RINDGE, N.H. (February 19, 2015) – The Franklin Pierce University Softball team has been picked to finish seventh out of eight teams in the Northeast Division in the Northeast-10 Conference, as announced by the conference office last week.

The Ravens received 34 points in the voting. Southern New Hampshire was picked to win the division (105 points, 14 first-place votes) after they took the title next year, while Saint Anselm was picked to finish second with 80 points. In the Southwest Division, New Haven was picked to win as they received 89 points and 12 first-place votes.

Franklin Pierce comes into the season as a younger team, but also have a whole returning starting lineup minus 2014 All-Northeast-10 Second Team All-Star Ashley Noke. The youth comes in with the addition of 10 freshman, bolstering all-aspects of their bench, giving depth all positions, most notably on the mound.

The Ravens will field only three players in their final season in crimson and grey, as graduate student Jamie Wiley (Cape Vincent, N.Y.), and seniors Alicia Dean (Danvers, Mass.) and Karissa Forzese (Methuen, Mass.) will all provide leadership to the young incoming class. All three players missed significant time out of the lineup last season, and will look to rebound and contribute as well.

However, the Ravens will look to their upperclassman to provide the lineup spark as they did last season. Juniors Courtney Caputo (Stony Brook, N.Y), Tricia Hansen (Mansfield, Mass.), and Melissa Morgan (Clifton Park, N.Y.) will once again be looked upon to be forces in the lineup, as all three had phenomenal years at the dish.

Hansen not only got the job done at the plate, but she also was fantastic on the mound. Along with Noke, Hansen was the only other Raven representative in the Northeast-10 post-season awards, landing herself on the All-NE-10 First Team All-Stars as a utility player. Hansen finished the season with a 7-7 record in the circle, but was one of the hottest hurlers in the league heading down the final stretch of the regular season. She won her last five decisions, while striking out 68 batters on the year and only walking 23. She yielded just 60 earned runs and produced a 4.36 earned run average. At the plate, Hansen batted .344 this year with one home run and six runs batted in.

Caputo provided one of the best individual seasons in program history in 2014, as she set a program record with seven home runs on the season. She led the team in every offensive category except doubles, where she was second with six. She hit a team high .356 in 101 at-bats with six doubles, a triple, and seven home runs. Caputo also posted a .720 in-conference slugging percentage, which was among conference leaders. She also stole a team high five bases.

Morgan also did not fall into the famed “sophomore slump”, as she continued to provide spark in the Ravens lineup back in 2014. She comes into her junior year already one of the more decorated hitters in program history. Morgan hit .280 in 82 at-bats with seven doubles, a triple, and two home runs with 14 RBI. She had seven multi-hit games on the season, including two three-hit games, and also had a 6-game hitting streak during the Ravens seven game winning streak in April.

The Ravens also return letter winners in junior Erin Wood (Dover Plains, N.Y.) and sophomore Sydney Despres (Sterling, Mass.) to provide pop in the lineup, along with junior Mandi Adee (Kinderhook, N.Y.) to lead the pitching staff. Franklin Pierce also returns juniors Morgan Cahill (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) and Julie Gallagher (Flanders, N.J.), along with sophomores Megan Gardiner (Vernon, Conn.) and Mikaela Ballmer (Birdsboro, Pa.) to provide solid play off the bench.

Franklin Pierce opens up the 2015 season on the weekend of March 13-15, when they travel to Salem, Va. at West Virginia Wesleyan. The will first square off against Shippinsburg on March 13 at 7 p.m. Their first Northeast-10 action will come on March 21 when they travel to Adelphi, and their first home game of the season will come on Tuesday, March 24 when they take on Saint Michael’s at 4 p.m.

For more information on Franklin Pierce softball, please visit the team’s page at http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu. To follow the program even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce softball apparel can do so on the athletic department’s online store at http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)