5/27/2010
SUNY Cortland senior Katie Finch (Amsterdam/Broadalbin-Perth) has been chosen as the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Upstate New York Div. III Softball PItcher of the Year for the second straight year, while junior second baseman Donnalyn Cross (Binghamton/Chenango Valley) has been named the ECAC Upstate Player of the Year.
In addition to Finch and Cross being on the All-ECAC first team, sophomore outfielder Lorraine Stoddard (Liverpool) was chosen to the All-ECAC second team.
Finch finished the season with a 26-4 record, a 0.68 ERA and 12 shutouts in 33 appearances, 28 as a starter. She allowed only 86 hits and 25 walks and struck out 268 batters in 184 innings. Finch ranked first nationally in Division III in ERA, second in hits allowed per seven innings (3.27), tied for fourth in shutouts and seventh in strikeouts. She threw three no-hitters, including two perfect games. Finch finished her career as the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) leader in wins (93) and strikeouts (1,025), and became the 11th player in Division III history to surpass 1,000 career strikeouts.
Cross led Cortland with a .416 batting average, a .682 slugging percentage, 21 stolen bases and 47 runs scored, and led Division III nationally with 15 triples, in 47 games. She also totaled eight doubles, one homer and 23 RBI and posted a .962 fielding percentage (seven errors in 184 fielding chances). She broke her own school record for triples in a season and is the SUNYAC career leader in that category with 32 through three seasons.
Stoddard batted .336 with six doubles, a triple and 26 RBI in 45 games, 37 as a starter. She singled in the winning run in Cortland's 1-0 victory over Plattsburgh in the SUNYAC tournament championship round.
Cortland finished the season with a 40-8 record for the third-highest win total in school history. The Red Dragons made their fourth straight NCAA tournament appearance and won both the regular-season (18-0 record) and postseason SUNYAC titles.