May 10, 1999

LADY GREYHOUNDS RECEIVE 2^ND STRAIGHT NCAA BID

BETHLEHEM, PA --- The Moravian College softball team has been awarded the school’s second straight bid to the NCAA Division III Softball National Championship Tournament. The Lady Greyhounds, 26-14 overall, are the fourth seeded team in the East Regional and will play Gettysburg College on Friday, May 14^th in a first round game at 10 a.m. at North Carolina Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, NC.

The other first round game will have North Carolina Wesleyan, the third seed, and Methodist College, the second seed, taking the field at 12:00 p.m. Top-seed Messiah College will play the winner of the Moravian-Gettysburg game at 2 p.m. on Friday and the losers of games one and two will play in the first elimination game on Friday at 4:00 p.m.

On Saturday, the winner of elimination game one and the loser of the Messiah game will play at 11 a.m. That game will be followed a game between the winners of games two and three from Friday at 1 p.m. Saturday’s final game will have the next elimination game. Sunday will be the finals of the regional. The winner moves onto the Division III College World Series, with the other seven regional champions, at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, which will begin on Thursday, May 20^th.

The berth in the NCAA tournament is the second for Moravian and head coach John Byrne, who has led the Lady Greyhounds to a 167-66 record and a pair of Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth League titles over the last five years. This marks the fifth straight post-season appearance for the Lady ‘Hounds, who have made the MAC tournament in 1995, 1996 and 1997.

Leading the Lady Greyhounds on the field has been junior pitcher Becky Stroup (Palmerton/Palmerton Area HS). She has compiled a 13-6 record with a 1.70 earned run average and six shutouts in 123 1/3 innings. Stroup has struck out 78 batters this season. Joining Stroup on the mound is sophomore Meg Ryan (Edison, NJ/Edison HS) with a 5-4 slate and a 1.97 ERA and freshman Rachel Mowrey (Hellertown/Saucon Valley HS) with a 7-4 record and a 1.86 ERA. Ryan has 27 strikeouts and just eight walks in 60 1/3 innings of work while Mowrey has 32 strikeouts and five walks in 75 1/3 innings of action.

At the plate, sophomore outfielder Missy Hummel (Walnutport/Northampton HS) leads the Lady Greyhounds with a .435 batting average. She had 54 hits in 124 at-bats with 14 RBIs, 26 runs scored, five doubles and six stolen bases. Junior shortstop Zan Azzolino (Lodi, NJ/Immaculate Heart Academy HS) is also hitting over .400 at .422 with 46 hits in 109 at-bats. Azzolino has scored 24 runs, driven in 15, hits five doubles and two triples and made a team-leading 80 assists in the field.

Ryan, who hits as the designated player when she’s not pitching, has added 37 hits in 117 at-bats this spring for a .316 batting average. She leads Moravian with 25 RBIs, six doubles and 14 walks. Ryan has added 15 runs scored and a pair of triples. Junior first baseman Ali Harteveld (Lodi, NJ/ Immaculate Heart Academy) has contributed 36 hits in 118 at-bats with 19 RBIs, 11 runs scored and six doubles

Senior outfielder Heather Bennett (Franklin, NJ/Wallkill Valley HS) has 26 hits in her final season with 18 runs scored and 14 RBIs. Freshman second baseman Laurie Rentschler (Slatington/ Northern Lehigh HS) has 22 hits and 16 runs scored this season.

Classmate catcher Stacy Matuczinski (Bethlehem/Liberty HS) has 19 hits, 16 runs scored, nine RBIs, three doubles and a team leading 12 sacrifices. Bennett has four doubles and Rentschler has three doubles and nine sacrifices.

Mowrey, who also plays at third base, and junior outfielder and third baseman Krysten Mack (Canton, CT/Canton HS) each have 18 hits this season and have both scored 14 runs. Mowrey has added five doubles and 14 bases on balls while Mack has one double and one triple.

Freshman outfielder Summer Miller (Mt. Holly, NJ/Rancocas Valley HS) has added 17 hits and three doubles this season. Classmate outfielder and first baseman Debbie Noble (Cranford, NJ/ Cranford HS) saw playing time at the end of the regular season and contributed 13 hits in 29 at-bats with 14 RBIs, three doubles and a triple. Fellow freshman outfielder and catcher Sarah Leiby (Fleetwood/ Fleetwood HS) also had 13 hits in the regular season with nine runs scored and eight RBIs.

Seeing limited action during the regular season were juniors catcher Trish Salomonsen (Effort/ Pleasant Valley HS) and catcher/outfielder Marcia Zangrilli (Douglasville/Daniel Boone HS), sophomore pitcher Katie Warren (Farmington, CT/Farmington HS) and freshmen outfielders Brandi Bok (Walnutport/Northern Lehigh HS), Stacey Schellinger (Perkiomenville/Boyertown HS) and infielder Jamie Place (Newton, NJ/Kittatinny HS).

Salomonsen had four hits during the season with four RBIs and the Lady Greyhounds only homerun, a three-run blast at Delaware Valley. Zangrilli had five hits as did Stroup in limited action in the outfield when she wasn’t pitching. Warren, Bok, Schellinger and Place each had two hits. Warren had one outing on the mound with a victory at Allentown.

Moravian enters the regional, having already faced two of the other four teams this season. The Lady Greyhounds have defeated North Carolina Wesleyan once this season, a 2-1 win in eight innings, and lost a Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth League doubleheader at Messiah College, 5-2 and 5-0.

The Lady Greyhounds have played a total of six of the other 39 teams in the field of 40 and posted a 4-6 record. The two biggest victories against those teams were a doubleheader sweep of Rowan University, 8-0 and 6-1, the top seed in the Atlantic Region. Stroup threw a no-hitter in the first game of the doubleheader.