Six Members Of Brandywine Softball Earn All-PSUAC Recognition

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Hours before claiming a fourth-straight Penn State University Athletic Conference championship on Monday evening, six student-athletes from the Penn State Brandywine softball team earned All-PSUAC honors as announced by the league office.

Brandywine placed a league-high three players on the all-conference first team - Alexa Anderson (West Deptford, N.J./West Deptford), Rachel Cherubini (Pottstown, Pa./Pottsgrove) and Arianna Segich (Ocean City, N.J./Ocean City), while Katie DeStefano (Kennett Square, Pa./Kennett) and Katy Steffen (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West) earned second team honors and Haley Grossi (Monmouth Junction, N.J./South Brunswick) landed honorable mention laurels.

Anderson stands two runs batted in shy of tying Steffen's single-season RBI record of 51 set in 2015 after leading the conference and finishing second nationally by driving in 49 runs. She also tied for the team lead with 48 hits and seven home runs, while collecting 18 knocks that went for extra bases. Entering the USCAA World Series, Anderson owns a 12-game hitting streak and has recorded at least three hits in nine of the team's last 16 games.

This weekend, Anderson .727 (8-11) with two home runs, eight RBI and six runs scored during three games at the PSUAC Tournament.

Cherubini matched Anderson for the team lead in hitting after batting .505 this spring with 48 total hits. She hit safely in 24-of-28 games, including a program record-setting 18-game hitting streak from March 12-April 20. In 95 at-bats, Cherubini put the ball in play 92 times, striking out on just three occasions all season.

She also ranked second on the team with 40 runs scored, while standing third in RBI with 35.

The team's leadoff hitter in all 28 games, Segich set the table for the offense all spring, scoring a team-best 45 runs, also the second-highest total among PSUAC players. She matched Anderson and Cherubini with 48 hits, while also tying for the team lead by blasting seven home runs. In addition, Segich stole 23 bases in 24 attempts, giving her 97 stolen bases for her career.

Segich will bring a 15-game hitting streak into the USCAA World Series, having recorded multi-hit efforts in 13 of those games.

DeStefano pitched in 25 of Brandywine's 28 games, firing complete games during each appearance. She set a single-season team record with 20 victories and is the only pitcher in the USCAA to have reached the 20-win mark this spring. Among PSUAC pitchers, DeStefano ranks third in both strikeouts (94) and innings pitched (138.0). Earlier this spring, DeStefano became Brandywine's first pitcher to ever fan 200 batters in a career.

She also hit .452 in 42 at-bats, collecting two home runs and 17 RBI. DeStefano became the latest member of Brandywine's 100-hit club after reaching triple digits during the Lions' 14-2 championship game victory over Penn State Schuylkill on Monday.

In addition, DeStefano was named as the John Fritz Sportsmanship Award winner. Named after former PSUAC Commissioner John Fritz, the sportsmanship award is given to one player from each team in the league who best displays the core values of the league and sportsmanship to teammates and opponents throughout the season.

Steffen also reached 100 career hits in 2018, 42 of which came this season. She batted .488 over 28 games, while ranking second on the team in RBI with 42 and scoring 33 runs. Steffen topped all PSUAC players with seven triples and 25 extra-base hits, while tying for the team lead with seven home runs.

Grossi started all 28 games at second base during her freshman season, batting .368 with 28 hits, including 17 that went for extra bases. She blasted four home runs and ranked second on the team with 10 doubles. Grossi also tallied 23 runs batted in, while crossing home 28 times.

Brandywine will be the No. 5 seed and match up with No. 4 NHTI during the first round of next week's USCAA World Series on Monday at 2:00 PM.