Thursday, June 26, 2008
SEVEN FROM EASTERN NAMED ECAC SPRING ALL-STARS
Softball outfielder Ashley Sullivan selected to All-New England first team
WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Sophomore centerfielder Ashley Sullivan (Trumbull) was named to the ECAC Division III New England Softball All-Star first team and was joined by six additional Eastern Connecticut State University second-team selections in the sports of softball, baseball and men’s lacrosse.
Additional ECAC all-star softball selections from Eastern were sophomore shortstop Kim Church (Farmington) and junior first baseman Rachel Denny (East Haddam).
Senior right-handed pitcher Jimmy Jagodzinski (Greenwich), junior pitcher/DH Shawn Gilblair (Windham) and sophomore shortstop Melvin Castillo (Danbury) represented Eastern on the ECAC all-star baseball team, while senior midfielder Pete Hamilton (Rutland, VT) was named to the ECAC all-star men’s lacrosse team.
Previously recognized as a first-team selection to the NFCA All-New England Region team, Sullivan batted a team-high .456 (three hundredths of a percentage point shy of Sarah Marchetti’s season mark of .459) in leading the softball team to its New England-record 15th NCAA Division III tournament last month and a final record of 28-14. She was additionally honored this year as a first-team All-Little East Conference selection and was one of three Eastern selections to the NCAA Division III New York Regional all-tournament team.
Sullivan was hitless in her first ten at-bats of the season but later responded by hitting .506 over the 32 games after the team returned from its spring trip to Tucson. She hit safely in 14 straight games prior to the final game of the year and matched Church with a team-high 16 multiple-hit games. As a freshman last year, Sullivan hit just .208.
Church was also a first-team all-conference selection. The team’s leadoff hitter, Church started all 42 games, batted .392 and led the team in assists (91) and was second in doubles (14). She was also 8-for-8 in stolen bases.
Denny was a second-team all-conference pick at first base and was named to the regional all-tournament team.No Division III player in New England exceeded her program record of 11 home runs, which were three more than the career record which she had shared entering the season. Denny, second to Sullivan among regulars with a .408 batting average, also broke the 20-year-old program season record for slugging percentage (.783) and the 16-year-old record for RBI (50).
Baseball trio recognized
A third-team All-America pick as a freshman in 2007, Castillo was a second-team All-Little East Conference selection behind conference Player-of-the-Year Chris Burleson this year. The only Eastern player to start all 48 games this year, Castillo batted .354 with 11 home runs (one behind Gilblair) and led the team in total bases (122), RBI (56), runs (60), stolen bases (20) and assists (125). In the NCAA Division III New York Regional Tournament, Castillo led the Warriors with 11 hits – four of them doubles and three of them home runs – and also topped all Eastern players by scoring ten runs and driving in nine. The No. 3 hitter in the lineup, Castillo led the Warriors with 16 multiple-RBI games and was second with 22 multiple-hit games.
The 2007 national Player-of-the-Year and a first-team All-America, Gilblair was selected to the All-New England Region team at the DH position and to the ECAC all-star team in the utility slot. Hampered by an assortment of knee, elbow and shoulder injuries, as well as by a hamstring pull, Gilblair was limited to four pitching starts (1-3, 3.70) but still managed to lead the team in batting (.403) and slugging average (.742), and in home runs (12). He was second to Castillo in RBI (43) and was also named to the regional all-tournament team.
Last year, Giblair and Castillo were first-team All-ECAC picks. Gilblair was also named ECAC Pitcher-of-the-Year.
A senior with junior eligibility, Jagodzinski led the 32-15-1 Warriors in wins (9) and innings (79 1/3) and shared the staff lead with two complete games en route to second-team all-conference honors. Jagodzinski, who is 19-5 lifetime, started 11 games for the second straight year, striking out 72 and walking only 13. His totals for wins, innings and strikeouts are personal career-highs. Jagodzinski, who did not walk a batter in six of his 13 appearances this year, threw a complete-game seven-hitter in his only regional tournament start -- a 5-1 third-round win over Ohio Wesleyan University.
Hamilton has career season
In addition to being honored by the ECAC for the first time, Hamilton participated in the 33rd Annual New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (NEILA) East-West Senior All-Star Game last month. This year, Hamilton set personal career-bests for goals (36), assists (13), points (49) and shot percentage (.305) in helping the 10-7 Warriors finish as unbeaten regular-season conference champions for the sixth time in eight years. He is the only four-time, first-team All-Little East Conference selection in program history (the conference began sponsoring men's lacrosse in 2001).
Sports Hotline
860-465-5756
