WESLEY COLLEGE WOLVERINE SOFTBALL: WEEKEND GAMES

Thursday, February 25, 2016

WEEKEND GAMES

Home games, Saturday & Sunday
Weekend promises four exciting
contests to launch the 2016 season

Ready for Wesley Wolverine fastpitch?

Four games, three teams, two doubleheaders, and one exciting fastpitch weekend rolls out Saturday at 1:00 PM on the Reynolds DuPont Softball Field, Dover, DE. The teams keep playing well into Sunday evening!

Ticket price: FREE, but the best seats go fast!

Weather forecast is promising with a mix of both nippy and warm temperatures combined with some clouds, but also bright skies, as well. Bring a coat that you may or may not need at all.

Please download the graphic below promoting the weekend contests and post it on social media so news of the weekend's opening 2016 season games are shared with as many fans as possible.

Here's a preview of what to expect on the diamond this Saturday and Sunday…

■ THE ALBRIGHT COLLEGE LIONS are coming off their first winning season since 2005, finishing last season with a 19-16 record. Albright returns nine letter winners from last year's team including All-MAC Commonwealth performers P/1B #16 Sammi O'Connor and C/1B #22 Armida Roman.

■ THE SWARTHMORE GARNET have brought back its entire pitching staff in the sophomore trio of #23 P Frankie Ponziani, #15 P Mary Olesnavich, and #20 P Emily Bowman. Key returners on offense include #9 OF Sarah Planthaber, who batted .403 with 25 hits last season, and #7 P Christen Boas Hayes, who led team with 17 RBIs.

■ THE WESLEY WOLVERINES feature talent across the field with 2015 all-conference #32 INF Kayla Fromal and #12 P Lindsay Siok. Three previous team MVPs wearing the navy and white are Fromal, #6 MI Breanna Hartman and #18 C Nina Marcano, the latter holding the conference's all-time triples record. Stalwart defense returners with hot bats are #22 C/INF Morgan Seymour, #42 INF Devin Mackay, #17 OF Casey Beall and #99 OF Lauren Hoffman. There is a four arm pitching squad ready for the circle in Siok, #9 P/OF Lily Engel, #23 P Destiny Davis, and #21 P Sydney Botsch. Plus, the Wolverines bring UMass transfer #4 MI/OF Samantha Burns and four exciting new freshmen touting impressive high school accolades: Botsch, #2 OF Kateri Peters, #8 OF Megan DiRubbio and #13 Utility Ashley Royer.

Come early on Saturday ready to cheer on our Wolverines from warmups right through to Sunday's final inning!

CLICK HERE FOR WEATHER FORECAST
CLICK HERE FOR OFFICIAL GAME TIMES & DATES

Pictured above: senior #22 C/INF Morgan Seymour (Smyrna, DE).

ABOUT WESLEY COLLEGE...

www.wesley.edu

► DELAWARE'S OLDEST PRIVATE COLLEGE. Founded in 1873, Wesley College is a leading liberal arts college located in the heart of historic Dover, Delaware, the capital city of the First State.

► PER US NEWS &

WORLD REPORT…

► WESLEY COLLEGE ENROLLMENT

numbers 1,600 undergraduates (48% male; 52% female). Setting: city/ historic Dover/ 50 acre campus. Division III.

Click on photo above for data & report. See also IES / TBS / Wesley College Fast Facts.

► WESLEY COLLEGE CAMPUS...

CLICK HERE to enlarge graphic above. CLICK HERE for second campus map.

► WESLEY COLLEGE

SPORTS LINKS...

Composite: Athletics calendar

WESLEY MEN'S SPORTS: Baseball / Basketball / Football / Lacrosse / Golf / Soccer / Tennis / Track&Field /

Cross Country

WESLEY WOMEN'S SPORTS: Basketball / Cheer / Cross Country /

Tennis / Field Hockey / Lacrosse /

Soccer / Softball / Tennis / Track & Field / Volleyball

THE WESLEY MASCOT
is a feisty wolverine.

Now, a wolverine is nothing like a wolf. Instead, it more closely resembles a small bear. The wolverine has a reputation for ferocity and strength out of proportion to its size, with the documented ability to defend itself against prey many times larger than itself.

THE GRITTY WOLVERINE
is a apt mascot. The Wolverines play in a conference where most teams have undergratuate student bodies 2X and 3X the size of Wesley College.

CLICK HERE for the blog featuring the Wally Wolverine profile.

TOP ROW, L-to-R: Morgan, Kateri, Devin, Sydney, Ashley, Lauren, Lindsay. MIDDLE ROW, L-to-R: Samantha, Destiny, Casey, Kasey, Nina. BOTTOM ROW, L-to-R: Breanna, Megan, Lily, Kayla.

