YSU Athletics AT A GLANCE | Friday’s events

TRACK AND FIELD

Penguin men, women lead Horizon League Championships

Rochester, Mich.

The Youngstown State men's and women's track teams jumped out to early leads after the first day of action the Horizon League Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Oakland. A total of six-event finals were held on Friday.

Leading the way for the women was Jessica Parham who uncorked a school and Horizon League record toss in the javelin to take first. The men used a second, third and fourth-place performance in the 10,000-meter run to grab a day-one lead.

Parham became just the fourth female student-athlete in Horizon League history to win an outdoor event four times as the Horizon League Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

She took the javelin crown for the fourth time in five years, splitting individual victories around her redshirt season in 2013. Throwing into the wind, Parham unleashed a 48.05-meter toss in her second attempt of the finals round, breaking her record of 44.75m, set just a year ago.

Parham's final throw of 45.42m would also have given her the championship in both years. The senior joined Cassandra Lloyd (Wright State, 100m hurdles – 2009-12), Erin Havener (Milwaukee, pole vault – 2007-09, 2011) and Altramese Roberts (Detroit, discus – 1999-02) as the only women in Horizon League history to win an event four separate years.

In the team standings, the men's squad scored 40 points on Friday and leads Valparaiso who is in second with 25 points. Detroit is third with 16 and Milwaukee fourth at 12. The women had 27 points on day one and lead Detroit by five (22). Wright State is third with 16, Valparaiso fourth with 15, Oakland is fifth at 12 and Milwaukee is sixth with one.

Parham's throw of 48.05 meters won the event by nearly 12 meters. Entering the day, she was ranked 38th in the NCAA East Region rankings. However, her fifth attempt on Friday moved her into 17th place depending on other results throughout the country.

Also for the women, McKinsie Klim finished third in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 37:43.81 while Melissa Klim picked up a point with a sixth-place finish at 38:21.76.

In the discus, Jennifer Neider was third with a career-best toss of 41.38 meters while Ciera Trybend placed fourth with a throw of 40.61 meters.

The men capped a strong first day with three runners combining to score 18 points in the 10K. Ryan Sullivan led the way finishing second with a time of 31:57.53. Placing third was Nick Gliha with a time of 32:01.96 while Alan Burns had a fourth-place performance at 32:07.55. Those runners finished behind Detroit's Ben Kendell.

In the discus, the Guins grabbed second and third-place finishes behind Conner Neu and Ryan Booth. Neu had a toss of 48.07 meters while Booth had a throw of 45.69 meters.

In the javelin, Joe Dixon was second with a throw of 56.00 meters, which came on his last attempt. Dixon was third before his final throw moved him up a spot in the standings.

The Horizon League Championships resume on Saturday with field event finals starting at noon. Prelims for running events will begin at 3 p.m.

BASEBALL

Shirley’s single gives Penguins walk-off victory over Oakland

NILES

Senior Jason Shirley started the final home conference series of his career with a walk-off single in the 11th inning, helping YSU beat Oakland 6-5 on Friday at Eastwood Field. The teams played in front of more than 3,600 students from the Youngstown area.

Shirley’s single helped the Penguins complete a late-inning rally in which they had to come from behind twice. YSU tied the game at 3 in the bottom of the ninth, and it scored two unearned runs in the 10th to tie it again 5-5.

Frank Califano had three singles, and the Penguins finished with 17 hits as a team. Four YSU players finished with two hits.

Kevin Hix doubled to lead off the third and scored two batters later when Califano grounded out, and YSU scored a run on three straight singles in the fifth to go up 2-0 on the Golden Grizzlies. Trey Bridis singled to left, and Califano followed with one of his three bunt singles. Bridis was picked off second for the second out, but Califano stole second on a pickoff throw to first and scored on Lorenzo Arcuri’s single to left.

Oakland scored a pair of unearned runs in the seventh to tie the score. Ian Yetsko drew a leadoff walk, and Tyler Pagano’s single put two runners on. YSU catcher Jake Fryman threw wide to third trying get Yetsko out on Brett Impemba’s bunt, which allowed Yetsko to come home. The other run came on Trent Drumheller’s sacrifice fly.

SOFTBALL

Penguins fall to Valparaiso despite home run from Dowd

VALPARAISO, IND.

Maria Lacatena went 3-for-3 with two runs batted in and Sarah Dowd hit her 10th home run of the year, but the YSU softball team dropped a 9-7 decision to Horizon League foe Valparaiso on Friday afternoon.

With the loss, the Penguins fall to 18-29 overall and 7-11 in the Horizon League while the Crusaders improve to 13-33 and 7-11.

The Crusaders jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after one inning, but Lacatena drove in a pair of runs in the top of the second to knot the game at 2-2. Alexandria Gibson singled and Cali Mikovich doubled to put runners at second and third with no out. After a strikeout and a walk to Kelly Thompson-Cappadocio loaded the bases, Lacatena ripped a single down the left-field line to score Gibson and Mikovich.

In the bottom of the third, Valparaiso capitalized on two YSU errors and scored five runs to take a 7-2 lead.

Dowd’s three-run home run in the top of the fourth cut the Crusaders lead down to 7-5. Dowd is just the fifth player in school history to hit at least 10 home runs in one season. The last YSU player to hit 10 home runs in a year was Miranda Castiglione in 2014.

Valpo added runs in the fourth and fifth innings to push its lead to 9-5 before senior Kayla Haslett doubled home Alexis Roach and then scored on a wild pitch in the top of the seventh.

The teams will play a doubleheader at noon today.