By Michael L. Damon
New York, N.Y. – After one of their most successful regular seasons in recent memory, the John Jay softball team will be going headlong into the 2009 City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) softball tournament with a legit chance of claiming the elusive championship.
The Bloodhounds finished in fourth place in the conference regular season standings and will square off against fifth seeded Brooklyn College in a play-in game on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. If the Bloodhounds win, they advance into the double elimination tournament which starts on Fri. May 1 at Queens College where they will square off against regular season champion Hunter College in the first game.
John Jay finished the 2009 regular season with a 14-19 (8-4 CUNYAC) record, which included a pair of wins against play in opponent Brooklyn College. The Bloodhounds also earned two wins against fellow CUNYAC foes Lehman College, York College and second seeded College of Staten Island to establish fourth place.
The Bloodhounds also earned wins against non conference opponents College of New Rochelle and Polytechnic University.
Noteworthy, John Jay has endured one of its most successful offensive seasons in recent memory, recording a .322 team batting average. Seven everyday players are batting over .300, and the Bloodhounds are led in batting average by
Christina Perez (Brooklyn, NY, James Madison) who is hitting .431. Meanwhile
Arlene Pena (Bronx, NY, Lehman) is hitting 390, followed by
Danielle Bonici (Staten Island, NY, St. Peter's Girls) at .381,
Kim Bifulco (Staten Island, NY, St. John Villa) at .345,
Nelly Vega (Bronx, NY, In-Tech Academy)at .322,
Nina Chao (Woodside, NY, W.C. Bryant) at .307 and
Angela Lam (Brooklyn, NY, Newtown) at .300. John Jay has registered 206 RBIs and have been led by Chao with 25 as the Bloodhounds have four players with 20 or more RBIs, including Bonici with 24, Pena with 22 and Vega with 22.
Pitching wise, the duo of Lam and Chao have carried the load and both will be called upon for big games. Lam has logged 81.2 innings and has allowed 76 earned runs, while Chao has permitted 59 earned runs in 67.1.
CUNYAC Softball Seeding (CUNYAC Record)
1. Hunter 10-2
2. CSI 9-3* (CSI Wins head-to-head tiebreaker)
3. Baruch 9-3* (CSI Wins head-to-head tiebreaker)
4. John Jay 8-4
5. Brooklyn 3-9
6. Lehman 2-10
CUNYAC Softball Championship Schedule – Double Elimination
First Round - Wednesday, April 29th @ Higher Seeds
Game A: #4
John Jay vs. #5 Brooklyn 4:00 pm
Game B: #3 Baruch vs. #6 Lehman 4:00 pm
Day 1 - Friday, May 1st at Queens College
Game 1: #1 Hunter vs. Winner of Game A 11:00 am
Game 2: #2 Staten Island vs. Winner of Game B 1:00 pm
Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 3:00 pm (loser of this game is eliminated)
Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 5:00 pm
Day 2 - Saturday, May 2nd at Queens College
Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 10:30 am (loser of this game is eliminated)
Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5 12:30 pm (if winner of game 5 wins they are the champions, otherwise a winner take all game 7 will follow)
Game 7: Same as Game 6 2:30 pm (only if game 5 winner wins game 6)