Making a Championship Pitch
Pitching "K-Club" Makes Crusader Softball Team MAC Contenders
Open Season Next Friday in Virginia Wesleyan Tournament
SELINSGROVE, (Pa.) - Making a Championship Pitch Pitching "K-Club" Makes Crusader Softball Team MAC Contenders Open Season Next Friday in Virginia Wesleyan Tournament
SELINSGROVE, (Pa.) - The track record now indicates that the Susquehanna University softball team has made steady improvement in each of the first four seasons under head coach Vince Anselmo - breaking the school record for season wins in each of the past three years, culminating in last season's 26-14 campaign which saw the team make the Middle Atlantic Conference Championship Tournament for the first time. So when Anselmo says that he believes this season's team can achieve its goal of winning the MAC championship, he has to be taken seriously.
His team should be a serious contender anyway with the return of two first-team Commonwealth League All-Star pitchers along with a third who went 5-2 and pitched well in what proved to be last season's MAC Championship Game. It also returns half of its everyday starters, with Anselmo believing he has replacements to make the other positions even stronger then last season.
The Crusaders seem to have everything - but depth. With only 14 players on the roster, staying healthy will be a key to the team's championship run. It will open the 1999 campaign against NAIA Bloomfield College at the Virginia Wesleyan Tournament in Virginia Beach, Va., next Friday, March 12, at 8 a.m. "Our goal this year is to win the MAC championship. We can win the Commonwealth League along the way, but if we don't win the MAC championship, we don't accomplish our goal," said Anselmo, who is the winningest coach in program history at 77-55 (.583).
"That's going to be tough this year because Messiah, Moravian, Widener and Elizabethtown should all have strong teams in our league."What concerns us most are the things we can't control. We have a luxury of having players who can play different positions, but with only 14 players, we aren't real deep."
THE PITCHERS
Pitching seems to be the biggest key to softball success and Susquehanna is once again loaded at the position - primarily with the return of its "K-Club" in junior Katy Alwine (Bethel Park/Bethel Park H.S.), sophomore Kristen Hogan (Succasunna, N.J./Roxbury H.S.) and freshman Kim Hespos (Wading River, N.Y./Shoreham Wading River H.S.). All three are right-handers, with Alwine and Hogan earning first-team league All-Star honors last season, while Hespos pitched very well as the number three starter. Alwine is now a two-time Commonwealth League All-Star, earning second-team honors in her debut season. She compiled an 11-4 record identical to her freshmen year, also with a save and a 2.37 earned run average. The 11 wins tied for the fourth-most in a season at the school. She also tied for 10th in the MAC in wins, excluding both of her team's wins in the MAC Tournament, and her 65 strikeouts in 88 1/3 innings were seventh in the MAC (now 5.15 per game).
She is now 22-8 with a 1.71 ERA for her career to rank first all-time at Susquehanna in winning percentage (.733), and third in both wins and ERA. Her 134 strikeouts and 51 walks in 171 2/3 innings also rank her second all-time in strikeouts (Record: 323, Sholtis, 1983-86) and walks per seven innings (2.08), and third in strikeouts per seven innings (5.46).
Hogan went 9-6 last season with a pair of saves and a staff low 1.65 ERA while setting the school single-season strikeout record with 99 against just 18 walks in 106 innings. She was third in the MAC in strikeouts per seven innings (now 6.54), eighth in ERA, tied for 10th in wins, and tied for fifth in saves. Her strikeouts per game average was the third-best in a season at Susquehanna, while her walks per seven-inning average (1.19) set the school record. Her ERA was also sixth-best ever at Susquehanna. Hogan also batted .227 (5 for 22) with five RBI.
"Both Katy (Alwine) and Kristen (Hogan) have been throwing hard and working on pinpointing their location," said Anselmo. "Both have also been working hard to develop more consistent change-ups."
Hespos appeared in 21 games last season, with 13 of them as a pitcher and eight of them in starts. She compiled the staff's second-best record at 5-2 (.714) - which included a shutout and three complete games - and had an earned run average of 3.14. Hespos pitched 49 innings and struckout 13 with 12 walks. She started the eventual MAC Championship Game vs. Messiah and pitched a seven-hit complete-game, despite dropping a 3-0 decision to the number one ranked team in the NCAA Division III East Region.
