Monday, May 4, 2009

GREYHOUND SOFTBALL SQUAD BERTH TO 2009 NCAA DIVISION III CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT

BETHLEHEM, PA --- The Moravian College softball team has been awarded one of five Pool B/Independent berths to the 2009 NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament that begins on Thursday, May 7th, and the Greyhounds will travel to Mahwah, New Jersey for a regional hosted by Ramapo College of New Jersey.

The Greyhounds are seeded fourth in the eight-team regional and will play fifth seed Eastern Connecticut State University at 12:00 p.m. Moravian is currently 34-9 overall and captured the 2009 Landmark Conference Championship on May 3rd. Eastern Connecticut is 25-11 this season and received one of the 17 Pool C/at-large berths into the tournament.

The other first-round matchups in the eight-team Ramapo tournament site  include No. 1 seed Messiah College (35-4) vs. No. 8 seed College of Staten Island (23-12) at 10:00 a.m.; No. 3 Rowan University (NJ) (32-10) vs. No. 6 SUNY Farmingdale (32-4) at 2:00 p.m.; and No. 2 William Paterson University (32-7) vs. No. 7 Muhlenberg College (19-16).

The tournament will run through Sunday with the champion earning one of eight berths in the NCAA Division III World Series being hosted by Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey, which begins on Friday, May 15th.  Friday and Saturday’s action will begin at 10:00 a.m. as well while Sunday will begin at 12:00 p.m.  The if necessary game is scheduled for Monday, May 11th at 10:00 a.m. if needed.

Moravian received one of the five Pool B berths into the 59-team tournament.  Pool B teams are schools that compete as independents and schools that compete in conferences that do not have an automatic berth into the tournament. The Greyhounds joined the new Landmark Conference last season, and all sports in the Landmark Conference must go through a two-year waiting period before receiving an automatic bid.

The Greyhounds under the direction of 16-year head coach John Byrne, who as a career mark of 509-156, have posted a 34-9 overall record this spring, the 16th consecutive season that Moravian has won at least 23 games, and an 11-1 mark in Landmark Conference regular season action.  The Greyhounds, which have won over 30 games ten times under Byrne including the last eight years, won their tenth straight conference title this past weekend with a second straight Landmark Conference Championship, and the program played in the conference tournament for the 14th time in 15 years.  Moravian also received a berth to the 2009 NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament, its 11th berth in the last 12 years including a regional championship and berth in the 2007 NCAA Division III World Series and a national runner-up finish at the 2004 Division III World Series.

Moravian, which received votes in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division III Top 25 last week, is hitting .326 with 376 hits including 99 extra-base hits.  Moravian has out-scored its opponents, 230-76, and the Greyhounds have a .969 fielding percentage this season.  However, the Greyhounds are just 7-6 in one-run games this season with three of those losses in extra innings.  Moravian has played a total of seven extra-inning games in 2009.

Senior pitcher/designated player Maria DeBonis (Nazareth, PA/Notre Dame HS) has a .341 batting average with 42 hits including eight doubles, a triple and tw6004 ERA, four shutouts, 43 walks and 158 strikeouts in 146 innings of action.

Senior first baseman Sheri Bieniek (Lumberton, NJ/Rancocas Valley HS), this week’s Landmark Conference Player of the Week, has a .363 average with 45 hits, a team leading 12 doubles, a team high five homers, 17 runs and a team high 42 RBIs while sophomore outfielder Amanda Paulus (Easton, PA/Easton HS) has a team leading .402 average with a team high 47 hits, ten doubles, four triples, four home runs, 28 runs and 16 RBIs.  Sophomore shortstop Stephanie Falzarano (South Plainfield, NJ/South Plainfield HS) leads Moravian with 39 runs to go with 47 hits, 15 RBIs, a .336 average, nine doubles, a triple and 15 walks and four stolen bases while senior catcher Deanna Mangieri (Pleasantville, NY/Byram Hills HS) has 29 hits, nine doubles, 20 RBIs and 11 runs.

Freshman second baseman/pitcher Jenna Carmon (Flemington, NJ/Hunterdon Central HS) has 33 hits, 23 runs, 16 walks, eight doubles, three stolen bases, 14 RBIs and a .317 average at the plate, and Carmon, this week’s Landmark Conference Pitcher of the Week, has a 13-1 mark in the circle including 11 straight wins to go with a 1.02 ERA, two saves, four shutouts, four walks and 36 strikeouts in 96 2/3 innings. 

Senior outfielder Erica Klepeisz (Nazareth, PA/Nazareth HS) has a .364 average, 43 hits, 24 runs, ten walks, four doubles, three triples, two home runs and 19 RBIs while sophomore third baseman Maura Agnew (Doylestown, PA/Lansdale Catholic HS) has 29 hits, four doubles, two triples, 14 runs and 14 RBIs this season.  Freshman outfielder Olivia Evanko (Nazareth, PA/Nazareth HS) has contributed 33 hits, 26 runs, two doubles, three triples, a team high 19 sacrifice hits, a team leading seven stolen bases and 15 RBIs this season while junior catcher Kelly Maressa (Allentown, PA/William Allen HS) has eight hits with three doubles, four runs and three RBIs. 

Sophomore first baseman Jennifer Schmitt (Mendham, NJ/Mendham HS) has added four hits, four runs, three RBIs, a double and a home run while freshman catcher Katie Lynn (Carbondale, PA/Carbondale HS) has four hits, a double, a run and an RBI.  Freshmen infielder Priscilla Camacho (Jersey City, NJ/County Prep HS) and outfielder Tessa Shifflet (Williamsport, PA/Williamsport HS) each have two hits with Camacho scoring two runs and Shifflet crossing the plate once scored while sophomore outfielder Megan Boyle (South Plainfield, NJ/South Plainfield HS) has five hits, three runs and three RBIs.  Junior outfielder Katie Flood (Branchburg, NJ.Somerville HS) has scored six runs with one hit and an RBI while senior second baseman Katie Agnew (Doylestown, PA/Lansdale Catholic HS) has a hit, a run and an RBI for the Greyhounds. 

Sophomore pitcher Elizabeth Python (Huntington Station, NY/Walt Whitman HS) has posted a 7-1 record with a save, a 1.65 ERA, 13 walks and 25 strikeouts in 43 2/3 innings of action, and Python, who was also seen action at second base, has a hit and a run  in four at-bats.  Python also combined on a perfect game with freshman pitcher Jenna Gonzalez (Annandale, NJ/North Hunterdon HS), who has four strikeouts, a walk and a 2.25 ERA in four innings of action.

Eastern Connecticut is making its 16th NCAA tournament appearance and second straight as an at-large team.  The Warriors have won four NCAA Division III National Championships in 1982, 1985, 1986 and 1990 and were the runner-up in 1989 and 1991.

Eastern Connecticut was seeded third in the Little East Conference Tournament this past weekend but was knocked out in two games.  The Warriors are hitting .273 and have posted a 1.75 ERA and a .970 fielding percentage this season.  Eastern Connecticut won 16 of 18 games after returning from its spring trip before losing five of its last eight games.