Tuesday, May 10, 2011

MORAVIAN’S CASSIE ERNST & ELIZABETH PYTHON NAMED LANDMARK CONFERENCE SOFTBALL
PLAYER & PITCHER OF THE WEEK

MADISON, N.J. --- Freshman catcher Cassie Ernst (Annville, PA/Annville-Cleona HS) of the Moravian College softball team has been named the Landmark Conference Softball Player of the Week while senior pitcher Elizabeth Python (Huntington Station, NY/Walt Whitman HS) was honored as the Landmark Conference Softball Pitcher of the Week for the second straight week for their performances last week.

Ernst, pictured at right, was Moravian's leading hitter with a .600 average as the squad won its fourth straight Landmark Conference Championship.  Ernst was six-for-ten with three runs, a double and three RBIs.  She added two walks, a .700 slugging percentage and a .667 on-base percentage.  Behind the plate, Ernst had 13 putouts in 13 chances.

Python, who earned the award for the third time in four weeks, won a pair of games to help lead Moravian to the conference title.  She tossed a 12-inning, 1-0 shutout of The Catholic University of America her first game of the tournament.  Python, pictured at left, was then the winning pitcher in the conference championship game for the third straight year in the Greyhounds' 14-1, five-inning win over Catholic.  For the weekend, Python was 2-0 with a 0.41 ERA, six walks and seven strikeouts over 17 innings.  She had a putout and two assists to for with an RBI double in seven at-bats.

The 23rd-ranked Greyhounds, who are 35-7 overall and were 11-1 in Landmark Conference action, are scheduled to return to action on Friday, May 13th as the second seed in the 2011 NCAA Division III Regionals at SUNY Cortland as Moravian faces The College of Staten Island in the opening round at 12:00 p.m.