coach Tonya Dengler and the rest of the team's coaching staff. She was presented with a commemorative plaque and posed for photos with her coaches. As if her hurling performance wasn't enough, the team captain also hit a double and drove in two runs in the Lions' win over the Patriots.
During Wolfe's freshman campaign, she racked up 39 strikeouts in just 39.2 innings pitched. As a sophomore a year later, Wolfe took on a much larger role inside the circle as she and Boyd combined to pitch every inning of the 2013 season. She struck out 110 batters that spring and followed it up with 55 Ks this past season against some of the best competition in the country in the Capital Athletic Conference (CAC), including the NCAA national runners-up from Salisbury. Wolfe struck out a season-high 11 batters against CAC opponent Southern Virginia on Apr. 12. Her current career strikeout total stands at 204.
The rest of the league's head coaches took notice of Wolfe's stellar output this past spring and she became just the second Penn State Harrisburg student-athlete to be named a CAC All-Conference First-Team selection. She joined men's golfer Tyler Shank (Palmyra, Pa. / Palmyra Area) in earning that distinct honor. She is just the school's third student-athlete to earn CAC all-conference honors of any sort. Men's basketball player William Doyle (Franklin, Va. / Tidewater Academy) was named to the CAC All-Conference second team in February.
In 2014, Wolfe recorded Penn State Harrisburg's best earned run average (ERA) and racked up a team-best four wins to go along with her team-leading strikeout total. Offensively, she led the way with 24 runs batted in (RBI), batted .355 and amassed a .677 slugging percentage for the year. Her 21 extra base hits were tops among Penn State Harrisburg players and her .56 doubles per game average ranked her third in the nation.
Be sure to check back later as we continue counting down Penn State Harrisburg's top ten moments of the 2013-14 season. We'll shift gears from a tremendous career milestone to an impressive single game accomplishment as the number three plays a big part in our number four moment from the past year.