STANDISH, ME - The Saint Joseph's College softball team has been selected to the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III New England tournament for the first time in school history. The Lady Monks earned the #7 seed in the eight-team tournament and will travel to Keene, N.H., to take on #2-seeded Keene State College on Wednesday, May 7, 2008 at 4:30 PM.

St. Joe's, under Head Coach Jamie Smyth (11th season), completed the regular season with a 26-16 record, the sixth-highest win total in program history and the most victories in six seasons as an NCAA member. The win total is the most since 2002, the program's last year in the NAIA, when the team achieved a 27-18 record and went on to win the NAIA New England Regional Tournament.

After five years of holding NCAA Division III Independent status, the Lady Monks posted a 19-7 record in the team's first season as a member of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference, which was good for a third-place regular season finish.
ECAC Release - Complete Bracket

STANDISH, ME – Sophomore second baseman Jillian Kimball (Albany TWP, ME/Telstar HS) has been named to the 2008 Great Northeast Athletic Conference Softball Sportsmanship Team.

Lady Monks Head Coach Jamie Smyth:

“In the two years I have known Jillian she has displayed all of the qualities a coach would like to see in a player in terms of sportsmanship. She has been a hard-nosed player but not a dirty player. She has respect for the game and has always remained very professional both on and off the field. I feel she is very deserving of any recognition she may receive.”

STANDISH, ME - The GNAC has released its weekly honor roll and a pair of St. Joe's softball players are on the list. Sophomores Liddy van der Linden (Worcester, MA) and Anna Willis (Gorham, ME) have been honored for their play during the April 21-27 reporting period.

van der Linden receives mention after hitting .474 (9-19) with 4 runs, 5 RBI's, 4 doubles and a home run in 6 games last week. Through 40 games this season, the sophomore shortstop is hitting .364 (48-132) with 28 runs and 32 RBI's. She swung a hot bat in three GNAC Tourney games as she recorded 7 hits and 4 RBI's and received All-Tournament honors.

Willis hit .307 (4-13) with 4 runs and a pair of stolen bases and made many outstanding plays in the outfield for the Lady Monks last week. For her defensive prowess, Willis was also named to the GNAC All-Tournament team. She has played in 38 games this season and has a .310 (35-113) batting average with 39 runs and 7 stolen bases.

NEWTON, MA - St. Joe's defeated Emerson College 3-0 in a loser's bracket game in the GNAC Softball Tournament on Saturday. Starting pitcher SO Christy Wezowicz (Granville, MA) allowed just two hits in the shutdown performance to pick up her 11th win of the year and SO Liddy van der Linden (Worcester, MA) went 3-3 with an RBI double in the SJC two-run first inning. St. Joe's will play at 4:00 PM, opponent TBD, in an attempt to make a run from the loser's bracket in the double elimination tourney.

Emerson (2) and St. Joe’s (4) combined for just six hits in a game that took barely 90 minutes to complete.

JR Alysn Ludwig (Waldoboro, ME) led off the game with a single and SO Anna Willis (Gorham, ME) followed with a base on balls. With one out, van der Linden sent home Ludwig with a double and Willis scored from third on a wild pitch to provide the Royal Blue with a 2-0 lead.

The pair of runs would prove to be one more than Wezowicz would need to notch the playoff win. After allowing a leadoff single in the second inning, the sophomore righthander was on cruise control and did not allow another Emerson baserunner for the remainder of the game.

St. Joe’s added an insurance run in the top of the sixth after SO Jillian Kimball (Albany TWP, ME) doubled and later scored on a FY Alyssa Dunn (Standish, ME) sac bunt to give her team a three-run cushion.

With the win the Lady Monks stay alive in the GNAC Tourney and will play #2 seed Simmons this afternoon.

NEWTON, MA - (BOXSCORE) St. Joe's (24-14, 19-7 GNAC) lost to Rivier College (21-11, 16-10 GNAC) on Friday in a GNAC quarterfinal game, 4-2. Sophomore shortstop Liddy van der Linden (Worcester, MA) hit a solo home run in the second inning for the Lady Monks and was 2-4 in the losing bid. Starting pitcher FY Kiera Walsh (Benton, ME) takes the loss.

Rivier scored a run in the first but the Lady Monks responded with the solo blast by van der Linden in the second and went ahead, 2-1, in the third when SO Anna Willis (Gorham, ME) scored on an error by the Rivier catcher.

After the third inning the Lady Monks were unable to get anything going off Rivier starter Monica White, who scattered four SJC hits in the game. The Raiders took a 3-2 lead in the sixth and added another tally in the seventh to earn the 4-2 win and send St. Joe’s to the loser’s bracket.

STANDISH, ME - Sophomore second baseman Jillian Kimball (Albany TWP, ME/Telstar HS) has been named to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Honor Roll for her play last week (4/14-4/20). The honor is her second of the 2008 season.

In a 7-3 week for the Lady Monks, Kimball hit .441 (15-34) with 17 RBI's. The sophomore collected six hits and added 7 RBI's in a conference sweep at home against Norwich University on April 20th.

Kimball leads the Lady Monks this season with a .438 (49-112) batting average, 10 doubles and 43 RBI's. Only one player in SJC softball history has collected more RBI's in a season (Sue Picard, 56 in '02) as her current total of 43 ties her for the second-best mark of all time with Angela Paolini, who registered 43 RBI's during the 1996 season.

#3 Seed St. Joe's (24-13, 19-7 GNAC) is set to play #6 Rivier College (20-11, 16-10 GNAC) in the quarterfinal round of the GNAC playoffs at Lasell College on Friday, April 25th at 4:00 PM.

STANDISH, ME - Saint Joseph's sophomore second baseman Jillian Kimball (Albany TWP, ME) has been named to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll for her play during 3/31-4/6 reporting period.

In a 3-1 week for the Lady Monks, Kimball hit .714 (5-7) with an incredible 1.429 slugging percentage. The sophomore tallied 7 RBI's, 6 runs, two doubles and a home run in a pair of doubleheaders with Emerson College and Johnson and Wales University.

Through 22 games, Kimball is hitting .397 (25-63) and has registered 18 runs and 19 RBI's with a team-leading .481 on-base percentage.

STANDISH, ME - Freshman pitcher Kiera Walsh (Benton, ME/Lawrence HS) has been named to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll for her play in games during the 3/24-3/30 reporting period.

Walsh registered victories in all three of her starts on the mound for St. Joe's during the week and posted a miniscule 0.70 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 20 innings. The freshman pitcher hurled a one-hitter with 7 strikeouts in a 10-0 win over GNAC opponent Albertus Magnus College (CT) on March 24th.

For the season, Walsh has a 2.21 ERA with a 6-3 record in 9 appearances. She has allowed 57 hits and 11 walks in 57 innings and has 37 strikeouts.

FORT MYERS, FL - Saint Joseph's suffered a 4-0 loss to undefeated Tri-State University (IN) in the opening game and a 4-3 defeat in eight innings in the second game to Wisconsin-Lutheran. SO pitcher Christy Wezowicz (Granville, MA) pitched well, but took the loss in game one. FY pitcher Kiera Walsh (Benton, ME), despite also throwing well, was the losing pitcher and JR Liz Jordan (Sandwich, MA) was 2-4 with a run in the second contest. Wisconsin-Lutheran scored a run in both the 7th and 8th innings to defeat the Royal Blue. St. Joe's is now 1-5 on the season.