Annville, PA (April 24, 2012) – Seniors Christine Petrilla and Cassie Harmon of the DeSales University softball and women's track & field team were each honored on Tuesday being named the MAC Scholar-Athlete for their respective sports.  The MAC picks one deserving senior student-athlete from each sport combining candidates from institutions in both the Freedom and Commonwealth conferences weighing academics and athletics excellence as well as the nominee's involvement within the community.

The MAC Scholar-Athlete award started during the 2000-01 academic year and for the first five years was given to just one student-athlete per season and per gender.  In 2005-06 the MAC Conference moved to naming a Scholar-Athlete in each sport.  Petrilla and Harmon become the 11th and 12th DeSales student-athletes to earn the award, giving the Bulldogs an impressive nine winners over the last three years.

To be nominated you must be a senior and must have at least a 3.20 GPA or higher. Points are awarded to each nominee based on their cumulative GPA and their athletics excellence, while also factoring in the nominee's involvement within the community.

A four-year member of the softball team and two-year member of the women's tennis team at DeSales, Petrilla has earned All-Freedom Conference Second-Team honors in both softball and women's tennis, was named named to the NFCA All-East Region Third-Team once in softball, and has been named to the Academic All-District Third-Team twice in softball.

This season Petrilla is batting .250 at the plate with 10 RBIs and is 5-6 in the circle with a 4.12 ERA including four complete-games and one shutout.  For her career, she ranks among the all-time leaders in hits (126 – 11th), doubles (26 – 10th), games played (142 – 9th), and wins (17 – 9th).  Petrilla entered the spring season with 3.74 GPA as a history/secondary education major.

Harmon is a four-year member of both the women's indoor and outdoor track & field team and has also been on the women's cross-country team for three years.  She earned All-MAC Second-Team honors as a freshman at the MAC Cross Country Championships with an 18th place finish and has been a part of an All-MAC First-Team and Second-Team relay team three times at the MAC Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

This season Harmon is among the four runners on the team thus far in three events including the 1,500-meter run, the 5,000-meter run, and the 10,000-meter run.  Harmon carried a 3.71 GPA into the spring semester as an English major.