CASSIDY-LYKE GETS ECC COACH OF THE YEAR NOD; TWO LIONS RECEIVE ALL-ECC RECOGNITION

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (Apr. 30, 2009) – The East Coast Conference announced its year-end award recipients for softball on Thursday afternoon, and Susan Cassidy-Lyke (Hicksville, N.Y.) was picked as the coach of the year by her peers in the league. This marks her first-ever award for softball on the collegiate stage. Freshman third baseman Josette Cavallaro (North Babylon, N.Y.), and junior catcher Tiffany D’Alessandro (Wantagh, N.Y.) concurrently got All-ECC second- and third-team laud, respectively.

Over the course of her four years at Molloy, Cassidy-Lyke has guided the softball program to a total of 75 wins. This season, she helped lead the Lions to their first appearance in post-season action since 2003. On another note, Cassidy-Lyke and her team picked up a pair of sweeps against ranked nemeses in 2009. Molloy swept then 21st-ranked Le Moyne College (4-3, 2-1) on Mar. 21 and 14th-ranked C.W. Post (5-4, 1-0) on Apr. 23.

Cavallaro was tabbed as a second-team selection after a highlight reel year as a freshman. At the current time, she is batting a team-best .376 with five home runs, which places her seventh in Lions’ history for most in a single season, and 32 RBI. Moreover, Cavallaro owns a .586 slugging and a .426 on-base percentage so far. Amongst the East Coast Conference, she ranks sixth in hitting, seventh in doubles and eighth in triples.

D’Alessandro garnered third-team recognition. She is sporting a .322 average through 45 games with three homers and 24 RBI. D’Alessandro has also accumulated 25 runs, while recording a .462 slugging percentage. Furthermore, in the ECC, she is slotted seventh in doubles with 11.

Molloy continues East Coast Conference Championship action tomorrow when it takes on the loser of the 9 a.m. contest between second-seeded Adelphi University and third-seeded C.W. Post. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. If you are unable to make it, there will be a Live Stats feed at http://iris.nyit.edu/athletics/livestatbase/xlive.htm.