Youngstown State's Castiglione and Crozier Collect #HLSB Accolades

INDIANAPOLIS –Youngstown State sophomore Miranda Castiglione (Brampton, Ontario, Canada) is the Horizon League softball Player of the Week, while senior teammate Casey Crozier (Valparaiso, Ind.) is the Horizon League softball Pitcher of the Week for the week of April 28-May 4. Castiglione collects her second League honor this season while Crozier earns her third.

The Youngstown State softball team completed the regular season with a three-game series sweep against Detroit over the weekend. In the double-header Saturday, the Penguins won the first game 8-2 and the nightcap 4-2. On Sunday, Youngstown State defeated the Titans 8-0 in five innings to go 11-8 in conference play and post an overall 29-22 record going into post-season action. The Penguins are the No. 4 seed of the Horizon League Softball Championship and are last year’s runner-up.

Castiglione had a record-breaking series against the Titans to help Youngstown State garner three more conference victories. The sophomore went 6-for-11 during the three games to tally a .545 batting average and .545 on-base percentage. On Saturday, she recorded 2 RBI and hit a home run in her 2-for-4 performance in the first game and went 1-for-3 in the second. In the series finale, Castiglione set the Youngstown State single-game record with 7 RBI and tied the single-game home run record with three. Throughout the series, she also posted a slugging percentage of 1.636 and scored four runs.

Crozier led the Penguins in the circle making two starts and appearing in all three games. In her 13 innings pitched, she had an earned-run average of 1.62 while holding hitters to a .234 batting-against average. The senior collected 11 strikeouts and currently has 186 this year to lead the Horizon League. Crozier leads the League in wins as well after picking up her 17th and 18th this season against the Titans while also recording a save.

Youngstown State enters post-season play as the No. 4 seed in the Horizon League Softball Championship. The Championship begins Wednesday, May 7 at the WSU Softball Field on the campus of Wright State. The Penguins take on No. 5 seed Cleveland State in the second game of the tournament starting at 1:30 p.m. ET.

Softball Player of the Week:
Feb. 3: Erika Polidori, Oakland
Feb. 10: Amanda Wisniewski, Valparaiso
Feb. 17: Miranda Castiglione, Youngstown State
Feb. 24: Marissa Michalkiewicz, Green Bay
March 3: Cynthia Woodard, Cleveland State
March 10: Laura Swan, UIC
March 17: Jess Gorman, Wright State
March 24: Erica McNew, Cleveland State
March 31: Natalie Hernandez, UIC
April 7: Kaitlyn Ranieri, Valparaiso
April 14: Alyson Broschk, Cleveland State
April 21: Hanna Floyd, Wright State
April 28: Miranda Castiglione, Youngstown State

Softball Pitcher of the Week:
Feb. 3: Susan Knight, Cleveland State
Feb. 10: Bridget Boyle, UIC
Feb. 17: Casey Crozier, Youngstown State
Feb. 24: Kaley Waalkes, Oakland
March 3: Sara Shields, Cleveland State
March 10: Casey Crozier, Youngstown State
March 17: Montana Wear, Wright State
March 24: Alex Radjen, Cleveland State
March 31: Alex Radjen, Cleveland State
April 7: Krystian DeWitt, Wright State
April 14: Sara Shields, Cleveland State
April 21: Alex Radjen, Cleveland State
April 28: Casey Crozier, Youngstown State