Thursday, March 23, 2017

2 BIG DOUBLEHEADERS

Pictured, from top, Wesley Wolverine freshman #11 C Alyssa Zimmerman (Hagerstown, MD) and freshman #23 UT Brooke Retkowski (Baltimore, MD).

Key links: DuPont Softball Field / Wesley Wolverines / Christopher Newport Captains / Delaware Valley Aggies. Saturday's doubleheader contests are the Wolverines first Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) games this 2017 season.

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.

WESLEY LINKS:

► HOMEPAGE (Softball)

► TWITTER (Softball)

► FACEBOOK

(Admissions /Athletics / Softball)

► PER:
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT...

► ENROLLMENT...

Wesley College 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 FastFacts.

► CAMPUS...

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

► SPORTS LINKS...

Composite:

Athletic 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 College football team has reached the national NCAA Quarterfinals for seven consecutive seasons!

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.

CONSIDER the competitive and educational rewards of D3 sports!

DIII ADVANTAGES!

♦ CLICK HERE for the July 2015 blog post about the advantages of the DIII sports program.

DIII BENEFITS!

♦ CLICK HERE for a second, similar February 2016 blog post promoting DIII sports program.

DIII NUMBERS!

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

PATH TO SUCCESS!

♦ CLICK HERE for the February 2016 blog entry about why successful women have more often played sports.

YOUTUBE VIDEO!

♦ CLICK HERE for Eric Fischer, former Denison swimmer, discussing the process of choosing between division one and division three schools for academics and athletics.

TELL US ABOUT YOU!

♦ CLICK HERE to submit a softball prospect questionnaire form.

CONTACT THE HEAD COACH

♦ Don’t be shy. Write Head Coach Juli Greep @ Juli.Greep@wesley.edu about your fastpitch softball experience.

♦ 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.

THIS YEAR the Wesley Wolverine Softball Skills & Prospect Camp was held on Saturday, November 19 from 8:30 AM to late afternoon at Wesley West Field House and the DuPont Softball Field, 511 Mary Street, Dover, DE.

CLICK HERE for 186 photos from the 2016 camp.

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.

► MORE VIDEOS ON SOFTBALL'S CHALLENGES…

■ Movement of softball

■ The difficulty in hitting a softball

■ Analysis: baseball vs. softball hitting

TOP ROW, L-to-R, Lily Engel, Ashley Royer, Samantha Burns, Alyssa Zimmerman, MIDDLE ROW, L-to-R, Casey Beall, Lauren Hoffman, Lindsay Siok, Brooke Retkowski, Karina Cardona, BOTTOM ROW, L-to-R, Megan DiRubbio, Sydney Botsch, Nina Marcano, Devin Mackay, Allison Mills, Autumn Walinski.

WESLEY WOLVERINES
ARE EXCITING!

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!

The year before, the 2015 team scored a school record of 23 total wins, including 11 straight victories, 5 straight shutouts won, and 32 straight scoreless innings pitched behind solid defense!

Lindsay Siok pictured below

In 2017, the amazingly talented award-winning players listed below along with the entire team scaled new heights on the
Reynolds DuPont softball field…

● 2017 ALL CONFERENCE:
Nina Marcano, Ashley Royer,
Megan DiRubbio

● 2016 ALL CONFERENCE:
Sam Burns, Nina Marcano.

● 2015 ALL CONFERENCE:
Lindsay Siok.

● 2017 WESLEY COLLEGE
FEMALE ATHLETE OF YEAR:
Nina Marcano

● 2017 WESPY TEAM
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE:
(3.35 GPA highest among all Wesley teams)
Wolverine softball squad

● 2017 WESPY FEMALE
TEAM OF YEAR:
Wolverine softball squad

● 2017 WESPY COMEBACK
PLAYER OF YEAR:
Lindsay Siok.

● 2017 WESPY BEST
OFFENSIVE PLAY:
Lindsay Siok.

● 2017 WESPY
BREAKOUT ATHLETE:
Ashey Royer.

● 2017 WESPY MOST
ATHLETIC FEMALE:
Nina Marcano.

● 2017 WESPY RECORD
BREAKING PERFORMANCE:
Nina Marcano.

● 2017 WESPY BEST
OFFENSIVE PERFORMANCE:
Nina Marcano.

● 2017 WESPY
SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD:
Lily Engel,

● 2017 TEAM
PLAYER OF YEAR:
Nina Marcano.

● 2017 TEAM OFFENSIVE
PLAYER OF YEAR:
Ashey Royer.

● 2017 TEAM DEFENSIVE
PLAYER OF YEAR:
Devin Mackay

● 2016 / 2014 TEAM MVP:
Nina Marcano.

● 2016 TEAM
TOUGHEST OUT:
Sam Burns.

● 2017 & 2016
PITCHER OF YEAR:
Lindsay Siok.

● 2017 TEAM
MOST IMPROVED:
Megan DiRubbio

● 2016 TEAM
MOST IMPROVED:
Casey Beall.

● 2017 TEAM
ROOKIE OF YEAR:
Brooke Retkowski

● 2016 TEAM
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR:
Ashey Royer.

● 2017 ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE:
Megan DiRubbio, Lindsay Siok,
Lauren Hoffman , Casey Beall,
Lily Engel, Allison Mills,
Samantha Burns,
Brooke Retkowski,
Devin Mackay, Ashley Royer,
Nina Marcano.

● 2016 ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE:
Casey Beall, Lily Engel,
Lauren Hoffman, Devin Mackay,
Nina Marcano,, Ashley Royer

● 2016 CAC ALL-ACADEMIC:
Lily Engel, Lauren Hoffman,
Devin Mackay, Ashley Royer

● 2016 NFCA ALL-AMERICAN
SCHOLAR ATHLETES:
Lauren Hoffman,
Devin Mackay, Ashley Royer

● 2016 PRESIDENT'S
FALL LIST (4.0 GPA):
Devin Mackay, Breanna Hartman

● 2016 FALL DEAN'S LIST:
(3.33-3.99 GPA)
Megan DiRubbio, Ashley Royer,
Brooke Retkowski, Casey Beall,
Lauren Hoffman, Lily Engel,
Lindsay Siok

WESLEY WOLVERINE SOFTBALL PLAYERS!

►►PROFILES!◄◄

Players: update and/or create a new profile. Freshmen: please introduce yourself to our fastpitch fans with your profile!

Wolverines have an official "bio" as part of the roster, while each player also has a blog "profile" that provides more personal information. The player's profile may list softball achievements, but also can let softball fans know about the player's special interests and hobbies, awards and accomplishments, friends, family and hometown as well as her favorite pictures from on and off the field.

A profile is easy to complete. Just follow the flexible profile form at https://sites.google.com/site/wolverinesprofiles

Players can CHANGE or update or submit their PROFILE at ANY TIME during the year by writing to this blog at WesleySoftball@gmail.com.