Softball Begins 2020 Season At Home Tuesday
MEDIA, Pa. -- Penn State Brandywine will open the 2020 softball season with a four-game homestand beginning Tuesday against Swarthmore at Maple Zone.
Coming off a fifth-straight conference championship and fourth consecutive top-five finish at the USCAA World Series under Head Coach Mark Caserta, Brandywine returns six players who started 38 games or more and its top three pitchers from a season ago. Joining the returners, six of whom garnered all-conference selections in 2019, is a group of nine newcomers.
Here is a look ahead at the 2020 season:
PITCHERS AND CATCHERS:
Sophomores Cara Fabiano and Alexandra Szpindor combined to win 22 of Brandywine's 26 games as both earned all-conference honorable mention selections. Fabiano recorded 13 victories, third most in the PSUAC, and ranked eighth in the league with 57 strikeouts. She posted a 5-1 mark against PSUAC opponents during the regular season and won three of her four starts against league foes during the postseason. Szpindor was a Second Team USCAA All-American who split time between the outfield and the pitcher's circle. She posted an 8-8 record with 40 strikeouts in 22 appearances in the circle.
Classmate Rebecca Proctor was 1-1 during seven pitching appearances last season, while hitting .308 at the plate. Proctor is expected to see time in the circle as well as at first base and designated player throughout the year.
The Lions also feature three freshmen, Payton Landis, Rebecca Sorrentino and Olivia Pyke, who will see significant time at the pitcher position.
Brandywine will have a new backstop behind the plate with a trio of freshmen: Alexia Galli, Farrell Everett and Destiny Brophy, competing for playing time at the catcher spot.
INFIELD
Brandywine's infield will be strong up the middle once again with returning all-conference standouts Haley Grossi and Nikki Velez. With Grossi at second base and Velez at shortstop, Brandywine has owned the conference's top-ranked defense each of the last two seasons, while leading the league in double plays turned.
At the plate, Velez is a career .370 hitter and Grossi has batted .303 during her first two seasons at Brandywine.
On the corners, Fabiano made 17 appearances at third base last season, collecting 15 hits and 11 RBI, while Proctor, Landis and Everett will see playing time at first base. The team is also hopeful to get Arden Rabiger's bat back in the lineup as a first baseman or designated player after she missed nearly all of her freshman season due to injury. Rookie Lianna DeDios is likely slotted for third base when Fabiano does the pitching.
OUTFIELD
The Lions have a pair of first team all-conference outfielders in Rachel Cherubini and Fiona Warren. Through two seasons, Cherubini, a two-time first team performer, has racked up nearly 100 hits, needing six to reach triple digits for her career. She started every game in the outfield in 2019, collecting 33 RBI, while sitting among the league leaders in on-base percentage after topping the PSUAC with 30 walks. Warren came on strong in the second half of the season, hitting safely in 18 of her final 27 games. Overall, she batted .329 with 11 runs batted in.
When she's not pitching, Szpindor will complete the Lions' outfield. She owned one of the top bats in the league in 2019, batting .396 with 19 extra-base hits and 44 RBI. Sorrentino and classmates Elaina Bono and Katelyn Borello will also see innings in the outfield.
SCHEDULE
Brandywine is scheduled to open the season with 18 non-conference games against Division III competition. After four games this week at Maple Zone, Brandywine heads to Florida for eight games in five days against some of the top Division III schools in the nation at The Spring Games during Spring Break.
The Lions open conference play March 20 at home against archrival Penn State Hazleton, marking the first two of 12 league games against teams in the PSUAC East Division this season.
DuBois will again serve as host for the PSUAC Tournament May 1-3 and for the USCAA World Series the following week.
