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The Athletes of the Week - one boy and one girl - are chosen from teams in the WPIAL and City League by the Post-Gazette scholastic sports staff. Dana Pecanis, North Hills -- Jon McCullough, Canevin
Thursday, June 08, 2000 By Mike White and Paul Zeise, Post-Gazette Sports Writers
Dana Pecanis
SCHOOL: North Hills.
WHO IS SHE? A senior pitcher who helped North Hills win the WPIAL Class AAA championship. It was the school's fourth WPIAL title, but first since 1983.
THE PAST WEEK: Pecanis was the winning pitcher and also scored the winning run in North Hills' 4-3 victory over Hempfield in last Wednesday's title game. It was Hempfield's first loss of the year. In the first round of the PIAA playoffs Tuesday, Pecanis pitched a five-hitter and struck out 12 in a 5-1 victory over Montour.
SEASON: A 5-foot-4 right-hander, Pecanis has an 18-2 record with a 0.65 ERA.
CAREER: Pecanis has been on North Hills' varsity since her freshman year. She has been the No. 1 pitcher the past two seasons.
PLAYING IN PAIN: Pecanis sustained an injury to her lower back in North Hills' first game of the season, and the injury has bothered her ever since. The pain was so bad at one point in the middle of the season that she did not pitch a few games.
"But I started getting some therapy from doctors and it got fixed up pretty good," Pecanis said. "It still hurts some. It hurt [against Montour] basically because it was just cold."
MORE THAN PITCHING: Pecanis' batting average is only .250, but that's mainly because her back injury affected her hitting. At one point, she could hardly swing a bat. But Pecanis has hit well in the playoffs. She carries a .313 postseason average into the PIAA quarterfinals.
ON THE WILD SIDE: When Pecanis was 12, she started pitching for a fast-pitch team. "I was horrible when I first started," Pecanis said. "I walked, like, 15 batters a game. But my parents kept me motivated. A lot of times, I didn't want to practice, but they made me. I would get mad, but finally I started to like softball. I practice year-round now."
APPRECIATING WINNING: In their pre-teen years, a number of North Hills' players used to play together on a team in the North Hills Athletic Association. "Our team was horrible," Pecanis said. "We used to make so many errors. We couldn't even catch the ball. But we started getting better the next few years, we got some new players and we started working together as a team. I think that's another reason why winning the WPIAL was so great, because we know what we used to be like."
THE FUTURE: Pecanis has a 4.25 grade-point average and is in the top 20 of North Hills' senior class. She has a partial academic scholarship to Washington and Jefferson and also plans to play softball there. She wants to major in biology, with the hopes of becoming a pediatrician someday.
By Mike White
Jon McCullough
SCHOOL: Canevin.
WHO IS HE? A senior starting pitcher and designated hitter for the Crusaders baseball team.
THE PAST WEEK: McCullough pitched a complete-game shutout to lead the Crusaders to a 1-0 victory over Waynesburg in the WPIAL Class AA championship game. McCullough scattered three hits and struck out 13 batters to notch the victory. He had a no-hitter into the sixth inning and also drove in the game's only run with a 380-foot home run into the left-field seats at Three Rivers Stadium.
SEASON: When he is not pitching, McCullough serves as the team's designated hitter. He is hitting .393 (24 for 61) with six home runs and 29 RBIs. He has 26 runs. On the mound, he is 8-0 with 75 strikeouts and 21 walks in 522/3 innings.
CAREER: McCullough is a two-year starter for the varsity and played baseball for one year at Brashear. He also was a two-year starter on the Crusaders' basketball team and averaged a little less than 10 points and eight rebounds for his career.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS: The Crusaders won a WPIAL Class AA section championship from 1991 until 1998, but finished second last year and lost in the first round of the playoffs. McCullough said he and his fellow seniors felt like they had let the program down by ending their streak and wanted to do something special this season.
"That was tough last year, and really weighed on us coming into this season," McCullough said. "We didn't want to be remembered for losing the streak, so we committed to winning it all. Now we've brought home the WPIAL but we want the big prize -- states. Either way, we've made our mark and hopefully erased last year."
NO BIG DEAL: Playing at Three Rivers Stadium for a WPIAL championship and then being the star of the game may seem like a huge deal, but McCullough downplays the whole situation and said it was just another day of playing baseball.
"I don't think about that stuff, except, people keep bringing it up," McCullough said. "I love to play baseball and have played it for a long time. So, I have hit home runs before and truthfully, that one didn't feel any different. And playing at Three Rivers was neat I guess, but it is just another field like all the rest. I guess I'm just more laid back than most."
FUTURE PLANS: McCullough said he hasn't secured anything solid but is considering going to junior college to play baseball. He is being pursued by several area junior colleges, most notably CCAC-South.
COACH'S COMMENT: Canevin Coach Robert "Red" Locke said, "Jon is one of those guys who does everything I ask of him, which is something I'm not used to, to be honest. I never have to tell him to do anything twice and he knows his limitations and is honest with us. He doesn't try to do anything he can't and that is the sign of a team player. As for his talent, I don't think there is a question about it. I will say that last week [in the WPIAL championship game] he had as a great of a pitching performance in a big situation as anyone I've coached or seen, and I've been around for a couple of years."
-- By Paul Zeise
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