Franklin Pierce Looks to Make a Pitch for the Postseason in 2008

Head coach Richard Hurley is hoping for a breakthrough year from the Raven softball team this season.

The Franklin Pierce University softball team heads into the 2008 season with confidence, as the team looks to find the right mix of youth and experience in challenging for a playoff spot in the competitive Northeast-10 Conference. Drawing from the experiences of last season’s 9-29 (6-22 NE-10) season, the Ravens are looking for a breakthrough 2008 campaign.

Head coach Richard Hurley enters his sixth season at the helm of the Raven softball program this year. Hurley is the winningest coach in program history, having registered 54 wins in his first five seasons as head coach. With a team that lost only one key contributor from last season, Hurley believes that the Ravens have a chance to surprise some teams in the Northeast-10 this season.

“This is probably the best softball team that I have had a chance to coach, but as always the success of this team will be based on execution and hard work,” Hurley said. “This team realizes what they have to do to achieve our goals this season, and the veterans will be the leaders that will allow us to be successful. If we remain healthy, defend well and pitch well, this team will have a chance to be the most successful team in the program’s history.”

PITCHING

Junior Courtney Jacobs became the program's all-time strikeouts leader last season and will serve as the team's ace once again this year.

The Raven pitching staff should be a strength of the team this season, as the Ravens will have four arms ready to see action. Junior Courtney Jacobs (Fitchburg, Mass./Fitchburg) returns as the team’s ace and should be complemented by freshman Kayla Johnson (Hudson, N.H./Alvirne), while senior Becky Aalto (Hubbardston, Mass./Gardner) and freshman Caitlin Beagan (Warwick, R.I./Pilgrim) will also contribute from the circle this year.

Jacobs returns to Rindge following another excellent season for the Ravens in 2007. As a sophomore, Jacobs led the staff in every major category, going 7-14 with a 2.57 earned run average and 127 strikeouts (4th NE-10) in 142.1 innings (6th NE-10), while holding opponents to a .234 batting average. Through two seasons, the junior hurler ranks first all-time at Franklin Pierce with 257 career strikeouts and currently is second on the school’s all-time ERA list at 2.61, and should only get better with another year of experience.

Johnson looks to provide the Ravens with another top-level starter in her first season at Franklin Pierce after graduating from Alvirne High School. Johnson, named the 2007 New Hampshire Player of the Year by the Manchester Union-Leader and the New Hampshire Softball Coaches Association, shattered her school’s career strikeout record with 772 while recording 36 shutouts and eight no-hitters, and should be an immediate contributor to the team this season.

Aalto, a three-year letterwinner for the Raven pitching staff, comes off a season in which she threw a career-high 84.1 innings. The senior posted a 2-11 record with a 4.81 ERA in 2007 and will be an important part of the Raven staff both starting and in relief.

Senior captain Kate Surgen will guide the pitching staff from behind the plate this season.

CATCHER/INFIELD

Senior captain Kate Surgen (Southampton, Mass./Hampshire Reg.) should assume most of the time behind the plate once again this season. Surgen set new career highs in nearly every offensive category in 2007, hitting .224 with 15 runs scored, 13 walks, seven RBI and one home run. Sophomore Kristen Tracy (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Walter Panas) hit. 244 with two home runs and five doubles splitting time between designated hitter and catcher and should see time behind the plate along with senior Lauren Bentson (Jamaica Plain, Mass./Fontbonne Academy).

The infield features three returnees from last season, as juniors Jen Ryan (Winthrop, Mass./Winthrop) and Elaine Matthews (Roslindale, Mass./Archbishop Williams) and sophomore Kiley Molinari (Meriden, Conn./Maloney) are back in 2008.

Junior Elaine Matthews led the team in hitting last season and will return as the team's starting shortstop in 2008.

Matthews, who will start at shortstop again this year, was the team’s leading hitter last season, hitting at a .291 clip and pacing the team with 15 RBI, seven doubles and two triples. Molinari, projected to earn the starting third base job, provided some power in the middle of the Raven lineup with three home runs (tied for the third highest single-season total in school history) and drove in 11 runs. Ryan will start at first base after posting seven hits (including one home run) in only 48 at-bats last year.

Freshman Emily Griffin (Leominster, Mass./Leominster) looks to have locked down the starting role at second base this season, while classmate Erin Clark (Fort Ann, N.Y./Fort Ann) will challenge Molinari for playing time at third base. Sophomore Jenna Hunt (Winchendon, Mass./Murdock) and freshmen Nicole Henrique (Swansea, Mass./Joseph Case) and Kelsey Dumont (Swanton, Vt./Missisquoi Valley Union) are also expected to see playing time around the infield in 2008.

OUTFIELD

Junior Jackie Prybella led Franklin Pierce in on-base percentage and stolen bases in 2007 and will be a key part of the Raven offense again this year.

All three starting outfielders return to patrol the turf for the Ravens in 2008, led by junior Jackie Prybella (Marshfield, Mass./Marshfield). Prybella, who played center field for most of the year before moving to second base late in the season, was solid from the leadoff spot, as she led the team with a .344 on-base percentage and nine stolen bases while finishing second on the team with a .250 average. She also contributed 12 RBI, six doubles and one home run.

Senior Nicole Leary (Hanover, Mass./Hanover) and junior Stephanie Howard (Norwalk, Conn./Norwalk) also return for Coach Hurley this year. Leary batted all over the lineup last season and finished with a career-high .246 batting average in 61 at-bats, while Howard led the team with 15 walks and recorded 13 hits in 71 at-bats. Freshman Melissa Wade (Taunton, Mass./Taunton) also should see time in the outfield this season.

SCHEDULE

Franklin Pierce will play a customarily tough schedule once again in 2008, as the team’s 48-game regular-season slate includes 14 Northeast-10 Conference doubleheaders as well as the team’s annual Spring Break trip, where the team will forgo a trip to Florida to play 10 games in six days at the Tucson Invitational Games in Tucson, Ariz.

“Most players have traveled to Florida to play before ever coming to college, so we wanted to provide a unique experience not only athletically but just to have our student-athletes travel to the Southwest,” Hurley said. “We hope to use those games as preparation for our difficult Northern schedule. This is truly the most difficult and comprehensive schedule in the history of the program.”

The Ravens begin the 2008 season on March 8 with a doubleheader at New York Institute of Technology before heading to Arizona for games March 16-21. The team returns home to begin the conference and home portion of its 2008 schedule on March 27 with a doubleheader against Bryant University beginning at 3 p.m.