Sports News: Spring 2005

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

SIX GREYHOUNDS NAMED TO COMMONWEALTH ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS;
Bortz, Hennessy, Paly & Byrne Garner Player, Pitcher, Rookie & Coach of the Year Awards

ANNVILLE, PA --- The Moravian College softball team has had six players named to the Commonwealth All-Conference Teams announced Tuesday by the Middle Atlantic States Collegiate Athletic Corporation with senior shortstop Heather Bortz (Allentown, PA/Parkland HS) honored as the Player of the Year for the third straight season and junior pitcher Meagan Hennessy (Freehold, NJ/Freehold Township HS) named the Pitcher of the Year for a third consecutive season. Freshman second baseman Beth Paly (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall HS) earned the Rookie of the Year Award while head coach John Byrne was also named the Commonwealth Co-Coach of the Year, an award he won in 2000, 2002 and 2004.

The Greyhounds won the team’s fifth straight Commonwealth Conference Tournament title and sixth straight Commonwealth Conference Championship and garnered the program’s eighth consecutive NCAA Division III Tournament appearance last weekend by winning the 2005 Commonwealth Conference Tournament. Moravian, which is 34-6 overall and tied for 19th in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association Top 25 Poll, will be in action this coming weekend at an NCAA Division III Regional being hosted by Salisbury (MD) University. The Greyhounds, who are seeded second in the five-team regional, will play third seeded Roanoke (VA) College at 12:00 p.m. on Friday, May 13th.

Bortz, Hennessy and Paly were also members of the All-Conference First Team along with junior designated player Richelle McWilliams (Riegelsville, PA/Easton HS) and sophomore outfielder Justina Black (Orefield, PA/Parkland HS). Sophomore first baseman Lauren Homa (Chalfont, PA/Central Bucks West HS) was named to the All-Conference Second Team.

Bortz, who was the Commonwealth Rookie of the Year in 2002 and the Commonwealth Player of the Year in 2003 and 2004, earned a spot on the First Team for the fourth straight year, and she leads Moravian in hitting this spring with a .419 batting average. Bortz has a team high 54 hits, 25 runs, five doubles, five triples and 20 RBIs. Bortz has also added two sacrifice flies, five stolen bases and 12 walks. Bortz, a two-time All-American, has become the first player in school history to reach 200 career hits and has 245 in her career. She also leads the team with 70 assists in the field.

Hennessy, who was named the Commonwealth Co-Pitcher of the Year and Rookie of the Year in 2003 and Pitcher of the Year last season, is 27-4 in the circle this season, a school record for wins, with a 0.48 ERA, a school record 17 shutouts, three saves, three no-hitters, 275 strikeouts, all season school records, and just 105 hits, 38 walks and 26 runs (15 earned) allowed in 221 innings of action. Hennessy has already broken the Moravian career records for strikeouts with 586, innings pitched with 556.0, shutouts with 36 and wins with 65.

Paly has contributed 43 hits, 21 RBIs, 27 runs, nine doubles and a .374 average while McWilliams has a. 324 average to go with 33 hits, 16 runs, 31 RBIs, five doubles, a triple and nine home runs. McWilliams was a member of the 2004 Commonwealth All-Conference Second Team. Black has 36 hits, 18 runs, 16 RBIs, six doubles, a home run and a .379 average.

Homa has 34 hits, 26 runs, 24 RBIs, four doubles, four triples and two home runs this spring.