Slick-fielding softball shortstop Bailey Snowberger is leaving Maine after two years.
The former all-state player at Norwin announced she is entering the NCAA transfer portal with three years of eligibility remaining.
Snowberger has battled knee injuries, which forced her to voluntarily redshirt this season. She has applied to the NCAA for a medical redshirt.
That comes after she made the America East All-Rookie Team as a freshman.
Ultimately, Maine was a long way from home. Being injured and away from family and friends made winters colder and longer.
“I am a very open person,” Snowberger said. “I am big on mental health. I was 14 hours away from home, away from all the people who helped me on this journey, and they couldn’t come to watch me play. I didn’t choose Maine, Maine chose me. God had other plans for me and wanted me to see the game a different way. I loved my teammates there, but I felt a little disconnected.
“I want to play softball happy again.”
A coaching change took her from her initial college destination, Holy Cross. She followed Kimberly Stiles, the coach who recruited her at Holy Cross, when the coach was hired at Maine.
Snowberger had surgery last May to repair torn a medial patellafemoral ligament and meniscus in her right knee. Two more surgeries followed to repair a larger, first unseen tear, and she had her knee cap released, which has been pivotal.
As a freshman, Snowberger started all 49 games and batted .263 with 35 hits, including eight doubles and a home run.
She had a four-hit, five-RBI game against Bryant.
Softball coaches can begin contacting portal players starting June 8.
Women’s track and field
Auburn: Freshman Sophia Mazzoni (Derry) qualified for the NCAA Division I championships in the javelin with an impressive throw of 185 feet, 4 inches, a personal best and the No. 3 throw in the world by an under-20 athlete.
The qualifying throw came at the NCAA East Preliminaries in Lexington, Ky.
The mark broke Mazzoni’s freshman program record for the fifth time this season.
She is the first freshman from Auburn to qualify for nationals in the javelin.
NCAAs are set for June 10-13 at Hayward Eugene Field in Eugene, Oregon.
Baseball
Seton Hill: More postseason awards are in for the Griffins after a 42-12 season.
Sophomore third baseman Brady McGuire was named a DII Collegiate Commissioners Association second-team All-American, and a third-team All-American by American Baseball Coaches Association.
He previously was named the D2CCA Atlantic Region Player of the Year and PSAC West Athlete of the Year, and a National College Baseball Writers Association All-American.
He led the Griffins with a .443 batting average and 54 RBIs.
McGuire was one of the six Griffins to make the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings All-Region Teams.
Junior catcher Jakob Haynes (Penn-Trafford), junior shortstop Owen Henne, senior outfielder Jack Whalen (Norwin) and sophomore pitcher Sean Williams made the first team.
Junior pitcher Marc Wechtenhiser was as second-team selection.
Softball
Westminster: Freshman Kylie Anthony (Penn-Trafford) was named the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Division III Rookie of the Year.
The utility player who bounced between third base and designated player, also was the PAC Newcomer of the Year. She hit .389 this season with 13 doubles, a conference-best eight triples, 25 RBIs and 41 runs.