When Kate Reynolds walks into a patient’s room and sees a smile break out on his or her face, it melts her heart.

Reynolds, a Riverside sophomore, is a member of the Geisinger Junior Volunteer Program where she’s taking a hands-on approach to the healthcare field.

But she’s more than that.

She’s making a major difference in her community. Recently, she was recognized with the program’s Gold Service Award for her nearly 190 volunteer hours in the program.

“Honestly, it just gives me a big purpose in the community,” said Reynolds, a catcher on the softball team, and member of the tennis squad. “I feel like I am making a difference. I am able to see the impacts of it. If I am with a patient, and I see them smile, that’s impactful to me.”

Reynolds always had an affection with the healthcare field where she’s hoping to someday become an oncologist or OB/GYN. But it was through Riverside’s Key Club and advisor Jessica Trescavage where Reynolds learned about the Geisinger program.

“She knew that I was interested in the medical field, and so she introduced me to the Geisinger Junior Volunteer Program. Over the summer, I got my jumpstart with them where I got like 150 to 190 hours,” Reynolds said.

It’s a competitive program where applicants go through a rigorous process to join, which includes references, a 500-word essay and an interview. Candidates must complete a minimum of 40 service hours, 15 educational hours and commit to participation in five of the six weeks of the program.

Reynolds went above and beyond.

She showed her true heart; a passion that she’s hoping that others notice when she’s working those hours.

“It’s a lot of late nights, and keeping up with school work,” she said. “I primary did it during the summer. Usually during the holidays, I am able to pick up some hours as well. Usually during the sports season, like softball and tennis, I don’t have the opportunity to pick up the hours.”

Recently, she was elected as the president of the Key Club for the 2026-2027 school year.

“I would like to do some new projects this year, maybe more health-care based, because I would like to bring more attention to programs like that,” Reynolds said.

On the softball diamond, she’s also making a slight change.

As a freshman, she manned the hot corner, running to third base for the first time in her career.

“Starting there as a freshman, it was scary,” she laughed. “Going against girls like (Mid Valley’s) Mackenzie Adolfson and (Holy Cross’) Mia Galella, it was fun experience.”

Now, she’s back to her passion – setting up behind home plate.

“I love catching. To work with one of our new pitchers, Shelby (Lewis), it’s been a good experience,” Reynolds said. “We had a super young team last year, but I couldn’t have asked for a better team. Beating Old Forge in our little rivalry game, that was pretty cool.”

As a freshman, Reynolds started in 22 games where she hit .443 and led Riverside in RBIs with 33.

One year later, she’s continuing her strong career, hitting almost .430 and leads the team in hits.

“I’ve seen my stats go up this year. Gaining that one year of experience has really helped me a lot,” she said. “I didn’t know what to expect last year as a freshman. Now, I am starting to get into the groove and get the hang of it.”

Riverside entered Friday with a 5-4 record, and will again, compete in the District 2 Class 3A playoffs with Mid Valley and Lake-Lehman, two of the better teams in the state.

“We want to get as many wins as possible, and hopefully, we can continue to develop that growth with our seventh and eighth graders, so when they come up, they are ready to play,” Reynolds said.

All in the family

It’s always special when a player was able to clobber one over the fence.

For the Roman family, it was a special day Monday at Wilkes-Barre Area.

Gabby Roman and Isabella Roman, cousins at Pittston Area, each hit a home runs in the Patriots’ 18-0 win.

Both were three-run home runs. Both blasts came in the fifth inning.

Making it even more special was the girls’ aunt, Kim, is the first-base coach for Pittston Area, while Gabby’s dad, Pat, is an assistant coach and scorekeeper.

Finding a way

Good teams find ways to win, no matter the situation. That’s what Mid Valley did in a three-game stretch where three wins could have easily went the other way.

Against Lakeland, the Spartanettes were down 6-0 and 8-4 before scoring 10 in the fifth inning to pull away.

Against West Scranton, it was scoreless in the seventh when Natalie Hricenak’s single with two outs plated Avery Tinney for the 1-0 win.

Then against Holy Cross, Ariana Davey knotted the game at 5 in the top of the seventh before the Spartanettes won it in extras.

That’s why Mid Valley, the defending district champs, is sitting on the top of the Class 3A standings with a 10-1 mark, entering Friday.

Remember her?

Four years ago, Jessica Koptcho, a Crestwood alum, was dominating hitters in the Wyoming Valley Conference.

Today, she’s one of the top pitchers in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference.

A senior at Mount Aloysius College, Koptcho was named as the pitcher of the week for the second time this season.

The conference’s Pitcher of the Year last season, Koptcho went 2-1 with a 1.31 ERA, striking out 16 in 16 innings of work.

The senior leads the conference in strikeouts with 59, is fourth with a 3.16 ERA and is second in innings pitched with 68.2. She recently reached 300 career strikeouts

Top four

1. Tunkhannock (10-1): Tigers riding a five-game winning streak and are one game ahead in WVC Division 1. Tunkhannock has an interesting one Saturday, April 25 at Northampton.

2. Abington Heights (6-1): Comets sustained first loss last week at Loyalsock, but remain in first place in Lackawanna League Division 1.

3. Lake-Lehman (7-1): Black Knights are riding a seven-game winning streak where Hannah Chipego keeps no-hitting the opposition. Chipego runs up against a potent Pittston Area offense Saturday that scored 10 runs on 11 hits against her last season.

4. North Pocono (8-2): Trojans hop back in the top four after a one-run win against Valley View last week. North Pocono is also undefeated in Lackawanna League Division 1.

Two to watch

Abington Heights at North Pocono, Tuesday: The battle for first place in the Lackawanna League Division 1 is on the line. Both enter undefeated in the conference and are the top two seeds in the District 2-4 Class 5A subregional.

Holy Redeemer at Lake-Lehman, Wednesday: It’s Military Appreciation Day in the Back Mountain as the WVC Division 2 rivals meet. A win here puts Lehman in the driver’s seat to repeat as divisional champ.