STANDISH, ME – The GNAC Weekly awards have been announced and two Saint Joseph's softball standouts have received honors.
Junior pitcher Rae-Marie Copan (Newton, Mass.) has earned GNAC Pitcher of the Week honors for the second time in as many weeks and senior center fielder Danyelle Shufelt (Sutton, Vt.) has been chosen as the GNAC Player of the Week for the first time in her softball career.
Copan was dominant in two starts last week as the junior hurler allowed just nine hits and no walks with 17 strikeouts over 14 innings in victories over Delaware Valley and Franklin & Marshall University. The emerging staff ace fanned a career-high 10 batters in a 4-2 win over F&M on Friday.
Copan has notched three complete-game victories with two earned runs allowed off 10 hits and no walks with 25 K's over 21 innings so far this spring.
Shufelt sparked Saint Joseph's atop the Monks' lineup by hitting .567 (17-30) with 10 runs, two doubles and a triple with seven stolen bases in as many attempts in a 6-2 week. The senior center fielder was 2-4 with a run, a double and a three-bagger in a 4-1 victory over Delaware Valley on Monday and went 3-4 with three runs and a double versus Albright College on Thursday.
Shufelt is off to a scoring start to her final collegiate campaign, hitting .500 (19-38) with 13 runs, two doubles, a triple, an RBI and seven stolen bases through 10 contests. She currently leads the team in hits, runs and steals.
Saint Joseph's (8-2, 0-0 GNAC) is scheduled to begin conference play this weekend, when the Monks play two games at Albertus Magnus College on Saturday at 6:00 PM and a doubleheader at University of Saint Joseph (CT) on Sunday (12:00 PM).
Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 350-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.
