SuburbanOneSports.com recognizes a male and female featured athlete each week. The awards, sponsored by Univest, are given to seniors of good character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete
Roll back the calendar three years to the first spring workout for Hatboro-Horsham's softball team. Kyleigh Dinnien – then just a freshman - was looking to make a good first impression. "I'm so competitive, and I wanted to show everybody - I'm here to stay,” the Hatboro-Horsham senior said.
Dinnien accomplished that and then some when the diminutive outfielder – who measures in at 5-4 - ran to the makeshift first base that was used for the indoor practice in the gym. "I was giving 110 percent running through that base," Dinnien recalls. “Speed is one of my best traits for softball, and I actually slipped because it was one of those little rubber bases. I hit that base and dove into the door of the gym and just smashed through, helmet pressed on the door handle and outside the door to the ground. The door completely opened when I hit it, and I fell outside on the concrete. The whole gym went in complete silence. Everyone thought I broke every bone in my body. I got back up - I still wanted to show, 'No, I'm okay' and got back up and kept running.”
Coach Joe DiFilippo knew immediately he had a keeper. "I said to my assistants, 'We've got to keep this kid,' and ever since then she's started in the outfield for me," DiFilippo said. It was a moment that not only earned Dinnien a spot in the lineup, it also underscored a style of play that is the now senior captain’s trademark. Dinnien is a difference maker out of the leadoff spot in the Hatters’ lineup. “She knows how to run the bases,” DiFilippo said. “As she goes, our offense goes.” After playing left field for three years, Dinnien anchors the Hatters’ outfield in center. “She has a very good arm, she’s very good at reading a fly ball,” DiFilippo said. “Having her in center field is like having another coach in the field.”
It’s that ability to lead that made Dinnien a natural choice to serve as one of four generals from the senior class for the school’s annual Red and Black Night. “It’s one of the best experiences of my high school career,” Dinnien said. “That’s a really special night at our school, and I’ve loved it since freshman year.” She is also a member of Student Council, Pride Pack and the school’s Adventure Club. An excellent student, Dinnien will be attending Gettysburg College where she will major in business with her sights set on one day becoming a lawyer. She had the opportunity to play Division I softball but opted to continue her career at Gettysburg. “I wasn’t a person who wanted to play DI softball,” said Dinnien. “Softball is something I love, but I know after the next four years it’s not going anywhere from there. I know after that I want to have a really good job, and I’m going to get it at that school.”
To read Dinnien’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/kyleigh-dinnien-0078041
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete
By the time he was in first grade, Riley Brink had lived in California, Arizona and then the Sunshine State again, but Upper Dublin has always felt like home to the well-traveled senior baseball player. “Upper Dublin has been a great place for me to grow up,” Brink said. “All of my friends have been here since second grade. It’s been nice to grow up in the same spot around a bunch of friends in a great neighborhood. Two or three years ago, we moved into another house a mile away even closer to all my baseball buddies. I couldn’t really ask for a better spot … well, besides the weather.”
Baseball has been a constant in Brink’s life since he was small, but he didn’t become an immediate starter for the Upper Dublin varsity program as a freshman. In fact, he was cut from the jayvee in ninth grade and relegated to the freshman team, where he had his most determined season as a hitter, so that “there was no question on making the team” the next time out, according to his recollection. He did just that as a sophomore, playing JV all season before ascending to varsity as a junior, mostly as a utility infielder off the Upper Dublin bench. This season has been Brink’s first as a full-time varsity starter. He entrenched himself at third base and usually in the No. 2 or 3 hole in the Cardinals batting order.
In Brink’s two years with the varsity squad, Upper Dublin has scuffled in the standings. That said, the team has been in a lot of games against some really strong competition, and Brink has taken his job as a leader seriously. Even in defeat, he has tried to be a role model that his teammates and coaches can rely on. ‘This season hasn’t been what we had all hoped for, but I never doubted for a second that they wouldn’t come out and play hard the next day because we had taken a loss,” UD coach Ed Wall said. “Riley stepped up as a leader and has maintained positivity throughout. He pushes his teammates and they want to win for each other, and it just speaks volumes as to who he is as a person.” Wall recalled how that this past winter, Brink was recovering from a back injury that prevented him from lifting weights during the team’s offseason workouts. Despite Brink’s physical limitations, he was still in attendance at 5:45 a.m. every day. “He was there doing cardio, talking with the guys and showing them the importance of being there with his team,” Wall said. “Riley takes the worst moments and continues to turn them into positives. On the field, he’s one of our best defenders, as well as one of our most consistent hitters at putting the ball in play at the top of our lineup. He plays smart with his mind and body, and it’s why he’s gotten to where he is.”
As for that next step, for Brink it will be attending the University of South Carolina. While he may try to play club or intermural baseball, the sport was not a factor in choosing where he wanted to go to college. He’s interested in studying business, stating that he’d like to work in marketing or advertising for a professional sports team one day.
To read Brink’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/riley-brink-0078042
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