Mike Vukovcan It’s time to announce our fifth Lisa McCoy Agency/State Farm Insurance Hopewell Player of the Week, for both baseball and softball.
The winner will receive a baseball or softball with their Player of the Week inscription on it, along with a gift card to Shulligan’s Sports Bar & Grille.
The winners will be selected from either the High School, Junior Varsity or Middle School program. These Player of the Week honors will all lead up to Vikings Sports Now announcing a Player of the Year in both sports.
As it’s been all season, due to worthy candidates on multiple teams, this wasn’t a slam dunk decision.
However, we have two candidates that were more than worthy to receive this award.
Congratulations to Hopewell HS Boys JV freshman outfielder Reed Budavich and Hopewell HS freshman softball catcher Gianna Rossi.
Rossi has been a steady contributor to the Vikings softball team all season and this was her week to get recognized.
Hopewell’s Gianna Rossi
In Hopewell’s impressive 10-8 win over Central Valley on Monday, Rossi went 3-4 with an RBI.
Rossi has been playing softball in Hopewell since tee ball. Aside from Hopewell, Rossi also is a member of the Pittsburgh Lady Roadrunners travel program.
Rossi is a versatile player that can play catcher, outfield and third base. Despite being a freshman, Gianna has played over 50 innings for the varsity team and has done a solid job behind the plate with a .947 fielding % and has really improved on her framing as a catcher along with her overall defense.
Hopewell’s Gianna Rossi
When looking over the baseball candidates, Budavich had a great week and was a big reason for Hopewell’s 2-game sweep of Central Valley.
In those 2 games, Reed went 5 for 7 (double), 2 RBI and 2 runs. Also, like he’s done all season, he was very strong defensively for the Vikings.
Hopewell’s Reed Budavich
Budavich is an example of a player that works hard year-round at the sport and is all that work is paying off as he’s having a very good freshman season.
Aside from playing for the high school program, Budavich plays Colt Baseball in Hopewell as well as being a long-time member of the Pittsburgh Diamond Dawgs travel program.
Once again, congratulations to both Gianna Rossi and Reed Budavich.
