Newsline  

HC Softball Team Looks to Build on Strong 2004 Campaign

Release Date:
March 7, 2005
Contact:
The Office of Sports Information
(716) 649-7900 ext. 333

Third year coach Bill Goc and the Hilbert College Hawks women’s softball team, coming off a school record 12 wins in 2004, are looking to make a splash in the newly revamped Alleghany Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC). 

           

A core group of eight players from last year’s team are poised to lead the way.  Co-captains Katie Ahearn (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) and Amber Fie (Olean, NY/Olean) return at third base and catcher, respectively.  Ahearn tied for the team lead in home runs last season and led the team in putouts, while Fie, named to the 2004 North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) all-conference team, batted .310 in 24 starts for the Hawks.

 

Also returning for Hilbert is first-team ECAC Upstate Region selection, pitcher/first baseman Meghan Gollaher (Rochester, NY/Spencerport). The sophomore posted a team-best 11 victories and a 2.37 earned run average on the mound in 2004, while also batting .361 and leading the team in RBI (19).   

 

Sophomore Jeannette Testa (Forestville, NY/Forestville), also an all-NEAC selection in 2004, returns in the outfield for the Hawks.  She will be joined by sophomore outfielder Kim Klein (Yorkshire, NY/Pioneer) and junior Chrissy Hall (Buffalo, NY/Mount Mercy).  Hall will also see time at pitcher.

 

The infield returns shortstop Kaitlyn Miller (Depew, NY/Depew), who posted a .324 batting average for the Hawks in her rookie campaign in 2004.  Senior Jessy Huntz (Arcade, NY/Pioneer) also returns as a utility player for Hilbert, and batted a team-best .400 last season.

 

Three newcomers look to make an impact on the team, as first baseman/outfielder Laura Stranc (West Seneca, NY/West Seneca West), catcher/first baseman Nicolette Newton (Forestville, NY/Forestville) and walk-on outfielder Molly Bigaj (Hamburg, NY/Mount Mercy) all look to contribute in their first season.

 

The Hawks open their season on March 21 at 2:30 p.m. as they travel to Washington College in Chestertown, MD.  Their first home game will be on Tuesday, April 5, as they take on conference foe Penn State Behrend at 3 p.m. 


Hilbert College, located in suburban Hamburg, N.Y., south of Buffalo, is a private four-year college founded in 1957 in the Catholic Franciscan tradition. With nearly 1,100 students, Hilbert is a dynamic Western New York college that offers career-focused majors, including one of the top criminal justice programs in the region, and more than 50 minors and concentrations. The college’s engaging, student-centered campus community offers numerous leadership, internship and service learning opportunities from which students launch successful careers while making positive changes in their communities. Hilbert has expanded its academic offerings with the college’s first graduate programs, one a master’s in criminal justice administration and the other a master’s in public administration, and new Accelerated Degree Programs geared to adult learners.