Complete Release (PDF)
NEW YORK – The 10 Skyline Conference softball coaches have voted on their 2017 all-conference team, and College of Mount Saint Vincent pitcher/shortstop Rachel Heizer (Jr./Vacaville, Calif.) has been tabbed as Player of the Year.
For the third time in as many seasons, Mount Saint Mary College junior Cindy Connoly (Walden, N.Y.) was selected as Pitcher of the Year, while Farmingdale State College freshman second baseman Jessica Lombardo (Levittown, N.Y.) was tabbed as Rookie of the Year. Mount Saint Mary fourth-year mentor Jessica Mushel was named Coach of the Year by her peers for the third straight campaign.
In 95 innings in the pitcher’s circle, Heizer registered a 2.87 ERA with 69 strikeouts. At the dish, her .741 slugging percentage ranked second in the conference and No. 54 nationally, while she ranked fifth in the Skyline with a .446 batting average.
Connoly ranks No. 15 in Division III with an 8.8 strikeouts per seven innings average(176 K total), and compiled a 1.65 ERA to go with a 13-7 record entering the NCAA Division III Softball Championship.
Lombardo batted .333 with a team-best 22 RBI, and reached base at a .423 clip after drawing 16 walks. She picked up nine extra-base hits on the season, including three home runs – tying for the second-highest mark in the Skyline.
Mushel has now won three Coach of the Year titles in a row, and the 2017 Knights outfit has registered a 27-12 record after capturing last weekend’s Skyline title for the second-straight campaign. Entering this coming weekend’s NCAA Division III Softball Championship, she has put together a career record of 89-49 (.645). Mushel is a 2010 graduate of Siena College, where the Hyde Park, N.Y., native was a three-year starter in the middle infield for the Saints. She earned a master’s degree in literacy from MSMC in 2012.
Connoly and Heizer are joined on the first team by: Sierra Cardenales of Farmingdale State College; Courtney Barbara, Nicolette Moustouka, Shannon Sommer and Michelle Surdan of Mount Saint Mary; Samantha Broo of Mount Saint Vincent; Lisa Kentris of SUNY Purchase College; Alexa Silk of The Sage Colleges; Paige Csikortos and Kristin Ferrigno of St. Joseph’s College-Brooklyn; Kristen Arbiter and Theresa Cardello of St. Joseph’s College-Long Island; and Taryn Penna of Sarah Lawrence College.
Garnering second-team accolades along with Lombardo are: Kimberly Basile and Alexa Luna of Farmingdale State; Amanda Almodovar of Mount Saint Mary; Katie Moos of Mount Saint Vincent; Gabriella Valdes of SUNY Old Westbury; Jessica Adams, Allison Ford, Amy Hart and Katy Rimawi of Sage; and Victoria Mahoney and Amber Wainwright of St. Joseph’s-Brooklyn.