2011 Dominican College Softball Season Summary
The 2011 Dominican College Lady Chargers softball team had another very successful season under Head Coach Joe Burbridge. The team finished the season with an overall record of 35-18 and a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) record of 19-7. DC won their second consecutive CACC Tournament Title and earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA East Regional Tournament, thus making their third consecutive NCAA East Regional appearance. DC was also in the NCAA East Region Rankings all season.
The Lady Chargers were seeded third in the CACC Tournament and faced the sixth seed, Post University in first round action. DC came away with a 4-0 victory to advance into the winner’s bracket of the tournament and took on the seventh-seeded Deacons of Bloomfield College. After posting a 6-3 victory Dominican advanced to the semi-finals of the tournament where they faced the top seed, Georgian Court University. In the semi-finals, the Lady Chargers won 6-2 to earn their second straight appearance in the CACC Championship. The team squared off again against GCU and took the title home with a 7-4 victory.
Dominican earned the fifth seed, which was the program’s highest seeding, in the NCAA East Regional Tournament, hosted by the top-seeded Lions of Dowling College. In opening round action, DC faced the fourth seed, Southern Connecticut State University and suffered a tough 1-0 to fall into the loser’s bracket of the tournament. In a elimination game, DC went against the top seed and came away with a thrilling 1-0 victory. The lone run of the game came in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Lady Chargers earned their first victory ever in NCAA Regional play. Once again faced in an elimination game, Dominican fell to SCSU 5-2 to end their season.
Sophomore pitcher Delaney Childers led the Chargers on the mound with a 21-7 record this season. In 199.0 innings pitched, she allowed 67 runs (42 earned) and struck out 185 batters. She finished the season with an ERA of 1.48 and opponents batted .285 against her. She threw 25 complete games and recorded nine strikeouts. She was named to the All-CACC First Team, the 2011 CACC Softball Tournament Most Valuable Player (MVP), the All-Tournament Team and earned Daktronics All-East Region Second Team accolades. At the plate, Childers finished with a .302 average.
Shortstop Julie Plante led the Charger offense with a .356 average this season. She also led the team in on-base percentage (.409), hits (63) and runs scored (26). She finished tied for second on the team in doubles (10) and was second in slugging percentage (.441). For her efforts, she was named to the All-CACC First Team after starting all 53 games for the Lady Chargers this season.
Catcher Ashley Corrao finished the year with a .313 batting average to and led the team with five home runs. She finished second on the team in hits (50) and runs batted in (RBIs) with 25 and led the Lady Chargers with a .456 slugging percentage in 51 games played.
Pitcher Katrina Pistilli finished the season with a 14-9 record and a 2.65 ERA. During the season, she earned her 43rd career victory, in a 5-4 victory over Caldwell College, to break the school's previous record of 42 career victories set by Christine Stathes in 2008.
Junior left-fielder, Ashley Martinez, had fine year with a .308 average and a .931 fielding percentage. She led the team in stolen bases, while drawing 16 walks on the season. Rookie Paige Berzak had a stellar year with a .308 batting average and a team leading .991 fielding percentage as the everyday first basemen. Both players started all 53 games in their respective positions.
The Lady Chargers will return a veteran squad for the 2012 campaign as they will not lose a player to graduation.
