Teams: Softball: Press Releases

Thursday, May 10, 2007

SIX JUMBOS VOTED FOR ALL-CONFERENCE AWARDS BY NESCAC COACHES

MEDFORD -- The Tufts University softball team's New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) championship won last weekend at home on Spicer Field has been followed by the conference office's announcement today that six members of the Jumbo program have received All-Conferenec awards. The Conference's 10 head coaches vote for a First and Second Team, along with Player, Rookie and Coach of the Year.

Four Tufts players have been named to the 11-player All-NESCAC First Team: junior P/1B/DP Erica Bailey (Scottsdale, AZ/Chaparral), sophomore pitcher Lauren Gelmetti (Westfield, NJ/Westfield), sophomore 3B Samantha Kuhles (Somerville, NJ/Rutgers Prep) and first-year 2B/SS Casey Sullivan (Berlin, CT/Suffield Academy). The four First Teamers are the most from any team in the league. Junior catcher Megan Cusick (Albany, NY/Albany) was picked to the Second Team. Fourth-year head coach Cheryl Milligan was chosen as the Coach of the Year by her peers for the second time in three seasons. Sullivan was also named the NESCAC Rookie of the Year. This year marked the first time in seven seasons that the NESCAC Player of the Year was not a Jumbo. It went to Trinity's Sara Dougherty.

Bailey is one of the league's best two-way players. At bat, she's eighth in NESCAC with a .400 batting average to go with 21 runs batted in. In the pitcher's circle, Bailey is the team's first starter and has a record of 6-4 with a 3.73 earned run average and 48 strikeouts in 62 innings heading into the NCAA Tournament. She was 2-0 with a 1.02 earned run average in two starts against NESCAC East Division opponents, and hit .414 with 10 RBIs in 10 divisional games. Gelmetti was 3-1 against NESCAC East foes, including a five-inning no-hitter versus Colby on April 28. She struck out 26 in 26 innings in the division, and led the Jumbos staff with 62 K's overall. Her 8-2 overall record is the most wins on the Jumbo staff and goes with a 2.16 era.

Entering the NCAA Tournament, Kuhles already owned the Tufts record for hits in a season with her 61 this spring, and for doubles in a season with 14. She's been the catalyst at the top of the Tufts batting order, hitting .427 with 36 runs scored. She made just one error in 12 NESCAC East Division games at third base for a .969 fielding percentage to go with a .419 batting average in those games. With 2006 NESCAC Player of the Year Danielle Lopez (Danvers, MA/Danvers) out for the season with a knee injury, the whole team needed to pick up the slack. One of the players to do so the most was Sullivan, who was a terror at the plate and smooth in the field. Sullivan is hitting .429 with nine home runs, 42 runs scored and 43 RBIs in her inaugural season, and made just nine errors at second base and shortstop as the only Jumbo to start all 39 games. She is third in the league in hitting, second behind Kuhles in hits, first in runs scored, first by 10 in RBIs, first in home runs and first by 15 in total bases. She produced one of the great offensive single-seasons in Jumbo history. Cusick, a junior tri-captain, is the team's anchor behind the plate and a key component at the dish. She threw out 11 would-be base-stealers and had just three passed balls while making 32 starts at catcher. Offensively, she hit .340 with 17 runs scored and 14 RBIs.

The Jumbos won their first NESCAC title under Milligan this spring, and are making their second straight NCAA Tournament appearance. She has built a team loaded with young talent that should be a force in the New England region for years to come. Also Coach of the Year in 2005, the former Tufts shortstop coached a team that out-scored their NESCAC East Division opponents 85-14 this spring. The Jumbos were ranked second in batting average (.346), second in fielding percentage (.952) and third in earned run average (2.67) overall in NESCAC. After today's 3-0 NCAA Tournament win against Emerson, the Jumbos (29-11) are on the verge of the second 30-win season in their 23-year history.

This marks the third straight year that Cusick and Bailey have been All-NESCAC players. Cusick was on the First Team in 2005 and 2006, and Bailey was on the Second Team in each of those years. Kuhles was a First Team selection last season.

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