Monday, June 9, 2008

FOUR MORAVIAN SOFTBALL PLAYERS & GREYHOUND SQUAD RANKED IN FINAL 2008
NCAA DIVISION III SOFTBALL STATISTICS

INDIANAPOLIS, IN --- Junior pitcher Maria DeBonis (Nazareth, PA/Notre Dame HS), freshman pitcher Elizabeth Python (Huntington Station, NY/Walt Whitman HS), senior second baseman Beth Paly (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall HS), freshman shortstop Stephanie Falzarano (South Plainfield, NJ.South Plainfield HS) and the Moravian College softball team are ranked in the final NCAA Division III statistics release of the 2008 season.

DeBonis, pictured at right, is third in earned run average with a 0.72 ERA this spring, sixth in the nation in hits allowed per seven innings at 3.55, 20th in strikeouts per seven innings at 9.2 and tied for 25th in victories with 19.  DeBonis completed the 2008 season with a 19-3 record, a 0.72 ERA, 74 hits allowed, 43 walks allowed and 192 strikeouts in146 innings of action.  DeBonis allowed just 15 earned runs this spring, which is tied for the fewest in the rankings.

Python, pictured at left, is 36th in walks allowed per seven innings at 1.08.  Python posted a 14-3 record, a 1.65 ERA, 83 hits allowed, 17 walks allowed and 76 strikeouts in 110 innings of action this spring in her debut season.

Paly, pictured at right, is second in the nation in toughest to strikeout with just one strikeout in 122 at-bats this season.  Falzarano, pictured at bottom left, is tied for 13th in toughest to strikeout with just two strikeouts in 110 at-bats, one every 55 at-bats.

Moravian is ranked fifth in the nation with a fielding percentage of .976, seventh in win-loss percentage at .846 and 26th in doubles per game at 1.86, and the Greyhounds are fourth in country in earned run average with a 1.09 ERA for the 2008 season.

The Greyhounds completed their 2008 season with a 33-6 overall record and won the inaugural Landmark Conference Championships.  Moravian had its streak of berths into the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament snapped at ten after the program did not receive one of the five Pool B independent berths into the 2008 tournament.