Intihar

Different level. Different teams. Same results.

After successful tenures as members of the Seneca Valley softball team last year and the Pittsburgh Spirit during the summer, Tina Mangola and Aly Intihar were looking to make contributions as freshmen at their respective colleges.

What they've accomplished so far was not quite expected — yet.

Mangola, an outfielder at Ohio Northern University, and Intihar, an infielder at Cornell University, have jumped out to torrid starts, which areen't typical for first-year players.

In the season-opening Tucson (Ariz.) Invitational Games, Mangola, of Cranberry Township, hit .576 in 10 games with five home runs, four doubles and 17 RBI and was named the Ohio Athletic Conference Hitter of the Week.

"It was nice, but getting the wins (7-3), that made it better," said Mangola.

Through 20 games, Mangola is hitting .516 with six home runs, which ties the team's single-season record, 26 RBI, 32 runs scored and a perfect 7-for-7 in stolen bases. She also hasn't committed an error.

Through Wednesday, Intihar has started 27 games with the Big Red and is batting .341 with six home runs, 26 RBI and 22 runs scored. She hit a walk-off grand slam on March 19 in a 10-9 victory over Wagner.

"I don't know if I would have expected that," said Cornell coach Dick Blood, whose team has an 21-7 overall record, 3-1 in the Ivy League. "Aly's a heck of an athlete. She had impressive stats in summer softball.

"I didn't expect her to hit in the No. 3 hole. I thought 6," Blood added.

He probably didn't expect Intihar would be named Ivy League Rookie of the Week when she faced league foes Yale and Brown last weekend. But she earned the award with her performance in the four games.

In a 2-1 win over Yale, she stole home for the winning run. She also had a home, a double and two singles in two games with the Bulldogs.

In a 5-1 win over Brown, she hit her sixth homer of the year.

She played first and second bases during the weekend.

While Intihar has had some success this season, she knows she must be more focused on the game at the college level.

"It's definitely difficult. The level of pitching has gone up," said Intihar. "You have to stay strong mentally. ... It's really intense, but I love it."

Mangola also was caught a bit off guard with her quick start at the plate, but heeded the words of her coach with the Spirit, Rich Leviere."He always told me to swing the bat," said Mangola. "I guess I've been listening a lot.""I did expect an impact, but I wasn't sure how big an impact," said Ohio Northern coach Annette Shepherd. "I didn't know how she'd adjust to the college level."Shepherd's definitely been impressed so far, especially with Mangola's discipline at the plate."What impressed me is a couple of her home runs, she had an 0-2 count and an 0-1 count when she hit the ball over the fence," said Shepherd.And the scary thing is both Shepherd and Mangola believe the hitting can get better."Tina's very coachable," said Shepherd. "The one thing deceiving right now is batting average. There's always room for improvement. If she makes a few subtle changes, she'll be unstoppable."But the biggest adjustment for Mangola?"Just playing with a new group of girls. I played for my travel team for six or seven years. Now I'm just getting to know a new team," she noted.

Mangola