SBALL has three named All-BIG EAST
5/9/2013 12:00:00 AM | Softball
TAMPA, FLA. – The Seton Hall University softball team had three student-athletes named All-BIG EAST it was announced Wednesday evening at the 2013 BIG EAST Softball Championship banquet in Tampa, Fla.
Junior second baseman Maria DeLuca (Cedar Grove, N.J.) and sophomore pitcher and designated player Danielle DeStaso (Congers, N.Y.) were named Second-Team All-BIG EAST, while senior shortstop Brittany Hammer (Manheim, Pa.) received Third-Team All-BIG EAST accolades.
It is the first time in their careers the players received all-conference recognition and Wednesday night marked the first time since 2009 Seton Hall has landed a softball student-athlete on any of the All-BIG EAST squads. The 2005 season was the last time the Pirates had two players receive at least second-team all-conference honors when they had four overall award recipients including a pair of first-team nods.
DeLuca is enjoying a magnificent junior campaign for Seton Hall as she ranks second on the team with a .351 average, seven home runs, eight doubles, a .547 slugging percentage and a team-leading 39 RBI, which ranks as the sixth most in a single season in Seton Hall history. Against BIG EAST competition she is hitting .377 with five homers and a team-high 21 RBI and a .672 slugging percentage.
DeLuca landed on the BIG EAST Softball Weekly Honor Roll in back-to-back weeks on April 22 and April 29, the first two weekly all-conference awards of her career.
The first conference honor followed a week in which she hit .467 with a home run and three RBI as the Pirates secured a 2-1 series victory at Syracuse. DeLuca’s second appearance on the honor roll came after she hit .417 with a pair of homers, five RBI and five runs scored as she helped the Pirates post a 2-2 record against USF and Connecticut, including a 2-1 series victory over the Huskies.
DeStaso has been one of the Pirates’ offensive and pitching leaders throughout the season. She ranks first on the team in nearly every pitching category including wins (14), strikeouts (163) and innings pitched (173.0), and her nine home runs and .556 slugging percentage also lead Seton Hall.
Her season started off with a bang as she landed on the conference weekly honor roll on the very first week of the year after hitting .692 with a 1.385 slugging percentage in the season opening tournament at Campbell University. She also set three Seton Hall single-game records that week, batting 5-for-5 with seven RBI and 11 total bases in a win over St. Bonaventure.
DeStaso’s nine home runs rank sixth in a single season in Seton Hall history and she is fifth all-time with 173 innings pitched and 163 strikeouts and ninth with 37 RBI.
Hammer has enjoyed one of the most productive careers in Seton Hall history as her name will be found throughout the school record books after she graduates in May. This year she has started all 50 games for the Pirates at shortstop and ranks first on the team with 37 runs scored and nine doubles.
Hammer really raised her game in BIG EAST play where she is batting a Seton Hall best .386 with five doubles, 16 runs scored and a team-high .507 on-base percentage.
Just this past week she received BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll recognition for the first time this season after hitting .500 with nine runs scored, three doubles and a triple in a 3-3 week for Seton Hall, which featured a 2-1 series victory at Georgetown to conclude the regular season.
In that series she hit .667, including a 4-for-4, four run performance in a 14-1 win last Saturday, and she recorded a double and a run scored in the Pirates’ 2-1 season finale, a victory that helped the team clinch a spot in the BIG EAST Championship.
Heading into the BIG EAST Tournament Hammer ranks sixth in Seton Hall history with a .311 career batting average, seventh with 29 doubles and eighth in hits (161) and runs scored (93).
Seton Hall wrapped up the regular season with a 21-29 overall record and an 8-13 mark in BIG EAST play to secure its first appearance in the conference tournament since 2009. The eight BIG EAST victories are the most for the Pirates since 2010.
Seton Hall is the No. 8 seed in the BIG EAST Tournament and will face No. 1 seed Notre Dame in the conference quarterfinals on Thursday, May 9, at the USF Softball Stadium in Tampa, Fla. First pitch is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. The game will be webcast at bigeast.tv.
