STARKVILLE, Miss. --- Sophomore catcher Cassie Ernst and freshman utility player Jenn Dalickas of the Moravian College softball team have been named to the 2012 Louisville Slugger/National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-East Region First Team announced Monday by the NFCA, and a total of four Greyhounds earned All-Region honors.
Ernst and Dalickas are now eligible for Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-America honors which will be announced on Thursday, May 17 at the championship banquet in Salem, Virginia prior to the start of the 2012 NCAA Division III World Series. Senior pitcher Jenna Carmon was an at-large selection on the All-East Region Second Team while freshman outfielder Dior George also made the Second Team. A total of seven players from the Landmark Conference earned All-Region accolades including four First Team selections.
The Greyhounds under the direction of 19-year head coach John Byrne, who as a career mark of 616-193, posted a 35-11 overall record this spring, the 19th consecutive season that Moravian has won at least 23 games, and an 8-2 mark in Landmark Conference regular season action. The Greyhounds, which have won over 30 games 13 times under Byrne including the last 12 years, won their 13th straight conference title this spring with a fifth straight Landmark Conference Championship, and the program played in the conference tournament for the 17th time in 18 years. Moravian also received a berth to the 2012 NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament, its 14th berth in the last 15 years. The Greyhounds were seeded second in an eight-team Union, N.J. Regional hosted by Kean University, and went 3-2 in the tournament before being eliminated on Sunday a game shy of the championship round.
Ernst, who was the 2012 Landmark All-Conference First Team and the Second Team in 2012, led Moravian with a .421 average (51-for-121). She added 38 runs scored, 36 RBIs, ten doubles, eight home runs, ten walks, 17 hit-by-pitch, five sacrifices, a .702 slugging percentage and a .527 on-base percentage. Ernst, who made the Union, N.J. Regional All-Tournament Team after hitting .600 in the five regional games, had a .993 fielding percentage with 126 putouts, 11 assists and just one error behind the plate on a catcher's interference, and she had a total of five passed balls in 45 games this season.
Dalickas, who was on the 2012 Landmark All-Conference First Team as a designated player, saw action as an outfielder, a shortstop, at first base and at designated player while tying Moravian's single season record for home runs with ten this spring. Dalickas finished the season with a .359 batting average (42-for-117) to go with 21 runs scored, 12 doubles, a triple, nine walks, a .735 slugging percentage and a .412 on-base percentage.
Carmon, who earned NFCA All-East Region First Team honors in 2011 and Third Team accolades in 2010, had a .364 average (44-for-12) to go with 36 runs, nine doubles, a triple, a home run and 26 RBIs. In the circle, Carmon, who was the 2012 Landmark Conference Pitcher of the Year for the third time in her career and All-Conference First Team selection, posted a 22-7 mark this season with one save, a 1.44 ERA, nine shutouts, 33 walks and 102 strikeouts in 175 innings. She completed her career second in Moravian's record books in wins (75), shutouts (26) and innings pitched (640.1), and overall Carmon ranks in the top ten in a total of 24 game, season and career statistical categories.
George, who was the 2012 Landmark Conference Rookie of the Year and a member of the All-Conference First Team, had a .375 average (57-for-152) to go with 45 runs scored, 15 doubles, two homers, 20 RBIs, 19 walks and 22 stolen bases in her debut season.
The complete NFCA All-Region Teams can be found at https://nfca.org/index.php/awards/louisville-sluggernfca-all-americans/4627-2012-diii-all-region-teams.
