Softball Opens NCAA Regional Tournament Action on May 13
BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College softball team is heading to the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament for the 16th time in school history with a trip to Ithaca, New York for a four-team regional after the Greyhounds earned an automatic berth after winning the Landmark Conference Championship on May 8.
BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College softball team is heading to the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament for the 16th time in school history with a trip to Ithaca, New York for a four-team regional after the Greyhounds earned an automatic berth after winning the Landmark Conference Championship on May 8.
The tournament starts on Friday, May 13 with the second seed Greyhounds playing third seed Worcester State University at 1:00 p.m. Top seed and host Ithaca and fourth seed Mount Saint Mary College will battle at 3:30 p.m. The winners of the first two games will meet at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, May 14, with the winner of that game earning a berth in the championship round at 12:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 15. The losers of Friday's first two games will play on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. with a second elimination game slated for 4:00 p.m. Saturday. The winner of the regional advances to the Super Regionals on May 20-21 with sites to be announced on May 16. Follow the tournament at athletics.ithaca.edu/2016ncaasoftballregional.
Moravian, under the direction of 23-year head coach John Byrne who has a career slate of 748-225, has posted a 35-4 overall record this spring, the 23rd consecutive season that Moravian has won at least 23 games, and an 11-1 mark in Landmark Conference action. The Blue & Grey are also ranked No. 17 in the nation in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division III Top 25 poll, and Moravian was ranked seventh in the Atlantic Region in the final NCAA Division III Regional Rankings.
The Greyhounds, who have won over 30 games 17 times under Byrne, played in the conference tournament for the 17th straight year and the 21st time in 22 years. Moravian posted NCAA regional championships and berths in the 2007 and 2010 NCAA Division III World Series and a national runner-up finish at the 2004 Division III World Series. The Hounds also won a regional championship last year in Rochester, New York before advancing to the Super Regionals at DePauw University.
Moravian is hitting .342 entering the tournament with 363 hits including 105 extra-base hits with 71 doubles and 27 home runs, for a .499 slugging percentage. Moravian has out-scored its opponents, 216-80, for an average of 5.53 runs per game, and the Greyhounds have a .973 fielding percentage. Moravian has posted 11 shutouts in 35 wins for a 1.62 ERA, and the Hounds' pitchers have recorded 264 strikeouts and just 66 walks this spring.
The Greyhounds have been led in the circle this season by the sophomore duo of Amanda Carisone and Josie Novak, who were both named to the Landmark All-Conference First Team. Carisone has a 16-2 record with two saves, five shutouts, a 1.53 ERA, 24 walks and 103 strikeouts in 123.1 innings while Novak, the 2016 Landmark Conference Pitcher of the Year, is 18-2 with six shutouts, a 1.70 ERA, 42 walks and a conference-leading 161 strikeouts in 139.2 innings of action.
Freshman center fielder Kat Spilman, the Landmark Conference Rookie of the Year and All-Conference Second Team honoree, led the Greyhounds at the plate with a .405 average in her debut season with 45 hits, 27 runs, six doubles, a team-high seven home runs and 35 RBIs. Junior left fielder Julie Siragusa, an All-Conference First Team honoree, has a .387 average to go along with 46 hits, 26 runs, a school record 21 doubles, two triples, two home runs and 26 RBIs while junior designated player Victoria Conner, who was named to the Landmark All-Conference First Team, has a .384 batting average with 33 hits, 10 runs, four doubles, four homers and 25 RBIs.
Sophomore catcher Janae Matos, an All-Conference First Team selection, has contributed a .345 average this spring with 30 hits, 18 runs, nine doubles, five home runs and 26 RBIs while senior right fielder Mary Schlosbon, who was named to the All-Conference First Team, is hitting .341 with 42 hits, 22 runs, three doubles, three triples and six RBIs. Freshman shortstop Kaela Kane, an All-Conference Second Team honoree, has a .339 average with 38 hits, 23 runs, three doubles, a triple, two home runs, 15 RBIs and a team-high 13 sacrifice bunts while sophomore first basesman Jean Markovic has a .333 batting average with 22 hits, 10 runs, two doubles and 13 RBIs.
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Freshman second baseman Julia DeMarco, who was selected to the Landmark All-Conference First Team, has added a .324 average, 23 hits, 18 runs, four doubles and eight RBIs in her debut season while freshman third baseman Madison Shaneberger, a Second Team All-Conference honoree, is hitting .315 with 29 hits, 25 runs, five doubles, three homers and 14 RBIs while. Junior first baseman Abby Jeffries had a .328 average with 20 hits, 10 runs, five doubles, a triple, four home runs and 14 RBIs before suffering a season-ending injury.
Junior catcher Niki Maffettone has contributed nine hits, five runs, a double and three RBIs while sophomore infielder Jessica D'Agostino has added seven hits, a run, three doubles and three RBIs. Junior infielder Lizzie Deutsch and freshman outfielder Ashley Gindle each have two hits and an RBI with Gindle adding a double and two runs and Deutsch scoring three times while junior infielder Chrissy Marinaro has two hits. Sophomore infielder Jackie Marshall has five runs and a hit this spring while freshman infielder Makenna Masenheimer has scored six runs.
