Brandywine Opens USCAA World Series Monday Versus NHTI
AKRON, Ohio -- Penn State Brandywine will make its first-ever appearance at the USCAA Softball World Series on Monday when the Lions begin the double-elimination tournament as the third seed against No. 6 New Hampshire Technical Institute in Akron, Ohio at 2:00 pm.
Brandywine (22-10) earned the automatic bid from the PSUAC after claiming the conference tournament championship last week in State College. The Lions won all three games at the tournament, including a pair of comeback victories over Penn State Hazleton. After spotting Hazleton a 5-0 lead during the championship game, the Lions rattled off 11-straight runs and held on for an 11-8 triumph.
In just two years as a varsity program, Head Coach Mark Caserta has turned the team into a national power as Brandywine enters the tournament ranked third in the USCAA. Brandywine posted a 14-0 conference record during the regular season, outscoring its opponents 179-25, and won 11-straight and 16-of-17 games during a month-long stretch in the middle of the year.
In 32 games, Brandywine averaged nearly nine runs per outing (8.8) and held a 3.60 team earned run average. Katy Steffen led the Lions' potent offensive attack with seven home runs and 47 runs batted in, while Robyn Gannon topped the squad in batting average (.433) and on-base percentage (.464) and drove in 33 runs. Lindsey Dellavecchio, the Lions' leadoff hitter, stole 15 bases, the eighth-highest total nationally, and batted .404.
Brandywine pitching staff is led by Katie DeStefano, who went 9-6 in the circle with a 2.23 ERA and team-high 78 strikeouts. DeStefano fired seven shutouts and five one-hitters during 16 starts. Danielle Spina posted a 12-3 record and pitched a team-high 89.1 innings, striking out 50.
Brandywine is also solid defensively as it holds the third-best fielding percentage nationally at .955.
The Lions will face NHTI for the first time in history. The Lynx feature the nation's leading hitter in Masha Lange (.706) and the strikeout leader in the USCAA, pitcher Tori Lemay (196), and enter Monday's contest having won 16 consecutive games.
Brandywine owns a 4-2 record against teams competing at the world series. The Lions defeated Hazleton four times during the regular season and dropped a pair of tightly-contested games to second-seeded Carlow in Florida on March 9.
St. Mary of the Woods (Indiana) earned the top seed and will face the winner of an opening-round game featuring No. 8 Berea and No. 9 Penn State Schuylkill. The first victory in program history for Brandywine came against St. Mary of the Woods, which is an eight-time USCAA softball champion, last season in Florida.
Additional first round games have Carlow playing the winner of the No. 7 St. Joseph's (Brooklyn)-No. 10 Cincinnati-Clermont game and No. 5 Penn State Hazleton battling No. 4 Briarcliffe.
The USCAA World Series begins Monday morning and runs through Thursday's title game at Firestone Stadium, the home of the National Pro Fastpitch's Akron Racers.
