[Kutztown Press Release] KU SOFTBALL TEAM HITTING HOME RUNS IN RECORD NUMBERS

[Josh Leiboff]

April 12, 2007

 

KU SOFTBALL TEAM HITTING HOME RUNS IN RECORD NUMBERS

Denlinger has set KU and PSAC homer records, leads Division II in dingers

 

KUTZTOWN, PA - The high-powered Kutztown University softball team has been hitting home runs in record numbers in 2007.

 

            Kutztown, ranked #2 in the latest Mid-Atlantic Regional poll released Wednesday, has hit 54 home runs as a team, tying the program's single-season record set last year.  Prior to last year, the most home runs the Golden Bears had hit in a season was 30 in 2002.

 

            A total of 10 different players have gone yard in '07 for KU, led by first baseman Steph Denlinger (so. Harleysville/Souderton), who has shattered the single-season and career home run records midway through her second season.

 

            Denlinger has 20 round-trippers this season, besting her school record of 16 homers set last year, and breaking the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) single-season record of 19 set last year by Lock Haven's Courtney Hughes.  Denlinger's 36 career home runs are a KU career record, obliterating the previous standard of 23 homers set by Kellie Evans (2000-03).  The PSAC career home run record stands at 56 (Erica Miller, Bloomsburg, 1998-2001).

 

            This season, Denlinger leads all NCAA Division II players in home runs per game, hitting taters at a 0.57 per game clip (20 HR in 35 games).  With 57 runs batted in and 118 total bases, she is nearing KU's single-season records for RBI (67, Jen Schock in 1995) and total bases (131, Schock in 1995). 

 

            Short stop Ashley Fitzgerald (so. Kitchener, ONT/Resurrection) has 10 home runs and 18 for her career.  Third baseman Krista Cameron (so. Formosa, ONT/Sacred Heart) has gone yard nine times this year and 19 times in her career.  

 

            Rounding out KU's home run hitters are OF Kim Morrison (so. Newmarket, ONT/Sir William Mulock) (3 home runs), OF Sam Flowers (jr. Harleysville/Souderton) (3), OF Adriane Willmer (sr. Kitchener, ONT/Resurrection) (2), DP Lindsay Bennett (jr. Rising Sun, MD/Rising Sun) (2), DP Tami Wambold (fr. Hatboro/Hatboro-Horsham) (2), DP Jennie Lincoln (jr. Stafford, VA/North Stafford) (2) and C Caitlin Hague (jr. Lansdale/North Penn) (1).

 

            In the most recent NCAA Statistics, Kutztown was ranked seventh in home runs per game at 1.22.  Since those rankings, KU has upped its average to 1.35 taters per contest, which would have been good for fifth in Division II.  

 

            In addition to all the offense, KU's received standout pitching from newcomer Kaitlin Arbogast (fr. Ambler/Wissahickon).  Arbogast leads the PSAC with 182 strikeouts.  She set Kutztown's single-season record for Ks against East Stroudsburg on March 30, passing the previous mark of 130 (Tiffany Mattiuz, 1995). 

 

            Kutztown is 27-13 overall, 9-1 in the PSAC East.  The Golden Bears have won nine straight games and look to continue the hot hitting on Friday when they host Mansfield for a doubleheader at 2:30 PM.  KU then travels to Bloomsburg, ranked #3 in the region and 16th in the country for a twinbill on Saturday at 1:00 PM.  On Monday, KU heads to defending NCAA Champion Lock Haven, ranked #1 in the region and country, for a doubleheader at 2:30 PM.

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Josh Leiboff
Kutztown University Sports Information
Phone: (610) 683-4182
Fax: (610) 683-4676
Email: leiboff at kutztown.edu
Website: http://www.kubears.com
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