WESTFIELD, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State Bears have been selected to finish third in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Women's Softball poll as voted on by coaches around the league.
MASCAC Regular Season and Tournament Champions Worcester State have been selected to win the 2017 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Softball Championship as voted on by the eight coaches from around the conference.
The Lancers collected six first place votes for 47 points to top this year’s poll. Returning the team squad is 2016 MASCAC Softball Player of the Year Sydney Despres. Last season, she finished the regular season first in batting average (.527), on base percentage (.569), slugging percentage (.992), doubles (20), home runs (13), RBI (49) and total bases (130) while helping the squad to a 12-2 record in the conference.
Sitting in the second spot is Westfield State with 36 points. The Owls were 10-4 during conference play last season. Maddy Atkocaitis is back for the team after leading the conference in triples (7), second best slugging percentage (.796), third best batting average (.434) and fourth highest on-base percentage (.488) , runs scored (32) and doubles (12) to earn All-Conference accolades.
Tying for third are Fitchburg State and Bridgewater State with 34 points. The Falcons collected the final two first place votes in the poll. Last season, they finished 7-7 in league action. All-Conference honoree Galen Kerr is back for the Falcons. She was third in the MASCAC last season in both earned run average (2.46) and strikeouts (105) while also leading the league in saves (2), second in shutouts (6) and third in wins (10). The Bears were 11-3 at the end of conference play in 2016. First Team All-Conference honoree Kacie Carvalho is back for the team. She finished with a .468 batting average, .597 slugging percentage and .507 on-base percentage while also tallying 29 hits, 11 RBI and 15 runs scored.
Salem State is next in fifth with 28 points. The Vikings were 6-8 last season. Jess Raymond, 2016 First Team All-Conference winner, returns for Salem State after finishing second in stolen bases with 12 and eighth in both batting average (.406) and on-base percentage (.450). She also collected 41 hits and 24 RBI to close out the season.
Landing in sixth is Framingham State with 20 points. The Rams had five wins in league action last season. First Team All-Conference honoree Dayna Marchant is back for the team. Last season, she had a .367 batting average, .477 slugging percentage and .417 on-base percentage. She also collected eight double, three triples, 20 runs scored and 10 RBI.
Closing out the 2017 poll in seventh and eighth are MCLA and Massachusetts Maritime with 18 and seven points, respectively. The Trailblazers won five games during MASCAC play last year. During her first season for MCLA, Katie Berghela led the team with a .382 batting average, .510 slugging percentage with 22 RBI, 23 runs scored and 11 doubles. Returning for the Buccaneers is All-Conference honoree Carli Thomas. Last season she led the team with a .415 batting average, including three doubles, three homers and 15 RBI while recording a .515 on-base percentage and a .600 slugging percentage
Bridgewater State starts the non-conference season with play down in Florida on Sunday, March 5. The other MASCAC teams kick off their season over the next few weeks.
Courtesy of MASCAC Media Relations