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Somerset, NJ -- The NEC’s preeminent slugger and one of the most feared conference hurlers in recent memory brought home some well deserved hardware following spectacular regular seasons.
For the second consecutive season, the NEC Softball Player of the Year award will reside in Fairfield, CT as Sacred Heart’s power-hitting junior catcher
Alyssa Gonzalez (Beaumont, CA/Beaumont) was named the best-of-the-best in the conference by the league’s head coaches.
After a truly dominant year on the mound for the regular season champs. Saint Francis U sophomore
Grace Vesco (Uniontown, OH/North Canton Hoover) was unanimously tabbed the NEC Pitcher of the Year.
CCSU also shared in the riches, winning three major honors.
Blue Devil first baseman
Paige Stringer (Monroe, WA/Monroe) put a bow on a spectacular freshman campaign with her selection as the NEC Rookie of the Year. CCSU senior
Kaitlin Paterson (Southington, CT/Southington) was recognized for her stellar defensive play at second place with the Golden Glove Award. Stringer and Paterson will enter this week’s NEC Softball Championship led by the NEC Coaching Staff of the Year. Head coach
Breanne Gleason, along with assistant
Pat Holden and volunteer
Alexis Debrosse, shared this honor after leading the Blue Devils to a 20-8 league record and their second NEC Tournament appearance in three years.
Following her ascension to superstar status this season, Fairleigh Dickinson graduate student third baseman
Madison Emerson (Porterville, CA/Porterville) won the NEC Most Improved Player honor.
No hitter was feared more this season than Gonzalez, who leads the league in a host of categories that serve as a testament to her immense power. She ranks first on the circuit with 16 homers, 41 RBI, a .910 slugging percentage and an otherworldly 1.385 OPS. A native of Beaumont, CA, Gonzalez is also hitting .370, and is second in the NEC with 18 walks and fourth with a .475 on-base percentage. Nationally, she ranks sixth in homers per game and 18th in RBI per game. This spring, Gonzalez posted a pair of multi-homer games, was named NEC Player of the Week on April 27 and enters the postseason riding a 10-game hitting streak. Defensively, the junior backstop did not commit a single error in 34 games. Gonzalez follows in the footsteps of former teammate Hailey Desrosiers, who was the NEC Player of the Year in 2019. Taylor Froelich earned the same honor for the Pioneers in 2011.
Vesco was virtually unhittable all year long for Saint Francis U, culminating with a spectacular final week that saw her named a NFCA Top Performer after leading the Red Flash to their third NEC regular season crown in four years. The sophomore out of Uniontown, OH heads into the NEC Tournament as the conference leader in a series of individual statistical categories. With a 20-3 mark, she is at the top of the leaderboard in wins, along with ERA (0.85), shutouts (12), strikeouts (174), opponent batting average (.129) and WHIP (0.73). Vesco was the NEC Pitcher of the Week a conference-best four times and was named to the NFCA National Freshman of the Year Top-30 List (the NFCA includes sophomores whose freshman seasons were cut short in 2020). While SFU was sweeping a pair of NEC title contenders last week, she steadily mowed down hitters from CCSU and LIU on her way to posting a 5-0 record with a save, allowing just five hits over 27.0 innings pitched while fanning 41 batters over a five-day stretch. In doing so, she broke the program’s single-season shutout mark, and now ranks second in SFU history in single-season wins and third in strikeouts. Vesco became the third Red Flash pitcher honored with this award in the last four years, joining Ethel Santai (2017) and Abby Trahan (2018).
Stringer started hitting bombs for the Blue Devils early and often for the resurgent Blue Devils and never let up. She wrapped the regular season with 11 dingers to lead all NEC freshmen and rank second overall. The Monroe, WA native is hitting .351 and ranks second in the conference in slugging (.753) and OPS (1.196), and fifth in RBI (34). She was a four-time NEC Rookie of the Week and two-time NEC Player of the Week. The icing on the cake for Stringer’s memorable inaugural season in New Britain was her selection to the All-NEC first team, one of just two freshmen to earn that distinction. Ashley Gerhart won the NEC Rookie of the Year award for the Blue Devils back in 2013.
Playing a flawless second base, Paterson played 35 games without committing a single miscue for a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage. The two-way star from Southington, CT recorded 52 putouts and 52 assists on the year and was part of four double plays. Paterson, who was voted onto the All-NEC first team, is the first CCSU student-athlete to claim Golden Glove honors.
The first major award winner in FDU history, Emerson’s huge jump in productivity in her fifth season was justly rewarded with the MIP accolade. She boosted her average from .320 in her last full season in 2019 to .348 in a shortened 2020 campaign to .388 this year, a figure that ranks her seventh in the NEC. Emerson, who came to FDU from Porterville, CA, also led an improved Knights club with six homers, 26 RBI, 23 runs, a .447 on-base percentage and .660 slugging percentage. The bump in power was noticeable for Emerson, who entered the year with just two career homers and a career .363 slugging percentage. She was also named to the All-NEC second team at third base.
