Williams/Santiago Nab PSUGA AOW Honors
Jordan Williams and Lexus Santiago both had big games last week on their way to PSUGA Athlete of the Week Awards. Williams got his season off to a bang with a 6-6 5 RBI effort while Santiago finished her season with 17 points and 18 rebounds.
McKeesport, PA. – In a wild week for Penn State Greater Allegheny athletics, two stars stood out as the PSUGA Athletics Department announced their athletes of the week last night. Baseball’s Jordan Williams (McKeesport, PA./McKeesport HS) was named Male Athlete of the week for his 6-6, five RBI performance in baseball’s opener sweeping Westmoreland County CC in doubleheader action and Women’s Basketball’s Lexus Santiago (Pittsburgh, PA./Imani Christian Academy) was named Female Athlete of the Week with a career day in the Penn State University Athletic Conference Semifinals.
The McKeesport native Williams got his PSUGA baseball career going when he took the very first pitch he saw and hit a laser beam out to the right-field wall for a leadoff triple in game one of Saturday’s doubleheader. That triple started a three-run inning and was only the beginning of William’s big day. He would add two doubles and a single to his day and finished a home run shy of hitting for the cycle. His biggest hit of the day came in the bottom of the third when he hit a bases clearing double that capped off a five-run bottom of the third before PSUGA closed things out in the bottom of the fourth.
Williams would get two more hits and a walk in the second game of the day as PSUGA picked up a 5-2 victory and moved to 2-0 on the season. As PSUGA gets ready to head down to Myrtle Beach next week, Williams looks to stay hot and get ready for the competition they will see in conference play.
Coming off a strong senior season at McKeesport High School where he was named an All-Section 3-5A player, Williams says the transition from high school to college has been pretty smooth so far.
“They are really serious here at PSUGA,” said Williams. “Coaches are serious and everything is laid out that needs to be done. Coach Creehan has helped me a lot. He had me change a few things on my swing and it’s really helped me out a lot.”
As William’s season was just starting, Santiago’s season came to an end with a career day in the Quarterfinal round of the PSUAC playoffs. She picked up her fifth double-double of the season scoring a career high 17 points while grabbing a career high 18 rebounds in what would be a 77-70 loss.
Santiago was the fourth leading rebounder in the conference finishing with 235 more then doubling her total from her freshman season. Santiago will be relied on as the main rebounder next season for PSUGA, and this effort sends her into the off-season with a lot of confidence building towards her junior campaign.
Head coach Chrissy French has said that Santiago has a knack for getting to the basketball and will play a big part defensively for her team moving forward.
“She came back strong over the second half of the season,” said French. “She just has a knack for the ball. She goes after every rebound and just continues to work hard every day in and day out.”
Stay tuned every single week for a look at the male and female athletes of the week as the spring season gets in full swing at PSUGA.