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Canon-McMillan’s Rush named Almanac MVP

By Eleanor Bailey 3 min read
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Linda Rush dominated the softball scene this spring, batting .695 with 13 homers and 41 RBI. The recent Canon-McMillan graduate was named Almanac MVP.

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In her four-year career at Canon-McMillan, Linda Rush led the Lady Macs to a WPIAL and state championship. She batted .580 for her career, drove in 131 runs and blasted 35 home runs.

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Linda Rush will continue her softball career at Drexel University.

The Sultan of Swing. In softball, it’s Linda Rush. With one crack of the bat, she launched Canon-McMillan to the top.

As a freshman, she pulled a Bill Mazeroski. She socked a walk-off homer to give the Lady Macs their first PIAA title. Rush has been tagging roundtrippers since. In fact, she finished with 35 career four-baggers. She’s driven in more than 130 runs and owns a .580 career average.

“Linda is a great athlete, one of the best I’ve had,” added C-M manager Michele Moeller. “She has done amazing things in her softball career here at Canon-Mac. She’s a major factor in the success our program has had over the last four years, particularly offensively.”

A starter at shortstop, Rush dominated the region in hitting. This season alone, she batted .695 with 41 RBI. In addition to a .929 fielding average, she owned a 1.441 slugging percentage, thanks to five doubles and 13 home runs. She’s been walked 17 times, and, unlike Babe Ruth, struck out only once.

“Most teams pitch to her once,” explained Moeller. “She hits a home run and they walk her the rest of the time. She’s constantly getting walked. She is the only player around here I know that’s happened to on a regular basis. That’s how much respect teams have for her power and abilities.”

Rush comes by her talent the old-fashioned way. She honed her skills. Plus, she had the best mentor, her father, Kevin.

“I’m definitely a power hitter. That is my strength and I can thank my dad for that,” said the 18-year-old daughter of Colleen Rush. “He started teaching me how to swing a bat since I first started softball. Every time, if I was not hitting, he would tell me what I was doing wrong and we’d work through it.”

Thanks to her teammates, Rush worked through that rare slump. As she prevailed, so too, did the Lady Macs. They tied Baldwin for Section 4 honors. Both finished 10-2 in the division. The Lady Macs posted an overall mark of 16-4, complete with a quarterfinal showing in the WPIAL playoffs.

“As a team together, we’ve worked really well,” said Rush. “My teammates would always pick me up whenever I was down, or vice versa. So teamwork is the ultimate reason for my success.”

Rush will continue to be successful when she enrolls at Drexel University in Philadelphia this fall. She will major in public health and play softball for the Dragons. She selected Drexel over other schools such as Akron, Indiana University of Pennsylvania and University of Massachusetts – Lowell.

“I was most interested in Drexel because it was a city school and a different location,” she said. “I’m ready to spend my next four years in a different city than Pittsburgh, and I couldn’t be more excited.”

Rush is also thrilled to complete her career with yet another honor. Already, she has earned all-section, all-district and all-state recognition but today she has been named Almanac MVP for girls’ softball.

“I feel really honored to be named MVP,” she said. “It’s a big accomplishment in my softball career. I can’t thank the people enough who helped me achieve this.”

One of those is Moeller, and the C-M manager is reluctant to see Rush leave the program.

“You just do not replace a Linda Rush,” she said.

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