With Gleason at the helm, CCSU turned things around in a big way this season, going from ninth place in its last full campaign in 2019 to carrying regular season title hopes into the final week of the season before settling on a third place finish and 20-8 conference mark. The Blue Devils’ .714 win percentage against NEC rivals was the highest for the program since wrapping 2015 with a 12-4 (.750) ledger. At one point, CCSU compiled a 12-game win streak and did not lose a game to a team below it in the standings all season. As the No. 3 seed, Gleason and the Blue Devils head into the postseason intent on securing the program’s third NEC Tournament title and first since 2015. The CCSU coaching staff previously won this award in 2012 and 2013, the latter of which Gleason served as an assistant before assuming head coach duties in 2014.
AWARD WINNER HIGHLIGHTS
LIU sported a league-best five first team All-NEC honorees and eight in total. Saint Francis U landed four on the first team and five overall, followed by CCSU with two players apiece on the first and second teams.
CCSU and Mount St. Mary’s made their presence felt on the 11-player All-Rookie squad with four and three recipients, respectively.
As if dealing with Vesco isn’t difficult enough, she partnered with classmate and fellow ace
Rachel Marsden (Erie, PA/McDowell) to form an unhittable duo at the top of the SFU rotation. Marsden made it a clean sweep of the first team All-NEC pitching spots after posting a 13-4 record and 1.31 ERA in the regular season. She collected two NEC Pitcher of the Week honors and an NFCA Top Performer prize.
The lone three-time All-NEC honoree is LIU graduate student outfielder
Patricia Griffin (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee), who added her second straight first team selection to second team recognition back in 2018 for the Sharks, who come off a 25-7 regular season and head into the playoffs as the No. 2 seed. She is sixth in the league with a .396 average and fourth with 31 runs scored. Griffin was joined by repeat first team selection
Alina Castillo (Sacramento, CA/Monterey Trail), a senior third basemen. Castillo paces the conference with a .455 average and .543 on-base percentage.
A host of players earned All-NEC recognition for the second time in their careers.
Moving up from the second team in 2019 to first team status this year are Saint Francis U senior third baseman
Mekenzie Saban (Pittsburgh, PA/North Hills) and Wagner graduate student utility player
Amelia Van Orman (Orange, CA/Lutheran HS of Orange County). Saban is first in the league in hits (68), runs (50), doubles (18) and total bases (100), while ranking second in hitting (.444). Van Orman finished as Wagner’s second-leading hitter (.346) and team leader in RBI (20).
LIU junior second baseman
Camryn Lyman (China Hills, CA/Chino Hills), Sacred Heart junior outfielder
Amy Petrovich (East Hanover, NJ/East Hanover) and Wagner graduate student outfielder
Zoe Bender (Glen Rock, NJ/Glen Rock) all collected second team plaudits for the second time. Lyman is hitting .376 and tops the Sharks with 32 runs scored, and Petrovich ranks second on the Pios with six homers and 26 RBI. While Lyman and Petrovich were second team honorees in 2019, Bender previously earned all-star accolades way back in 2017 when she was a freshman. Bender’s .387 average is the best mark on the Seahawks and eighth in the NEC.
CCSU junior catcher
Rian Eigenmann (Millville, NJ/Millville) earned a spot on the second team after being named to the 2019 All-Rookie team. Eigenmann is hitting .349 with five homers.
FDU landed two players on All-NEC squads for the first time since 2015 with junior pitcher
Alayna Savaglio (Middletown, NY/Minisink Valley (Flagler) joining Emerson on the second team. Savaglio led FDU’s pitching staff with a 2.75 ERA in 15 appearances.
Four freshmen were chosen as NEC all-stars, highlighted by Stringer and LIU designated player
Dallas Andrews (Santa Clarita, CA/Saugus) picking up first team honors. Saint Francis U designated player
Lexi Hernandez (Brooksville, PA/Admiral Farragut Academy) and Mount St. Mary’s utility player
Bridgette Gilliano (Buena, NJ/Buena Regional) were tabbed to the second team.
The All-NEC first team featured an at-large selection for the first time, resulting in both Castillo and Saban being honored for their MVP level seasons at third base.
About The Northeast Conference
Now in its 40th anniversary season, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of 10 institutions of higher learning located throughout seven states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to a number of the largest markets in the United States - New York (#1), Boston (#9), Baltimore (#26), Hartford/New Haven (#33) and Providence (#53). Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 24 championship sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic access to 16 different NCAA Championships. NEC member institutions include Bryant, Central Connecticut, Fairleigh Dickinson, LIU, Merrimack, Mount St. Mary’s, Sacred Heart, St. Francis Brooklyn, Saint Francis U and Wagner. For more information on the NEC, visit the league’s official website (www.northeastconference.org) and digital network (www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat, all @NECsports.