Fabulous Frosh
LATROBE — Success on the softball field has occurred routinely for Saint Vincent College.
The Bearcats are the school's lone athletic team to ever win an NCAA Division III Tournament game, in fact, upsetting No. 1-ranked Virginia Wesleyan after winning the Presidents' Athletic Conference championship in 2016.
Saint Vincent has qualified for the PAC Tournament for the fifth straight season this spring and will enter the tourney as the top seed.
“We've been a consistent program because we find good players who fit,” 13th-year Bearcats coach Nicole Karr said.
Put Knoch graduate and Saint Vincent freshman pitcher Celia Knappenberger at the top of that list this year.
The 5-foot-4 Knappenberger leads the PAC with a 1.73 earned run average and in wins with 12. She has 80 strikeouts, just 21 walks and opponents are hitting only .226 against her.
As a result, Saint Vincent is 23-11 overall, a league-best 11-1 in the PAC.
“I've been pitching since I was 8 or 9 years old,” Knappenberger said. “My goal has been to pitch for a college team.
“I don't know if I expected to do this well, but I came in here wanting to play right away. I felt like I could compete.”
Knappenberger also considered Marietta, Seton Hill and Westminster before deciding on Saint Vincent. She is majoring in integrated science.
Karr saw Knappenberger pitch in summer travel ball after her junior season “and we pursued her from there.
“I'm not surprised at all by what she's done. She throws a number of pitches and she hits her spots,” Karr said.
Knappenberger is one of three pitchers on the Bearcat roster. She has four saves on the season, each coming in the second games of doubleheaders after she pitched the first one.
“I don't have a lot of speed, so I have to rely on control,” Knappenberger said. “Spin is my main focus. I throw six different pitches and can pretty much put them where I want.”
Knappenberger's repertoire includes a fastball, curve, drop, changeup, sinker and rise.
“I developed the rise pitch during my senior year in high school,” she said. “I've been throwing the other pitches since I was 13 or 14.”
“Celia knows how to keep hitters off balance. She excels at that,” Karr said.Her father, Tim Knappenberger, coached Celia in high school and has worked with her pitching for years.“He's been very helpful. He's taught me pretty much everything I know about pitching,” Knappenberger said. “He's pushed me to become the best player and pitcher I can be.”Knappenberger pitched varsity softball for Knoch during all four of her years — and felt extra motivated to prove herself.“When your father is the coach, people think that's the only reason you're playing,” she said. “That made me work even harder to prove myself, to show the upperclassmen I belonged.”Now she's part of a young team at Saint Vincent. The Bearcats have only one senior and one junior on the roster. Kappenberger is one of four freshman starters.Two of the sophomores on the 15-player squad are first-year transfers.“Half of this team wasn't even here last year,” Knappenberger said. “I'm excited about what we're capable of doing over the next few years.”Karr is confident Knappenberger won't rest on her laurels from this spring.“Some freshmen who have big first years do that,” the coach admitted. “But Celia's not that type. She wants to get better and she'll never stop working to get better.”
