Season wrap up
ESU Softball
1999 (5-31)
With seven freshmen and three sophomores
among the 11 starters, East Stroudsburg had its youngest softball team ever
during the 1999 season.
The Warriors improved throughout the season,
but still were overmatched by more experienced teams in finishing only 5-31.
There was talent among the youngsters, however, and as they mature and develop,
the ESU team should become competitive again in the future.
The only veterans were senior shortstop
Heather Gentilucci and senior pitcher Kristy Richter.
Gentilucci enjoyed an outstanding senior
season and made the All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division
second team for the second straight year. She batted .344 with 31 hits in 90
at-bats. She belted nine doubles, had one triple and one homer and scored a
team-leading 21 runs. A three-year starter, she batted .300 each year and had a
career batting average of .327.
Richter had a frustrating season which ended
prematurely because of an injury. She pitched a four-hitter in a 2-1 win over
West Chester and kept the team close in many losing efforts including a 2-1
loss to Shippensburg. She finished with 28 career victories.
The team had one other .300 batter in
freshman second baseman Deana Geist, who hit .310 with 31 hits in 100 attempts.
Richter, who was the team's designated hitter when she wasn't pitching, was
next at .279 followed by freshman first baseman `Nifer Shaw and sophomore
outfielder Ashleigh Reinert, both at .278. Richter and Reinert were the team
leaders in runs-batted-with 11.
Other regulars were catcher Michelle
Salerno, leftfielder Sarah Kaplan, centerfielder Jill Higgins and all-around
player Tara Greig, all freshmen, and sophomore third baseman Aishling Stevens.
Greig scored 17 runs and drove in seven and had a plus walk-to-strikeout ratio
of nine to eight.
Sophomore Mandi Clark was the team's other
regular pitcher and won two games while freshman Mardelle Swoyer started after
Richter's injury and also had two wins including a four-hitter over West
Chester.
Updated 5/18/99