New Haven, CT (4/7/09) Cara Piasecki of Dominican College has claimed Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Softball Player of the Week honors for the week ending Sunday, April 5. Philadelphia University freshman Ali Schmidt picked up Pitcher and Rookie of the Week accolades.

Piasecki, a junior shortstop from Port Monmouth, NJ, hit .520 in eight games last week with 10 runs scored, five runs batted in, two home runs and one triple. She collected three hits in three games, against Pace, Queens and Molloy. She homered against Queens and Molloy and scored three runs against both Pace and Queens.

Schmidt, a freshman right-hander from Cordova, MD, went 3-0 last week with a 0.36 ERA for the Lady Rams. She allowed only one run and six hits in 25.0 innings of work with 38 strikeouts. She earned impressive wins over the top two teams in the region in C.W. Post and Georgian Court. She pitched all 11 innings and struck out 21 batters in a 2-1 win over the Lions.

Honorable Mention

Vickie Berardi, Bloomfield (Sr., SS, Linden, NJ) - Hit .333 and hit a game-winning, 2-out grand slam vs. Felician.

Katie Turner, Wilmington (Jr., RHP, Smyrna, DE) - Went 3-1 with a 0.28 ERA in four appearances. Fanned 39 in 24.2 IP. 

Danielle Genovese, Caldwell (Jr., SS, Livingston, NJ) - Hit .375 for the week with five runs, three RBI, one homerun and two doubles.

Bethanne Bossert, USP (Jr., OF, Philadelphia, PA) - Hit .636 with two doubles, two triples and four runs last week.

CACC Notes

Bloomfield - The Deacons, who are ranked #7 in the latest NCAA East Regional Poll, went 5-1 last week, including CACC sweeps of Felician and USP. In game 1 against Felician, Vickie Berardi launched a 2-out game winning grand slam in the 7th inning to give BC the 5-3 win. BC also won game 2 in their final at bat as Dominique Russo hit a 9th inning RBI double for the win. Bloomfield also pulled out a win in their final at bat with a 5 run rally in the bottom of the 6th against USP. Amanda Bartels delivered a sacrifice fly for the go-ahead run. Junior Nicole Cagnino recorded her 100th career hit against Felician. Jackie Dean went 3-0 for the week with a 2.33 ERA and appeared in five of the Deacons' six games. Berardi is currently riding a 9-game hitting streak.

Caldwell - The Cougars tied two games last week, both due to darkness. On Thursday, Caldwell drew with NYIT, 2-2 after seven innings. Against No. 10 Kutztown at the Georgian Court Tournament on Sunday, the game was called after six innings with score 5-5. Before this week, Caldwell had never tied a game in 15 seasons under head coach Dean Johnson. The second game of last Wednesday's doubleheader with Dominican was called in the third inning due to darkness and will be made up in its entirety on Monday, Apr. 6 at Caldwell.

Felician - Freshman catcher Johanna Gonzalez has been hit with a school-record 13 pitches in 24 games.

Holy Family - The Holy Family softball team snapped its 10-game losing streak with a double-header sweep of St. Thomas Aquinas, 4-1 and 3-0, to end its week. The week started with sweeps at the hands of Bloomsburg and Adelphi. Left fielder/pitcher Angela DiBeneditto led the offense by hitting .400 for the week. Pitcher/infielder Jody Searfoss led the team with three RBIs. Shortstop Carly Sippel is the overall team leader in batting average with a .330 average. Searfoss and DiBeneditto have a team-high 12 RBIs. This week, the Tigers host Georgian Court and travel to the University of the Sciences.

Philadelphia - The Lady Rams had a record-setting week as they marked wins over #16 nationally-ranked Georgian Court and #1 regionally-ranked (and receiving national votes) C.W. Post. The Lady Rams were led by an unassuming group of freshmen- rookie pitcher Ali Schmidt (who recorded 38 strikeouts in a 3-0 week), Danielle Parisi (who got RBIs in both wins over ranked opponents) and Katie Renner- who knocked in the winning run vs. GCU in the 11th inning.

USP - Junior Rachel Morgan (Clackamas, Ore.) struck out eight of the first nine batters she faced against Goldey- Beacom en route to a complete game win and a 12-strikeout performance, one shy of her own single game mark set in her last game last week. With 20 strikeouts this week, Morgan now needs 21 more to become the first USP pitcher to reach 300 for her career. Junior Erin Degnan (Doylestown, Pa.) threw her second shutout of the season against Goldey Beacom. Juniors Brittany Brown (Marlton, N.J.) and Samantha Tu (Trevose, Pa.) moved up to 10th and 11th place respectively on USP's all-time hit list this week. Brown had five hits to give her 81 for her career, while Tu had four to give her 79. Junior Bethanne Bossert (Philadelphia, Pa.) hit her first two career triples this week. Bethanne also had a pair of doubles and hit .636 for the week (7-11) .