Four from Softball Honored by CCC with Postseason Awards

BOSTON, Mass. – After a record-setting season the deepest Commonwealth Coast Tournament run in program history, four student-athletes from the Wentworth Institute of Technology softball program as the league announced its major award winners and all-conference teams on Tuesday afternoon. Graduate student Alexandra Pina (Cumberland, R.I.) was named the CCC Scholar-athlete and was a second Team All-CCC selection, sophomore Katie Kranz (Bedford, Mass.) took home the league's defensive player of the year, senior Kaitlin Pettenger (Budd Lake, N.J.) was named First Team All-CCC, while senior Erin Hancock (Holden, Mass.) earned a spot on the second team.

A first team selection as a senior, Pina, a center fielder, started all 42 games for the Leopards, hitting .296 with eight doubles, one triple, two home runs, and a career-high 20 RBI. She had 11 multiple-hit games, including twice when she recorded three hits. Off the field, she earned her Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering last summer and is working towards her Master's degree in Project Management, where she has a GPA of 3.958. Pina was also the co-president of Wentworth's Student-Athlete Advisory Council this year where she was involved in many initiatives, including helping to plan and run a student-athlete recognition banquet. Starting 124 of 125 career games played, Pina is a career .318 hitter (128-for-403) who is the program's all-time leader in doubles (38) and hit by pitch while ranking in the top five in program history in runs scored (88) and hits (128).

Patrolling first base, Kranz, who started 34 of the 35 games in which she played was flawless in league play this year, not making an error in 86 total chances. Overall, she made just three errors in 184 total chances for a sparkling fielding percentage of .984. In her two seasons at Wentworth, she has started 37 of the 48 games in which she has played and has a career fielding percentage of .980, making only four errors in 203 total chances.

A three-time All-CCC honoree, Pettenger earns her second straight first team nod after being named to the second team as a sophomore. A record-setting senior season saw the left fielder start all 42 games and set program records for hits (56) and total bases (83). She batted .400 (56-for-140) with 10 doubles, four triples, three home runs, and 21 RBI, while she also had an on-base percentage of .475 and a slugging percentage of .593. Two of her three home runs came in the CCC Tournament, including a walk-off three-run smash which gave the Black & Gold a 3-2 win over the University of New England in the opening round. Starting all 108 games in which she played, Pettenger, the program's all-time leader in hits (139) and triples (17), has the third-highest career batting average in program history at .381. Pettenger also ranks among the top five in program history in total bases (213; third), runs scored (94; third), slugging percentage (. 584; fourth), on-base percentage (.455; fourth), and walks (48; fifth).

Hancock helped the Leopards to 17 of their 28 wins this season, picking up 13 wins and a program-record four saves in the circle while tying the program record for appearances (34) in a season. In 159 innings of work in the circle, she posted a 2.25 earned run average with 128 strikeouts and just 26 walks. After a junior season that saw her earn Third Team All-CCC honors after allowing a program-best 0.88 walks per seven innings, she allowed the second fewest walks per seven innings with 1.14 and had the third-most strikeouts in a single season in program history with 27. For her career, she made 82 appearances (53 starts), posting a 2.67 earned run average with 283 strikeouts. She ranks first all-time in fewest walks per seven innings with 1.24, first in saves (six), second in strikeouts, second in appearances, and third in both earned run average and strikeouts per seven innings (5.48) and well as shutouts (five.).

Wentworth finished the season with a 28-13-1 record. The Leopards advanced to the semifinals of the CCC Tournament for the first time in program history.

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