Purple Knights Slotted Number Four In Preseason ECC Softball Coaches Poll

West Babylon, N.Y. - The softball coaches of the East Coast Conference have unanimously selected LIU Post as the favorite to win the conference's championship in the league's preseason poll. The coaches also selected LIU Post standouts, Abbey Fortin (Langley, British Columbia) and Katie Humhej (Surrey, British Columbia), as the ECC Preseason Player and Pitcher of the Year, respectively.  

LIU Post earned all seven first place votes in the poll after sweeping the ECC regular and tournament championships and advancing to the NCAA East Super Regional in 2018. The Pioneers lost only one starter off last year's team that finished with a 38-19 record and No. 23 national ranking, leading to the lofty expectations for 2019.  Six All-Conference selections are among the returnees, including Julia Seader, Leah Mele, Breanna Klaiber, Hannah Olshevski, Fortin, and Humhej.

There was no sophomore slump for Fortin a year ago, as she followed up her Rookie of the Year freshman campaign with one of the top offensive seasons in league history. She led the ECC with 81 hits, 56 runs, six triples, 19 homeruns, 65 RBI, 161 total bases and an .821 slugging percentage while ranking second in the loop with a .413 batting average. Her numbers ranked among the national leaders as well, with her hits, homeruns, total bases, RBI, slugging percentage, and homerun per game (0.33) marks all in the top-15 in all of Division II. Fortin's outstanding play earned her a spot on the Division II Conference Commissioner's Association (D2CCA) and National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-America Third Team as well as the ECC Player of the Year honor.

Like Fortin, Humhej played an integral role in the Pioneers' success last year. Humhej claimed the ECC Pitcher of the Year honor after compiling a 19-11 record with a 2.31 earned run average and 133 strikeouts over 184.2 innings pitched. Humhej's win and strikeout totals were tops in the league, while her ERA was third. She also led the ECC with 23 complete games and seven shutouts. In addition to her Pitcher of the Year award, Humhej also earned a spot on the D2CCA All-East Region Second Team.

Behind LIU Post, the league's coaches predict the same teams that competed in last year's ECC Championship, will make return appearances once again this season. ECC finalist, Molloy, comes in at No. 2 in the poll with 36 points. Mercy follows close behind at No. 3 with 33 points, while Bridgeport rounds out the expected playoff teams at No. 4 with 29 points. The Purple Knights, under the direction of head coach Dawn Stearns, are coming off a 25-win season in 2018.

Leading the returners for the Purple Knights are junior Allison Luzzi (East Haven, Conn.) who was a First Team All-ECC and All-Region selection last year after batting .384 with 45 runs, 61 hits and adding 36 RBI's. Also returning is sophomore Kaira Ramon (Stamford, Conn.) who was an All-ECC selection after batting .417 with 31 runs and 55 hits. Rounding out the All-ECC returners is graduate pitcher Amanda Staheli (Pecatonica, Ill.) after earning a 13 win season in 2018 and 124 strike outs.

2019 ECC Softball Preseason Poll

( ) - first place votes

Preseason Player of the Year: Abbey Fortin, Jr., OF, LIU Post
Preseason Pitcher of the Year: Katie Humhej, Jr., LIU Post