Sophomore Megan Staudle earned All-Conference first team accolades last season after hitting .368 with seven doubles and eight home runs. |
Skyhawks scheduled to open season against Dominican on March 8th in Clermont, Fla.
EASTON, Mass. (February 12, 2014) – Stonehill College has been picked to finish second in the Northeast Division of the Northeast-10 Conference Softball Preseason Coaches' Poll the league released today. Stonehill received one first-place vote and 83 total, second only to Southern New Hampshire University's 104 votes. The University of New Haven and Adelphi University tied for the top spot in the Southwest Division, with 80 votes apiece.
Stonehill is coming off a 25-25-1 season, including a 16-12-1 mark in NE-10 play and an 11-9-1 record in Northeast divisional action. The Skyhawks put together a season-best eight-game winning streak from March 30th to April 7th, and won an NE-10 Championship first round contest against Saint Anselm College before falling to New Haven in the second round.
Stonehill returns three student-athletes that have garnered NE-10 All-Conference honors during their careers, senior Lindsay McKillop (East Meadow, N.Y./East Meadow), and sophomores Megan Staudle (New Windsor, N.Y./Cornwall Central) and Megan Ruonavaara (Rocky Hill, Conn./Rocky Hill).
Sophomore Megan Ruonavaara was named to the NE-10 All-Rookie team in 2013 after going 15-12 with a 2.97 ERA in 172 innings pitched. |
McKillop collected All-Conference second team accolades as a sophomore in 2012 after hitting .355 with a team-best four home runs and 32 runs batted in. She also posted a 5-4 record with a 3.60 earned run average as a pitcher that season. Last year, McKillop hit .311 with 47 hits, 22 runs, eight home runs, nine doubles, and 33 RBI. Her double, home run, and RBI totals all ranked second on the team in 2013.
Staudle put together one of the best offensive seasons in Stonehill history last year as a freshman, earning All-Conference first team and All-Rookie team honors in the process. She led the team with 60 hits, the third-highest total in program history, and 38 runs, a single-season program record. Staudle started 48 of 51 games for the Skyhawks, hitting .368 with 60 hits, including seven doubles and eight home runs.
Ruonavaara established herself as Stonehill's top pitcher during her freshman campaign, as she was named to the 2013 NE-10 All-Rookie team after posting a record of 15-12 with a 2.97 earned run average and 107 strikeouts in 172 innings. She also had success at the plate, hitting .295 with four doubles, six home runs, 22 RBI, and 18 runs scored.
Stonehill is scheduled to open its 2014 campaign with a doubleheader against Dominican (N.Y.) College on Saturday, March 8th in Clermont, Fla. as part of the Dot Richardson Spring Games. The Skyhawks will return to Fr. Gartland Field to host NE-10 rival Bentley University in their home opener on Tuesday, March 25th.
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