Thursday, May 6, 2004

BORTZ, BREY, HENNESSY & SOROKA NAMED TO NFCA ALL-REGION FIRST TEAM

STARKVILLE, MS --- Junior shortstop Heather Bortz (Allentown, PA/Parkland HS), senior third baseman Janelle Brey (Allentown, PA/Dieruff HS), sophomore pitcher Meagan Hennessy (Freehold, NJ/Freehold Township HS) and senior outfielder Melissa Soroka (Newton, NJ/Pope John XXIII HS) of the Moravian College softball team have been named to the 2004 National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-East Region First Team announced Thursday by the NFCA.

By being named to the first team, all four players are now eligible for NFCA All-American honors, which will be announced prior to the NCAA Division III World Series next week.

The Greyhounds won the team’s fourth straight Commonwealth Conference Tournament title and fifth straight Commonwealth Conference Championship and garnered the program’s seventh consecutive NCAA Division III Tournament appearance last weekend by winning the 2004 Commonwealth Conference. Moravian, which is 34-4 overall, has been seeded first in the NCAA Division III Regional at Ramapo College. The Greyhounds, who are ranked seventh in the nation by the NFCA, will play the winner of fourth seeded Union (NY) College and fifth seeded the College of Staten Island at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, May 7th in the third game of the tournament.

Bortz, who was a Second Team NFCA All-American in 2003, earned a spot on the All-Region First Team for the second straight season after being on the Second Team as a freshman. Bortz is leading the Greyhounds at the plate with a .500 batting average. Bortz has a single season school record 69 hits on the season and has broken the school record for career hits with 186. Bortz, who had an NCAA all-division record 44-game hitting streak from April 15, 2003 to April 17, 2004, has also contributed 42 runs scored, 16 RBIs, 18 stolen bases, seven walks, seven doubles and three triples.

Brey has been named to the All-Region Team for the third consecutive year. She was a First Team All-Region player in 2002 and on the Second Team last season. Brey currently holds 14 Moravian game, season and career records and ranks in the top five of the career offensive categories she doesn’t own the record. Brey is hitting .408 this season with 49 hits, 42 RBIs, 32 runs scored, 12 walks, 13 doubles, a triple and seven home runs.

Hennessy, who was on the All-Region Second Team a year ago, has posted a 17-2 record with a school record nine shutouts and three saves. Hennessy, who started the season 15-0, has a 0.88 ERA in 136 innings of work, and she has allowed just 82 hits and 33 walks while striking out 140 batters. Hennessy has tied the school record for wins in a season with 17 and became just the second pitcher in school history with 300 strikeouts in a career.

Soroka, who earned All-Region honors for the first time, has contributed a .364 batting average this spring with 43 hits, 19 RBIs, 29 runs scored, seven stolen bases, eight walks, eight doubles, three triples and two homers.

The complete NFCA All-Region Teams can be found at www.nfca.org.