(Butler, PA) With players capable of scoring in the 70s, the Butler County Community College golf team will battle for the postseason Western Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference title, coach Bill Miller said.
“And I feel pretty strongly,” Miller said, “that we wind up being the favorites.”
The Pioneers enter the fall 2021 season seeking their seventh consecutive WPCC title and 11th since 1972.
“I’m excited about this team because they have a lot of passion to play,” Miller said. “They want to get better. They have the ability.”
BC3 did not play in 2020 as a result of a National Junior College Athletic Association decision to postpone athletics with regard to COVID-19.
The Pioneers open their fall 2021 season at noon Sept. 10 at Lake Arthur Golf Club against the Community College of Allegheny County, Penn Highlands Community College and Westmoreland County Community College.
BC3’s fall 2021 roster includes first-year players from Butler, Lawrence and Mercer counties, and sophomore Sarah Fischer, who won the female division of the Community College of Allegheny County Invitational in May during BC3’s spring 2021 season.
Fischer, a Freeport Area High School graduate, shot a second-round and career-best 95 on May 18 and finished with a two-round 213 in the invitational.
“She is really consistent with hitting the ball straight,” Miller said.
Each of the Pioneers’ first-year players competed in varsity golf at their high schools for four years.
Jack Mason is a Freeport Area High School graduate. Troy Loughry and Tanner Hohmann are Grove City High graduates and Liam Kosior, a Neshannock High graduate.
“They all have a pedigree of a good high school background,” Miller said. “They played competitively and they did well. I look at that as the most positive sign as a team.”
Mason’s best round at Freeport was a 37 over nine holes and, Miller said, “I’ve been impressed with his drives.”
Loughry’s top round at Grove City was a 69 over 18 holes. Loughry qualified four times for the District 10 championships, finishing third in his freshman and junior seasons and ninth in his sophomore year.
Loughry “hits an extremely long ball,” Miller said. “He’s a very strong, athletic kid.”
Hohmann’s lowest score at Grove City was a 74 over 18 holes and “he also hits a long ball,” Miller said.
Kosior’s best round at Neshannock was a 35 over nine holes. He tied for 15th in the WPIAL Class 2A individual championships in his senior year with an 86 over 18 holes. “His irons,” Miller said, “are very strong going into the green.”
The WPCC championship will be held Oct. 1-2 at the Links at Spring Church in Apollo.
The Community College of Allegheny County Invitational ended BC3’s spring golf season. The WPCC championship ends BC3’s fall golf season.
Athletes and coaches must comply with terms of the college’s athletics programs for the fall semester, which include routine testing for COVID-19 in order to participate.
