Penn-Trafford seniors sign on with college programs

By: Paul Schofield
Sunday, November 20, 2022 | 11:01 AM

Three baseball players and a bowler from Penn-Trafford took advantage of the NCAA early signing period to ink their letters of intent Nov. 9.

Senior bowler Alyssa Balest, who took home the girls individual honor at last year’s Westmoreland County Coaches’ Association competition, signed with Mount St. Mary’s from the Northeast Conference.

Balest led the Penn-Trafford to a county title her junior season. She took control of the tournament in the third game with a 236 to finish with a 626 series. The Warriors finished with a 2,423 team score.

Balest placed 16th in the WPIBL tournament and ended the season with a 204 average. She had the third highest series for the all-tournament team and 12th in the region, which qualified her for the states.

She made the all-star team with the fourth highest series in the tournament and placed 10th in the state.

The baseball players to sign were Peyton Bigler, Brady Lane and Jakob Haynes.

Bigler signed to play baseball at Washington & Jefferson. He batted .260 with 13 hits, 10 RBIs, two doubles and a home run last season.

Lane was a second-team Section 1-5A infielder. He batted .333 with 12 hits, four doubles and eight RBIs. He will play at Gannon.

Despite missing his junior season while recovering from a football injury, catcher Jakob Haynes is headed to Seton Hill. Haynes was an honorable mention catcher his sophomore season.

Haynes had an outstanding summer playing travel ball.

The trio helped Penn-Trafford to a second-place finish in Section 1-5A

The Warriors reached the playoffs, defeating Hampton before losing 6-5 to Peters Township in the quarterfinals.

Now they hope to lead the Warriors to another run at a section title.

Football players Joe Enick and Conlan Greene plan to sign in February.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Penn-Trafford