WESLEY COLLEGE WOLVERINE SOFTBALL: TRAVELING TO FLORIDA

Thursday, March 3, 2016

TRAVELING TO FLORIDA

NEXT STOP: CLERMONT, FLORIDA!

The Wesley Wolverines are playing in the world's largest collegiate softball tournament, Florida's The Spring Games, March 6 -11. The team is traveling by Amtrak Auto Train, leaving the station on Friday, March 4.

► BRIEF BLOG PAUSE

Many parents, friends and fans are joining them, including THIS BLOG, who, ONLY TEMPORARILY, while away, WILL HALT NEW POSTS TO THIS SITE.

In the meantime, please browse through this blog's almost 550 news items about the 2016 team. These entries date back to last July 2015. The blog's two side columns also contain a great deal of information about Wesley College and fastpitch softball, especially aimed at prospects considering a DIII opportunity.

► CHECK BACK FOR NEW POSTS IN ABOUT 12 DAYS

The week after next, look for lots of NEW action photographs from the Florida games as well as continued coverage of the Wolverines' season posted here on our return.

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.