Four Named All-NE10 as Softball Primes for Playoffs; Deardorff Pitcher of the Year
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass.- Four members of the
Merrimack softball team were selected to the 2011 Northeast-10
All-Conference first team, highlighted by Kelli Jo
Deardorff (Bedford, Mass.), who reeled in Pitcher of
the Year honors while also earning a spot on the first team.
Monique
Gosselin (Lawrence, Mass.), Tawny Palmieri
(Peabody, Mass.) and Jaclyn
Giovannini (Plano, Texas) all earned first team
accolades this season.
Making her first appearance on the Northeast-10 All-Conference
first team, Deardorff ranks fourth in the league with a 2.11 earned
run average. Her 159.0 innings pitched this season are good for
fifth among the conference's pitchers. She is holding opponents to
a .204 batting average this year, ranking her second in the
league.
Deardorff has racked up 120 strikeouts this spring while posting
a 17-12 record. In 31 appearances with 24 starts to her credit, the
sophomore hurler has tossed 17 complete games. She has picked up
five shutouts along the way this season while also earning two
saves.
Gosselin, a captain of the Warriors, also garners her first
career All-Conference accolades. The junior slugger led the
Northeast-10 in home runs with 14 on the year. She also ranked
third in the league with a slugging percentage of .723. Gosselin
was tops on the team with 29 runs batted in on the season while
batting .311. She started all 43 contests this spring in
centerfield and owns a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage with 45
catches and three assists.
This season, Gosselin leads the team with 36 runs scored while
ranking second with a .427 on-base percentage. She has raked 37
hits on the year with five doubles and one triple while drawing a
league-high 23 walks. On the bases, Gosselin has swiped five bases
in six attempts.
In her first season at Merrimack, Palmieri leads the team with a
.406 batting average while also ranking sixth in the Northeast-10
Conference. This year she leads the team with 54 base knocks while
driving in 27 RBIs. Palmieri has started all 43 games at third base
this spring and ranks fourth in the league with 113 assists from
the hot corner.
The sophomore is first on the team with eight stolen bases while
owning a .456 on-base percentage. With five homers and 11 doubles,
Palmieri has crossed the plate 31 times. She has also picked up 13
walks this season and boasts a .617 slugging percentage.
In her first collegiate season, Giovannini earned a spot on the
All-Conference first team. This spring she is batting .309 with 29
base hits, including four homers and four doubles. The freshman has
plated 17 runs while also scoring 14 times. She has made 33 starts
in 34 games played this season. Giovannini sports a .479 slugging
percentage and a .371 on-base percentage.
Giovannini and Keaira Monet Perry (Bellingham,
Mass.) were both selected to the All-Rookie squad
this season.
Merrimack opens the Northeast-10 Conference tournament Friday,
May 6 at 11 a.m. at Assumption College. The Warriors will take on
Adelphi in the first round after the Panthers defeated Le Moyne 1-0
in a play-in game May 3.
If Merrimack defeats Adelphi, they will play at 3 p.m. on Friday
against Southern Connecticut State, the second-seeded
team. If they lose to the Panthers, the Warriors
will play Saturday at 9 a.m. in an elimination game against the
loser of top-seeded Assumption and the winner of #4 New Haven and
#5 UMass Lowell.
Merrimack posted a 25-18 overall record during the regular
season and a 20-10 mark in the league. The Warriors finished third
in the regular season standings en route to the No. 3 seed in the
tournament.
2011 Northeast-10 Conference Softball Postseason Double
Elimination Tournament Schedule
Friday, May 6
Game 1: #4 New Haven vs. #5 UMass Lowell, 9 a.m.
Game 2: #3 Merrimack vs. #6 Adelphi, 11 a.m.
Game 3: #1 Assumption vs. Game 1 winner, 1 p.m.
Game 4: #2 Southern Connecticut vs. Game 2 winner, 3 p.m.
Saturday, May 7
Game 5: Game 2 loser vs. Game 3 loser, 9 a.m.
Game 6: Game 1 loser vs. Game 4 loser, 11 a.m.
Game 7: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 1 p.m.
Game 8: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 3 p.m.
Sunday, May 8
Game 9: Game 7 loser vs. Game 8 winner, 10 a.m.
Game 10: Game 7 winner vs. Game 9 winner, 12 p.m.
Game 11: If Necessary
