Hunter’s Crofts, Brooklyn’s Heyer, and CSI’s Cautela Earn Top Annual Honors

CUNYAC Softball Presented by Pepsi

The CUNY Athletic Conference and Pepsi are proud to announce the 2015 CUNYAC Softball All-Stars and major award winners. Last year’s Rookie of the Year, Taylor Crofts, repeated her great performance with an outstanding sophomore year campaign. As a result, the Hunter outfielder is your 2015 CUNYAC/Pepsi Player of the Year. Fellow sophomore and CSI pitcher Jacqueline Cautela threw her way to the top to be honored as the 2015 CUNYAC/Pepsi Pitcher of the Year. Meanwhile, over at Brooklyn College, freshman shortstop Chrissy Heyer began her CUNYAC softball career with the honor of being called the 2015 CUNYAC/Pepsi Rookie of the Year. This year’s CUNYAC Coach of the Year award will be given to Hunter’s Ralph Moroni. To round out the major award winners, CSI’s Brittany Smith was named the 2015 CUNYAC/Pepsi Sportsmanship Award Dinner.

Hunter’s Taylor Croft is this year’s CUNYAC/Pepsi Player of the Year. The outfielder had an impressive season where she helped the Hawks to a 17-7 overall record. The sophomore batted an astounding .500 on the season with a .705 slugging percentage and 23 runs batted in, all tops on the team. The East Yaphank native also had 8 doubles and 2 home runs to help contribute this year.

“I’m so grateful to be the CUNYAC Player of the Year,” said Crofts. “Both my team and I worked really hard over the off season and to see the progress we’ve all made, as a team and individually, is a rewarding feeling in itself,” Crofts continued, “to be recognized with this award makes all the hours of practices and training worth it and I hope to only improve from here. I’m truly thankful for all the support I’ve received from my parents, coaches and teammates.”

On the opposing side of the plate, the 2015 CUNYAC/Pepsi Pitcher of the Year was awarded to Jacqueline Cautela. CSI’s ace put in over 110 innings of work this season and recorded a 2.72 earned run average. Cautela was also able to strike out 78 of the batters she faced this season and had a 13-6 overall record, which helped CSI earn a 27-10 overall record and a #1 seed in this year’s CUNYAC Tournament.

This year’s CUNYAC/Pepsi Rookie of the Year award goes to Brooklyn College’s Chrissy Heyer. The shortstop was a force from the plate batting .510 with 17 RBI’s. The speedster also showed her skills on the base paths with 28 stolen bases and 6 doubles on the year. The freshman also was responsible for scoring 44 of Brooklyn’s runs this year.

“I feel extremely honored to be awarded CUNYAC Rookie of the Year, a recognition only made possible by the support of my outstanding teammates, coaches and athletic trainer, with whom I would like to share this distinction,” said Heyer. “I am the proud beneficiary of a great team organization, which on the field works with each other to bring out the best in all of us, while helping to strengthen each other's weaknesses, making me the best player I can be. Receiving this recognition has given me even more incentive to continue to strive to achieve higher goals, not only in softball, but also in life. I would like to thank all those who voted and believed me to be worthy enough for this award.”

Heyer continued by quoting one of the greats, “Babe Ruth once said ‘never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.’ By not playing with fear, I have accomplished all that I have this season and look forward to the seasons to come as a member of the Brooklyn College family.”

Behind his Player of the Year, Hunter Head Coach Ralph Moroni was voted as this year’s CUNYAC/Pepsi Coach of the Year. Moroni’s Hawks finished the year 17-7 overall with a 10-2 record in CUNYAC play. The team batted .394 and scored over 219 runs. Hunter will be the #2 seed in this weekend’s upcoming CUNYAC Tournament.

“Winning the coach of the year award is a team effort and cannot be accomplished without a great coaching staff and a team that will play as hard as they can,” stated Coach Moroni

CUNYAC Softball All-Stars Presented by Pepsi

Player of the Year	School	Year	Position
Taylor Crofts	Hunter	So.	OF
Pitcher of the Year	School	Year	Position
Jacqueline Cautela	Staten Island	So.	P/IF
Rookie of the Year	School	Year	Position
Chrissy Heyer	Brooklyn	Fr.	SS
Coach of the Year	School	Year	Position
Ralph Moroni	Hunter	2	Coach
First Team	School	Year	Position
Erika Colangelo	Hunter	Jr.	P/OF
Chyanne Gilliam	Staten Island	Jr.	OF
Kayla Hill	Brooklyn	Sr.	P/DP
Maxine Jasko	Staten Island	Jr.	SS
Briana Kresback	Hunter	Sr.	OF
Meghan O'Shea	Hunter	Sr.	3B
Lisa Pellegrino	John Jay	Fr.	3B/P
Samantha Rodriguez	Brooklyn	Jr.	C
Christina Tufano	Staten Island	Jr.	3B
Second Team	School	Year	Position
Kimberly Brennan	Brooklyn	Sr.	P
Jacqueline Gioia	Baruch	Sr.	SS/2B
Christine Kline	Hunter	Jr.	OF/2B
Danielle Locke	Staten Island	Jr.	OF/C
Danielle Minaya	John Jay	So.	OF
Victoria Slavik	Hunter	So.	OF/1B
Brittany Smith	Staten Island	Sr.	OF
Nicolette Trapani	Staten Island	Fr.	P/1B
Jennifer Varela	John Jay	Sr.	C

Sportsmanship Winner	School	Year	Position
Brittany Smith	Staten Island	Sr.	OF
Sportsmanship Team	School	Year	Position
Yircary Caraballo	Baruch	Fr.	INF/P
Michelle Cranston	Brooklyn	Sr.	OF
Kristen McGoldrick	Hunter	Sr.	3B
Jennifer Pace	John Jay	So.	2B
Linda Resto	Lehman	So.	3B/SS