Softball Earns Five First-team All-Conference Awards; Kroupa Leads Staff of the Year Again

MADISON, N.J. -- Susquehanna University placed five players on the 2010 all-Landmark Conference softball first team, as announced on May 11, and Susquehanna Head Coach Kathy Kroupa and her assistants captured the Landmark Coaching Staff of the Year award for the second straight season.

Junior pitcher Cara Swerdlow (Bloomfield, N.J./Bloomfield), sophomore outfielder Lisa Finizio (Oakland, N.J./Indian Hills), junior third baseman Brennan Balfour (Cape Elizabeth, Maine/Cape Elizabeth), senior catcher Kelli Holota (Spring Lake, N.J./Livingston) and junior infielder Shelly Landis (Souderton, Pa./Christopher Dock Mennonite) are SU's first-teamers. Landis was honored at the designated-player position.

Swerdlow has rewritten SU's pitching record books over her career. This year, her 18 wins (18-6 record), 25 pitching starts and 161 1/3 innings pitched all rank first in school history, while her 26 pitching appearances and 19 complete games this season tie her own school records set last year. She has six shutouts this year, one behind her school record from last year.

Swerdlow has struck out 145 batters in 2010, third-best in Crusaders single-season history behind her 196 last year and 156 the year before.

She is already Susquehanna's career record-holder in pitching starts (61), shutouts (14) and strikeouts (497), and her 72 career pitching appearances and 423 1/3 career innings pitched rank second in team history.

Swerdlow has recorded a 2.43 earned run average and .243 opposing batting average this year. She ranks second in the Landmark this season in pitching starts, innings pitched, wins and strikeouts.

The Landmark honored her as its softball Pitcher of the Week on April 5 and 12, this year. This is her third straight season on the all-Landmark first team.

Finizio, an all-conference second-teamer last year, became the first sophomore in Susquehanna history this year to reach the 100-career-hits mark. She did that on the strength of a school-record and Landmark-high 55 hits.

Her 46 runs scored this year are also best in school history and lead the conference. She is batting a team-best .387 this year, including six doubles, three triples and a homerun. She has also walked a team-high 15 times, been hit by a pitch once and laid down a team-high six sacrifice bunts.

Finizio has driven in 16 runs this year, including two sacrifice flies, and has stolen a team-high eight bases (in nine attempts).

She has also played exceptional defense, picking up 11 assists and preventing numerous extra-base hits from her centerfield position.

Balfour has cracked a school-record nine triples and 10 homers this year and added five doubles and 27 singles to make up a team-high .722 slugging percentage. She ranks behind only Finizio in the Landmark this year in runs (42) and hits (51), while Balfour's triples, HR and total bases (104) all lead the conference. Her three sac flies are good for second in the Landmark.

Balfour stands behind only Finizio in SU single-season history as well in both runs and hits, though her 37 runs batted in this year are a school record, as are her total bases.

Her 12 career HR are also a school record, and her 12 career triples are tied for second-most in school history.

She has batted .354 in 2010, not including nine walks, two hit batsmen and two sacrifice bunts. She has also stolen six bases in six attempts. She leads the Crusaders with 75 assists.

The Landmark honored her as its softball Player of the Week on April 19.

Holota, a tri-captain, is arguably the greatest catcher in Susquehanna history. This is her third straight year on the all-Landmark squad, including back-to-back spots on the first team.

She leads the Landmark with four sac flies this year as part of 35 RBI. The four sac flies are tied for SU's single-season record, and the RBI total ranks behind only Balfour in school history.

Holota ranks second in Crusaders career history in doubles (30) and tied for second in total bases (184)--totals helped by a .368 batting average this year, including 13 doubles and four HR. The 13 doubles tie Landis' 2010 total for most in one season in school history.

Holota has also walked 11 times this year and been hit by three pitches while scoring 23 runs and striking out only five times. Statistically, she is the hardest player on the team to strike out.

She also plays exceptional defense, committing just one error this season in 221 chances, including a Landmark-best six successful pick-off attempts. She has also thrown out nine would-be base-stealers on 25 attempts this year.

Landis, an all-Landmark second-team third baseman last year, is batting .358 this year with those 13 doubles. She has also walked 14 times and been hit by three pitches while driving in 28 runs and scoring 20 more. She has also stolen a base in her only attempt.

Susquehanna is enjoying its best season in program history with a 32-11 mark, including an 8-4 record in the Landmark, good for a runner-up finish in the regular-season conference standings.

SU also finished second in the Landmark playoffs for the second straight year, narrowly missing an automatic berth in the 2010 NCAA Division III championships. The Crusaders were invited to the NCAA playoffs nonetheless on the strength of their school-record 32 wins and No. 4 ranking in the Division III East Region.

Susquehanna went on a program-record 19-game winning streak in the middle of this season.

SU's .308 team batting average ranks second in the Landmark this year, though its 248 runs lead the conference. The Crusaders' .961 fielding percentage is best in the Landmark as well.

Kroupa is assisted by Katie Botkins, Dennis Buffington and Tara Emery--the same group that earned the Landmark's Coaching Staff of the Year award last season.

This is Kroupa's third conference coaching award in less than two years. She led the Landmark's women’s soccer Coaching Staff of the Year this past fall.