At the plate, Hespos batted .231 (6 for 26) with two runs batted in and two runs scored. As if the "K-Club" isn't enough, freshman Chrissy Falcone (Mt. Bethel/Bangor H.S.) is yet another hard-throwing right-hander who Anselmo expects to use. Like Alwine, she also is projected as a starter in the outfield.
THE INFIELDERS
After bring a starting left fielder through her first two seasons, senior tri-captain Tennille Shenk (Mechanicsburg/Cumberland Valley H.S.) was converted into the starting catcher last season and went on to become a second-team league All-Star. She led the team in batting last season at .360 (45 of 125), and runs with 29, finishing second in fielding percentage at .987 with just three errors in 223 defensive chances. Her at-bats and hits were both the second most in a season at Susquehanna (Records: 135 at-bats, Lisa Stack, 1998; 48 hits, Dina Fornataro, 1996), while her 29 runs tied for third-most (Record: 30, Fornataro, 1997; Jen Winter, 1992). Defensively, her 205 putouts were also the second-most in a season to only Bess, while her fielding percentage was eighth-best in a season.
For her career offensively, Shenk is tied for second at Susquehanna in career hits with 114 (Record: 127, Fornataro, 1994-97), also ranking third in at-bats with 315, third in RBI with 58, and fourth in runs with 67 - sporting a career average of .362. She is tied for second all-time in fielding percentage at .969 (Record: .970, Tammi Beers, 1994-97), is sixth in putouts with 294, and sixth in defensive chances with 324.
Shenk is expected to move to first base or the outfield for certain games as freshman Trisha Moore (Wysox/Towanda H.S.) develops her skills behind the plate. Possessing the team's most powerful bat, Moore is projected as the starting shortstop and clean-up hitter for next Friday's season-opener.
The team's other senior tri-captains will vie with Shenk for time at first base in Karrah Henry (Lewistown/Lewistown H.S.) and Missy Forse (Muncy/Muncy H.S.).
Henry was the team's primary starting shortstop last season and appeared in all 40 games. She moved into the lead-off spot in the lineup by the end of the season and batted .289 (33 hits for 114) with two doubles, 10 runs batted in and 20 runs scored. She also had 11 walks and six sacrifice bunts, helping her compile a .357 on-base percentage.
She is now fourth all-time in Susque-hanna softball history in career at-bats (287), tied for sixth in stolen bases (20), eighth in runs scored (60) and hits (89), and 10th in doubles (11). Defensively, she broke the school record for career assists last season with 205, and is third in most chances accepted (382).
Forse was the team's number-four starting pitcher last season, but will exclusively play at first base this season. While she batted just six times last season, she drove in the eventual game-winning run vs. Elizabethtown which clinched the MAC tournament berth.
Sophomore Lauren Pollock (Hummelstown/Lower Dauphin H.S.) returns at second base and appeared in all 40 games last season. She batted .204 (22 of 108) with four runs batted in and 15 runs scored. She also led the team with 11 sacrifice bunts and was four for four in stolen bases. Defensively, she had a solid .938 fielding percentage, fielding 121 of 129 defensive chances cleanly. Her 71 assists were fifth-most in a season at Susque-hanna.
Another freshman will join Moore in the lineup on the right side of the infield as Shelly Zimmerman (Denver/Garden Spot H.S.) is projected as the starter at third. She "is one of the team's best defensive players" according to Anselmo and also is a solid hitter.
THE OUTFIELDERS
Junior Lisa Stack (Swoyersville/Wyoming Valley West H.S.) leads the outfield in center field, starting all 40 games there last season. A lead-off hitter at the start of the season, she broke the school record for at-bats in a season with 135 while compiling a .259 average (35 hits) which included tying the school single-season record for doubles with eight. She also had two triples and a team-best 23 runs batted in - tying for third-most in a season in program history - along with 21 runs. She also led the team in stolen bases - going a perfect 12 for 12.
On the field, she had 48 putouts and three assists against just three errors for a .944 fielding percentage.
Alwine is projected as the starting right field, with Falcone in left at the start of the season. Alwine hit .295 (28 for 95) last season with four doubles, four triples and 17 RBIs, leading the team in slugging percentage (.421).
Freshman Kathina Sheets (Montoursville/Montoursville H.S.) will also start in right during certain games this season is another solid defensive player.
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