The Georgian Court University staff of head coach
Jeff Franquet, assistant coach
Carl Taylor and graduate assistant
Heather Walker has been selected as the NCAA Division II East Region Coaching Staff of the Year, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association announced on Wednesday. The Lions enjoyed its most successful campaign in program history, a year in which the CACC champions reached 40 victories (40-17) for the first time and came within one win of advancing to the NCAA Division II College World Series.
GCU, after finishing 17-7 in the regular season against conference foes, breezed through the CACC tournament (4/30-5/2), dropping Holy Family University, Dominican College, and defending champion Caldwell College twice to earn its second conference crown in three years. The Lions took the momentum with them to the NCAA Division II East 2 Regional Tournament in Brookville, NY (5/8-5/10) where they polished off Southern Connecticut State University and the University of New Haven twice, earning their first-ever trip to the NCAA Super Regionals.
The next stop for Georgian Court was Syracuse, NY where the Lions would take on the top-ranked LeMoyne College Dolphins. The magic continued for GCU in Game One as they dropped LeMoyne, 4-1. Unfortunately, the Lions were unable to score again in the best-of-three-series, dropping the next two contests, 2-0 and 4-0.
Numerous players received postseason accolades for their achievements on the diamond, including: junior pitching ace Diana Sansevera (CACC Pitcher of the Year, First-Team All-CACC, CACC Tournament MVP, Louisville Slugger/NFCA Second-Team All-American, Daktronics Northeast Region Pitcher of the Year, Daktronics All-American Honorable Mention, ECAC Pitcher of the Year); Mallory Kirchner (Louisville Slugger/NFCA First-Team All-American, First-Team All-CACC, CACC All-Tournament Team, Daktronics All-American Honorable Mention, ECAC All-Star); Rachel Ruch (Louisville Slugger/NFCA First-Team All-American, CACC Rookie of the Year, Daktronics Second -Team All-Region, CACC All-Tournament Team, ECAC Rookie of the Year); Courtney Cuevas (Daktronics All-American Honorable Mention, Louisville Slugger/NFCA Second-Team All-Region, All-CACC Second Team, ECAC All-Star); Brooke Hull (Louisville Slugger/NFCA Second Team All-Region; First-Team All-CACC, CACC All-Tournament Team) and Jess Comiskey (CACC All-Tournament Team).