St. Francis well represented on NEC teams

For The Tribune-Democrat

BROOKLYN, N.Y. May 09, 2008 11:56 pm

— St. Francis coach Sabrina Lane was selected by her peers as the Northeast Conference Coach of the Year – headlining four awards handed out to the Red Flash at a banquet on the eve of the NEC tournament.
Junior utility player Nicole Waligora, a Westmont Hilltop graduate, collected first team all-NEC honors after finishing the regular season ranked fifth in the league in on-base percentage (.440). Waligora hit .326 on the year with 19 RBIs and 11 runs scored.
Senior center fielder Nicole Bender (Central Cambria) and junior pitcher Laura Caldwell round out the Red Flash’s all-league awardees as all-NEC second team members.
Bender hit .392 in league play and set a single-season program record in hits (62) and runs (42)
Caldwell tossed a pair of no-hitters on the year – including a perfect game in St. Francis’ 3-0 win at Sacred Heart on April 27 – and posted a 1.90 ERA in NEC play, holding opponents to a .216 average. Caldwell also re-established the school’s single-season strikeouts record with 170.
Lane, who is in her second season at the helm of the Red Flash program, guided the team to its first postseason berth since 2002.
St. Francis’ 23 wins are the most since 2002 and rank third on the program’s all-time single-season list.
The Red Flash’s 11-6 finish in conference play is the school’s second-best league win percentage.
Waligora, Bender and Caldwell become St. Francis’ first all-NEC honorees since 2004 when Sarah Rebar and Cassie Scofield picked up second team selections. Waligora is the first Red Flash player to be named to the all-NEC first team since Brittany Shepherd in 2003.