Northeast-10 Conference softball awards

MANSFIELD, Mass. (May 5, 2021) -- In a year of program firsts, the Franklin Pierce University softball team checked off another one on Wednesday afternoon, as the program earned its first-ever major end-of-season Northeast-10 Conference awards. The Ravens even did better than just their first, as the team picked up two major awards from the league office. Freshman outfielder Ashley Cangiano (North Attleboro, Mass.) was named as the NE10 Rookie of the Year, while head coach Andy Klaus took home Coach of the Year accolades in just his third season at the helm of the Ravens. In addition, Franklin Pierce picked up four All-NE10 selections and had a total of six individuals honored by the Conference.

Cangiano also landed on the All-NE10 First Team, where she was joined by the team’s corner infielders, senior Gina Hinckley (Lancaster, Mass.) and graduate student Madi Killebrew (Dana Point, Calif.). It marked the third, fourth and fifth First Team selections in program history, as the trio joined Jamie Wiley ‘14 and Tricia Hansen ‘16, who were honored in 2015 and 2014, respectively.

In addition to the three on the first team, senior right-hander Cyrena Zemaitis (Goshen, Conn.) was selected to the All-NE10 Second Team. Cangiano and freshman right-hander Samantha Sylvester (Morris, Conn.) were both named to the All-Rookie Team.

Cangiano became the first Raven softball player to earn NE10 Rookie of the Year honors on the strength of a season where she is currently hitting .378/.393/.622 for a 1.015 OPS over 82 at-bats (31-for-82). She has hit seven doubles, five triples and one home run, scored 15 times and driven in 20. Cangiano ranks in the top-10 in the NE10 in both batting average and slugging percentage.

In just his third season on campus, Klaus has led Franklin Pierce to its first-ever 20-win campaign this spring (20-7). The Ravens earned their first-ever victory in NE10 Championship play on Tuesday, and are in the conversation for the program’s first-ever NCAA Championship berth.

Hinckley is Franklin Pierce’s biggest power threat, with a video-game-esque .873 slugging percentage, which leads the NE10, as part of a .366/.505/.873 slash line and 1.378 OPS over 71 at-bats (26-for-71). She has clubbed a program single-season record and NE10-leading 10 home runs to go with four doubles and a triple, has scored 24 runs and has driven in an NE10-high 28. Hinckley has also drawn 19 walks against just 13 strikeouts. Her on-base percentage ranks fourth in the NE10.

For her part, Killebrew leads the NE10 in batting average, is second in slugging and third in on-base percentage with a .440/.510/.786 slash line, which adds up to a 1.296 OPS over 84 at-bats (37-for-84). She has clubbed an NE10-best 12 doubles, one triple and five home runs, and has scored 26 times while driving in 23. Killebrew has worked seven walks and struck out only six times on the season.

Between the two of them, Zemaitis and Sylvester have logged 103 of the team’s 181 innings in the circle. Zemaitis, the team’s ace, has piled up 97 strikeouts over 61.2 innings, a rate of 11.01 strikeouts per seven innings, which is second in the NE10. She has surrendered just 14 runs (10 earned) on 35 hits and walked only eight against those 97 strikeouts. The numbers have allowed Zemaitis to put together a 1.14 ERA, which puts her in the league’s top-five, and a 10-1 record with five complete games, including three shutouts and one no-hitter.

Meanwhile, Sylvester has thrown 41.1 innings and has posted a 1.52 ERA of her own by allowing just 11 runs (nine earned) on 38 hits. She has issued only seven walks and recorded 18 strikeouts. Despite a pitch-to-contact approach, opponents are hitting only .235 (38-for-162) off the right-hander and she has piled up 74 groundouts against just 30 flyouts and 10 extra-base hits. Sylvester’s record stands at 6-0 with one save and one complete game, which was a shutout.

The Ravens are back in action on Thursday, when they host Assumption in the Northeast Division semifinal round of the NE10 Championship. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. at Bisaccia Softball Field in Rindge.