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 (Week of June 12, 2017)
Taylor Marinelli struck fear in the hearts of opposing pitchers this spring. And with good reason. The Central Bucks South senior was arguably the most dangerous hitter in the SOL Continental Conference. With one swing of the bat, Marinelli could change the course of the game. “I’ve been around the sport a heck of a long time, and she’s the best player I’ve ever had,” coach Kevin Rosini said. “She was everything.” In 21 games for a Titan squad that captured a share of the conference title, Marinelli batted .460 with nine home runs, six doubles, one triple, 34 RBIs and 26 runs scored. The senior standout had a 1.016 slugging percentage. She drew 11 walks and was hit by a pitch three times. “She was on base all the time, and it wasn’t just that – it was the big hits, the clutch hits, the RBIs, the two-out hits, not over swinging, not trying to do more than what was needed,” Rosini said.
As impressive as Marinelli’s numbers were, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The South senior – who has signed a letter of intent to continue her softball career at Saint Joseph’s University – was the total package. “She’s a leader, she’s a worker, and she wants to get better every day,” Rosini said. “Everybody knows that she’s the leader of the team, but they see it by the way she plays and the way she conducts herself on the field. There’s no ‘look at me, look at me.’ She’s just going about her business looking out for her teammates, and that’s the mark of a leader.”
While Marinelli was a star on the softball diamond, she willingly served in a backup capacity for a soccer team that advanced to the state title game. She enjoyed the challenge of backing up all-everything goalie Sophia Boggs, who will continue her career at Colgate University. “Even though I wasn’t continuing my soccer career after this year, it made me stronger as an athlete,” Marinelli said. In four starts, Marinelli had three shutouts. Three were non-league games, but the fourth was a critical game against North Penn. “Taylor was a pleasure to coach,” coach Betsy Bullock said. “She was a very skilled goalkeeper who would have started on many teams in the area but was playing behind Sophia Boggs. She came to practices and games ready to play with a great attitude.”
Marinelli has four more years of softball awaiting her at St. Joe’s where she will major in actuarial sciences. An excellent student, she boasts a GPA of 4.04 and is a member of the National Honor Society. Marinelli also is a leader of South’s Athletes Helping Athletes. She volunteers at Neshaminy Manor Nursing Home and umpires for Warrington-Warwick Softball. “I know she’ll be hugely successful,” Rosini said. “She’s a great kid – National Honor Society, Athletes Helping Athletes, she does thing for her community. What more could you ask for? I just think the world of her.”
To read Marinelli’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/taylor-marinelli-0071033
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of June 12, 2017)
Running is life. It’s more than a slogan. It’s a metaphor. Evan Kutney can attest that it’s a pretty accurate one. The Council Rock South senior will admit that he had his share of ups and downs this year on the cross country, winter track, and spring track teams. His athletic endeavors brought him triumphs as well as trials, good times as well as bad, victories won and lessons learned. He wouldn’t trade a single one. “Everything that’s happened this year, all the positives as well as all the negatives, they’re a big part of who I am now,” Kutney said. A very big lesson came late in the cross country season when Kutney was forced to relinquish his spot in the varsity lineup. “Cross country has never been my specialty or what I’ve been best at, but I’ve always worked my hardest there to do my best for the team,” he said. “I had to let go of my personal feelings to do what was best for the team. It wasn’t what I would have hoped for the season, but it’s what needed to happen. And I think I grew from it.”
With high expectations for the winter and spring track seasons, Kutney refused to let his setback in cross country affect his goals. “Evan is a kid who always does his best in practice, never cheats himself, never takes an interval off, never does less than what he’s capable of, and that’s reflected in how he races,” said first-year cross country and track coach Paul Wilson. There would be more life lessons awaiting Kutney in the winter – one of the most important life lessons, as a matter of fact. With his 4x400 relay team looking to qualify for districts, Kutney missed a meet during the winter after being involved in a car accident. While he escaped with minimal injury, Kutney did learn how quickly his health and his future could have been taken away from him. “That made me consider maybe I got lucky,” he said. “I’m still here, so I might as well do what I can with the life I have right now. I redoubled my efforts into school as well as into running, and we pulled off some pretty great times.” Kutney, who was part of the 4x400 relay that finished second in the state, had to sacrifice a chance to run as an individual in the open 800 in order to run in two relays. “I’ve always loved the team aspect of track and field, handing the baton off to someone who’s going to run their heart out for you, right after you’ve run your heart out for them,” Kutney said. His spring track season included a trip to the Penn Relays and a 4x400 school record.
Off the track, Kutney is one of the top students in his class and was named a recipient of the Courier-Kiwanis Scholar-Athlete Award. He’s been a fixture on the Distinguished Honor Roll and carries a GPA above 4.0. He is a member of the National Honor Society and English Honor Society and was formerly a member of the Spanish Honor Society. In the fall, Kutney will head to the University of Pittsburgh where he plans to pursue engineering.
To read Kutney’s compete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/evan-kutney-0071035
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