The Mercyhurst North East softball team won the Northeast District Tournament title to move to 40-12 and qualify for the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II tournament May 17-19 in Clinton, Miss.

The Mercyhurst North East softball team won the 2012 Northeast District Tournament May 6 in Rhode Island. Contributed photo

The Saints beat Orange County Community College 11-5 in the district championship game May 6 in Rhode Island. They’ll face Cowley Thursday at 9:30 a.m. in the first game of the 16-team, double-elimination tournament. Watch or listen online.

Nine of coach Brian Dewey‘s Saints are from District 10: freshman OF Erica Wilkinson (Central Tech), freshman OF Felicity Knight (North East), freshman P/2B Allison Litz (Fort LeBoeuf), freshman OF/3B Allison Balkovic (Strong Vincent), P/3B Tyler Honard (Strong Vincent), freshman P/OF Alex Puckly (Corry), freshman OF/2B Nicole Bertolasio (Mercer), freshman 1B Sarah Hatton (Girard) and sophomore OF Jordan Artise (North East). Sophomore OF Kayleigh Millman went to Falconer in Jamestown, N.Y.

Honard leads the team with a .412 batting average, five home runs, six triples and 49 RBI. Puckly (20-7) has a 1.94 earned-run average.

Erie Times-News sports reporter Duane Rankin caught up with Notre Dame sophomore Kayla McBride at the Erie Spring Classic AAU basketball tournament Friday at Gannon University.

The former Villa Maria Academy star talked about her AAU playing days, playing in the 2012 Final Four and the future of Notre Dame basketball.

Two-time PSAC West Offensive Player of the Year, Mercyhurst senior wide receiver/returner Trevor Kennedy, accepted an invitation to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ rookie mini camp, which begins today.

Earlier this week, we caught up with Kennedy at Mercyhurst to ask him about this opportunity with the Bucs.

Mercyhurst University men’s basketball coach Gary Manchel has again reached thousands of miles away to sign Perth Australia’s  Beau Samuelson, according to the PSAC website that lists letters of intent.

Samuelson is a 6-foot point guard and decent shooter, and according to a blogger on a website search,  is a hard-nosed defender. Samuelson has played on Western Australia junior all-star teams, and on the Under-20 team this past season (he is listed as 17 years old) averaged 14.8 points, 5.0 assists, and shot 43. percent from the field. Manchel has had players from Israel (Iddo Cohen), Australia (Mitch Brennan), Brazil (Luis Leao), Serbia (Milos Bogetic), France (Jonathan Ouegnin), Russia and Quebec in his nine seasons at Mercyhurst.

The Lakers have to replace four top players dismissed from the team in March because of rules violations, including leading scorer guard Matt Lee (15.7), reserve guard Andrew Rickard (11.3), transfer forward Steven Coleman (8.9) and center Andris Libazs (1.7).

Senior point guard Jamal Turner (5.6 assists) and senior forward Bill Weaver (11.6, 7.5 rebounds) have completed their eligibility.

Mercyhurst women’s coach Deanna Richard earlier added Erie’s (Villa Maria) Adrienne Kloecker and Taylor Krusinski of Parma, Ohio. Kloecker, a 5-7 guard, was part of Villa’s run to three straight state Class AA championships before a loss in the semifinals to eventual champion Seton Lasalle. Krusinski, a forward, starred at Holy Name but her senior season ended with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

The Lakers have to replace forward and leading scorer/rebounder Nikki Frederickson and guard Megan Hoffman and three other grads.

The Edinboro women, coming off of a spectacular 30-2 season that was ended  by a loss to eventual champion Shaw University in the Atlantic Regional finals for coach Stan Swank, has signed Altoona’s Lauren Hippo, a 3-year-starter at forward.

The Scots will have to replace four-year stars in forwards  Renee’ Brown and Micki Cerchiaro, and guard Raven Metz.

Sophomore guard Brandon Belt decided that Gannon was too far from his hometown in Maryland, so he is leaving the men’s basketball program and undecided where he will go and if he will play basketball.

Belt, a 6-1 shooting guard, averaged 9.1 points per game and made 51-of-137 3 pointers in his one season with the Knights.

Erie’s Steve Piotrowicz, a gutty guard from Cathedral Prep who  played 3 seasons with the Knights, will join the Indiana (Pa.) coaching staff as a grad assistant after he graduates from Gannon in the fall. The 5-10 Piotrowicz, who played just 12  games the past season and was forced to end his playing career because of multiple concussions, is a coach in the making and should be a good addition to coach Joe Lombardi’s staff. The Crimson Hawks have ruled the PSAC West the past three seasons, and beat Gannon in seven straight meetings. After transferring from Penn State Behrend after one season there, Piotrowicz walked on and became a solid contributor while starting for most of his sophomore and junior seasons for coach John Reilly’s club.

Reilly recently received a contract extension, though no length of the contract was announced.

There is also a concern that forward Stephen Battle, who battled knee injuries in his sophomore season, will shut it down for a while and may not play next season in order to rest his knees. The 6-5 Battle, from Waldorf, Md. near Washington, D.C., missed several games after the Porreco Cup and was not the same player he was during a solid freshman season.

– Bob Jarzomski

Get all the basics in one place — rosters, game notes, season results, videos and more — for the eight teams competing in the Division II Women’s Basketball Atlantic Regional at Edinboro:

No. 3 Edinboro

No. 21 Indiana (Pa.)

No. 22 Gannon

No. 25 Bloomsburg

West Chester

Johnson C. Smith

Shaw

West Virginia Wesleyan

Get live stats from all games, and watch Edinboro games online or listen at WFSE-FM/88.9 FM. Friday’s noon Gannon game is available on WJET-AM/1400

West Chester will have a courtside live chat going Friday at 2:15 p.m.

Previews:

Seniors power Edinboro

Edinboro photo gallery

Regional quarterfinal game previews

Gannon light on postseason experience, but not talent

Gannon photo gallery

Division II national bracket

Tonight’s big Gannon at Edinboro men’s/women’s basketball doubleheader is available to view live online at www.edinboro.tv. Catch the women’s game at 5:30 p.m., pitting No. 18 Gannon against No. 2 and unbeaten Edinboro, followed by the men’s game around 7:30 p.m.

The defending Division II champion Mercyhurst University men’s lacrosse team opens its season Feb. 11 with a game against Ohio Valley at Vienna, W.Va. The Lakers’ first home match is March 3 against Chestnut Hill.

A look at the Lakers’ preparations for the season, courtesy of Mercyhurst’s sports information department:

Edinboro’s women’s basketball team has a chance to move to No. 2 when the USA Today/ESPN Division II Top 25 Coaches’ Poll is released Tuesday.

No. 2 Clayton State lost 59-57 to Lander Jan. 25 to fall to 19-2. The Fighting Scots (18-0) were ranked third this past week in voting by 33 board of coaches members. Edinboro had 720 points to Clayton State’s 768. Clayton State also received six first-place votes.

UC-San Diego should remain No. 1 after improving to 20-0.

Video highlights from Mercyhurst’s 23-13 victory over Gannon in a recent wrestling dual meet:

2012 Gannon-Mercyhurst Wrestling Highlights/Interviews (1/26/12) from Gannon University Athletics on Vimeo.