Moravian Softball Begins 2026 Season with Top 15 Showdown at Christopher Newport
BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian University softball team begins its 2026 season on Saturday, February 28 with a non-conference doubleheader at Christopher Newport (Va.) University beginning at 12:00 p.m. in a battle of preseason top 15 teams with the Hounds ranked No. 12 and the Captains at No. 10.
BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian University softball team begins its 2026 season on Saturday, February 28 with a non-conference doubleheader at Christopher Newport (Va.) University beginning at 12:00 p.m. in a battle of preseason top 15 teams with the Hounds ranked No. 12 and the Captains at No. 10.
Fourth-year Head Coach Josh Baltz has 19 returning players from last year's 40-9 squad that won a Landmark Conference title, won an NCAA Division III Regional championship and hosted an NCAA Division III Super Regional for the first time in program history. The group of student-athletes back for the Hounds includes six that have garnered postseason accolades in their careers.
Senior pitcher/outfielder Sarah DeStefano was selected to the 2025 National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division III Second Team All-America squad after being named the 2025 Landmark Conference Pitcher of the Year, a member of the Landmark All-Conference First Team and NFCA All-Region 5 First Team. DeStefano was honored on the Landmark All-Conference Second Team as an outfielder in 2024 after being named as the 2023 Landmark Conference Rookie of the Year and earning spots on the Landmark All-Conference Second Team and the NFCA All-Region 5 Second Team as a freshman. Last season, DeStefano hit .392 with 31 hits, 13 runs, six doubles, two triples and 21 RBIs at the plate, and she tossed 177 innings with a 22-4 record, a save, a 1.07 ERA and 142 strikeouts. DeStefano begins her senior campaign with 109 hits, 43 runs, 10 doubles, four triples, 56 RBIs and a .378 career batting average to go with a 40-9 mark in the circle with one save, 241 strikeouts and a 1.59 ERA in 330.1 innings of work.
Senior catcher Marcie Silberman was a member of the 2025 Landmark All-Conference First Team and NFCA All-Region 5 First Team after being named a 2024 National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division III Second Team All-American as a sophomore in addition garnering spots on the Landmark All-Conference First Team and the NFCA Division III All-Region 5 First Team in 2024. Silberman was on the Landmark All-Conference First Team and All-Region Second Team as a freshman. Last season, Silberman had a .376 batting average, 59 hits, 23 runs, six doubles, a school and Landmark Conference record 16 home runs, and 53 RBIs at the plate and 225 putouts, 18 assists and eight runners caught stealing behind the plate. Silberman heads into her senior year with 147 hits, 72 runs, 39 doubles, a triple, a school and Landmark Conference record 38 home runs and 136 RBIs as well as 548 assists, 48 assists and 20 runners caught stealing.
Junior pitcher/designated player Kyra Holtje earned spots on the Landmark All-Conference First Team and NFCA All-Region 5 Third Team after collecting 36 hits, 29 runs, seven doubles, four homers and 39 RBIs at the plate and a 12-2 record in the circle to go with a 1.93 ERA and 41 strikeouts in 79.2 innings of action. In her two seasons, Holtje has 38 hits, 32 runs, 39 RBIs, seven doubles and four homers at the plate and 12-2 in the circle with a 1.99 ERA and 48 strikeouts in 88 innings.
Senior third baseman Sydney Andrews was selected to the Landmark All-Conference First Team a year ago after making the Honorable Mention Team in 2024. Andrews hit .369 last season with 48 hits, 25 run, five doubles, a homer and 30 RBIs to go with 109 assists in the field. In her two seasons with the Hounds, Andrews has collected 74 hits, 37 runs, 49 RBIs, 11 doubles, two triples and 163 assists.
Junior outfielder Shayla Morgan has been named to the Landmark All-Conference Second Team the last two seasons. Morgan recorded a .339 average last spring with 37 hits, 24 runs, two triples, seven RBIs, 16 stolen bases and 42 putouts, and she has 60 hits, 44 runs, nine RBIs, two triples, 37 stolen bases and 102 putouts in centerfield during her career.
Senior pitcher Natalie Otto made the Landmark All-Conference Second Team in 2024. Last spring, Otto was 4-1 in the circle with 48 strikeouts and a 2.64 ERA in 47.2 innings of action, and Otto has 138 strikeouts and a 17-5 slate in 151.2 career innings.
Also returning for the Greyhounds to add depth to the roster are senior outfielder Madison Berning, senior infielders Kendall Szor and Emma Wariwanchik, senior pitcher Kayla Krausse, junior infielders Emma Grace Pachkowski, Cassandra Farrell and Gillian Slowinski, junior outfielder Madelin Cooper, sophomore infielders Kaley Hoffman and Amelia Noll, sophomore outfielder Julie Zook, sophomore catcher Sydney Scarpato and sophomore pitcher Riley Robinson.
Hoffman collected 12 hits, four runs, a double, a triple, two home runs and eight RBIs in her debut season while Berning added five hits, three runs, two doubles and three RBIs. Cooper scored 14 times as a pinch runner last spring while Farrell crossed the plate ten times with six stolen bases and Pachkowski added a run. Robinson recorded one strikeout in her only inning of action while Scarpato made 24 putouts and threw out one runner stealing.
Coach Baltz, Silberman, DeStefano, Berning and Scarpato discuss the 2026 season and their preparations in a preview video below.