SOFTBALL PROSPECTS...
♦ CLICK HERE to submit a softball prospect questionnaire form.
♦ CLICK HERE for the blog post about the advantages of the DIII sports program.

♦ CLICK HERE for a second, similar blog post promoting DIII sports program.

♦ CLICK HERE for the Feb. 2015 blog entry about division III college athletic stats; # of schools, teams, undergrads, etc.

♦ CLICK HERE for Feb. 2016 blog entry about why successful women in like more often played sports.

SOFTBALL CAMP: Every Fall, a Wolverine Softball Skills & Prospect Camp is held on the Wesley campus. The camp is designed for skilled softball players to advance their level of play and showcase their abilities for Wesley college coaches. High school freshman-to-seniors are welcome.

CLICK HERE for last year's (Nov. 21, 2015) prospect camp brochure.

Click on the arrow below for a photo slideshow of a previous year's camp...

GO WOLVERINES!

SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT "BIOS" & "PROFILES" OF WOLVERINE SOFTBALL PLAYERS.

Each player has a “bio” and a separate “profile”. Bios appear at the Wesley College softball homepage. Profiles are published at this blog. See below for links to bios and profiles under the photo of each player.

Players can change or update their PROFILE at any time by writing to this blog at WesleySoftball@gmail.com. New team members are encouraged to submit a profile about yourself. A profile form is at www.sites.google.com/site/wolverineprofileform

MEET THE 2016 WOLVERINES

WESLEY WOLVERINES ARE EXCITING!

The team can boast of a record breaking 2015 spring season that tallied 23 total wins, including 11 straight victories, 5 straight shutouts won, and 32 straight scoreless innings pitched!

In 2016, the team went on to tally 5 CAC wins, best ever for the Wolverines, battling in one of the toughest conferences in the nation!

● CAPTAINS: Seniors Morgan Seymour, Kayla Fromal, Breanna Hartman, Juniors Lindsay Siok, Nina Marcano.

● NEW TO TEAM: Sophomore Samantha Burns, Freshmen Ashley Royer, Kateri Peters, Sydney Botsch.

● 2015 ALL CONFERENCE: Kayla Fromal, Lindsay Siok.

● 2016 TOUGHEST OUT: Sam Burns.

● 2016 PITCHER OF THE YEAR: Lindsay Siok.

● 2016 DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Breanna Hartman.

● 2016 MOST IMPROVED PLAYER: Casey Beall.

● 2016 ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Ashey Royer.

● 2016 MVP: Nina Marcano.

● 2015 MVP: Breanna Hartman.

● 2014: MVP: Nina Marcano.

● 2013: MVP: Kayla Fromal.

● RECORDS BEING BROKEN: Junior Nina Marcano is the current school AND conference all-time triples leader.

THE CHALLENGE OF FASTPITCH SOFTBALL

CLICK ON the small video box BELOW for VIDEO summary...

ESPN analysis...

Softball: bursts of speed, action, forcing attention, fast reactions

According to ESPN, here is college softball by the numbers...

► SOFTBALL FIELD is (7,200 sq. ft.) 43% size of baseball field (16,700 sq. ft.) -- base paths 60 ft. vs. baseball's 90 ft. -- which means every player is constantly on the move, potentially being part of every play, while all the action is within easy purview of every spectator's seat.

► SOFTBALL PITCHING RUBBER is just 43 ft. from home vs. baseball's 60.5 ft., but a windmill pitcher releases the ball 37 ft. away to hurl a ball that can reach the plate as fast as 0.35 seconds later (faster than it takes a 100 mph baseball from its 55 ft. release point to reach its batter).

► SOFTBALL BATTER can have just 0.350 seconds to locate and identify a pitch, compared to 0.395 seconds for hard ball (and, then, she has as little as 0.025 seconds to decide whether to swing!)

► SOFTBALL BATTED BALL can come off the bat at speeds up to 100 mph. A shortstop may have only 0.61 seconds to react.

► SOFTBALL INFIELDERS facing shorter base paths must get the batted ball to first in less than 3.2 seconds. That's more than a full second faster than how a typical major league must successfully perform to fire a baseball to first (4.3 seconds).

► SOFTBALL SLAP-HITTERS can reach speeds of 19 mph, racing home to first in as little as 2.66 seconds. A third base fielder can take no more than 1.5 seconds (or throw faster than 100 mph) to record that out.

► SOFTBALL BASE STEALERS -- despite softball rules against leading off -- can get from first to second in as little as 3 seconds. On average, a softball catcher must react 1/10 of a second faster than her major league counterpart.