Stanley, Rookie Class Shine in ’09
Five Named to All-Skyline Team; Lucas ROY 

Purchase, NY (May 6, 2009) – With grit and moxie, the Purchase softball team battled to the end, winning a new college record 17 games in spring 2009.

Unfortunately, the new win total was just one game shy of the postseason as the Panthers faltered in the final weekend and ended their campaign with a 5-9 mark in the Skyline Conference. Despite missing the playoffs, Purchase, for the first time in college history, received an Eastern College Athletic Association (ECAC) bid.

No one epitomized grit more than senior co-captain Emily Stanley. Stanley is Panthers softball – the very definition and embodiment of the hard-nosed program under feisty head coach Steven Loscher. Stanley is the loudest fan from the dugout and when she’s not playing grandmaster cheerleader, she is a menace to opposing pitchers, having hit .406, good for a team-high 41 hits, four of them triples. Not to mention her team-high leading .584 slugging percentage and 44 assists defensively in the infield.

A force in the middle of the lineup, Stanley is equally fearsome on the hill where she finished with a record of 8-6 in 18 appearances. More impressive were her 14 complete games and 52 strikeouts. She was later named to the All-Skyline 1st Team at second base.

Freshman Lindsay Froman led the Panthers with nine wins in 82 innings of work. She had a stellar rookie season on the mound.

The ’09 Panthers were also a team that could score runs in bunches and hit .328 collectively on the season. Rookie Jennie Angelone led the team with a ridiculous .443 batting average. Fellow newbie Jillian Lucas hit .429 and was tied with Angelone with an on base percentage of .500. Angelone was named to the All-Skyline 1st Team, joining Lucas, who was subsequently named Skyline Rookie of the Year, Stanley and designated player Kiersten Morsanutto.  

The power in the lineup came courtesy of Morsanutto who batted .345 with a team-high five round trippers and 12 doubles. Protecting her in the lineup may very well be the Panthers’ next leader in making, third basemen Meghan LaLonde, who hit .351 at the plate for 33 hits and 17 runs scored. Even more impressive than her hitting was her fielding where rocket-armed LaLonde was often the recipient of the play of the day.  

The 2010 edition of the Panthers promises to be scary good, even with the departures of Stanley, hard-hitting first baseman Patricia Orellana and outfielder Nicole Welge. With LaLonde and Morsanutto, Purchase will also be aided by speed demons Mariel Perez and bunt specialist Melanie Culpepper, who had 34 hits and went 22-for-24 in stolen base attempts. Culpepper later topped the All-Skyline 2nd Team. With Jessie Domes protecting the plate and Angelone and Lucas a focal point in the lineup, the rest of the Skyline has been officially warned: The Panthers are on the prowl.

-Oren Vourman