LYCOMING COLLEGE SUMMER MAGAZINE 2023

Rachel DeWolfe ’24 DeWolfe entered 2023 with a .175 career batting average, having started for nearly every game in her first two years. No player on the team signified the change more than the New Cumberland, Pa., junior. She started the year by hitting .565 while leading the team through a 6-2 week in South Carolina to open the season. When the team returned to Williamsport, she hit her first career home run to walk-off with a 2-1 win over FDU-Florham. “That was amazing,” DeWolfe said. Pitcher Kylie Russell ’24 added, “She came into the season determined to win a spot in the lineup, and she did an amazing job. I loved seeing her confidence continue to increase in every game.” Even at the end of the year when an injury slowed her, DeWolfe was still the team’s second

leading hitter, and it was her at the plate that sent the team to the conference final. She finished with a .326 average, 13 runs, 30 hits, five doubles, two homers, and 16 RBI, all marks that were higher than she had in her career before the season started. “Coming off the two seasons that she had, to have those big hits in the regular season and then to have that hit in the playoffs,” center fielder Morgan Wetzel ’23 said, “that was the confidence she needed, and she gave it to the rest of the team, too.” Kylie Russell ’24 If ever there were a pitcher born to pitch, she is Russell. Her mother, Heidi, was a two-time state champion at Williamsport Area High School before pitching at Kutztown University. Russell grew up tossing big games routinely for

Morgan

Jersey Shore Area High School, a left-hander with a devastating changeup and precise location. Her first year at Lycoming was no exception, as she posted a 2.22 ERA as a reliever. Her sophomore year was derailed, though, when she slid awkwardly into second base while practicing. A right shoulder injury turned into a bicep tendon tear. She played through it, and somehow still had the team’s best ERA, but it took summer surgery and six months of rehabilitation to get healthy.

21 www.lycoming.edu