Northeast-10 Conference

Northeast-10 Conference Softball All Conference Teams Announced
May 5, 2006

Bryant's Dargon Named Player of the Year; UMass Lowell's Mahoney is Pitcher and Lajoie is Freshman of the Year; Southern New Hampshire's Robitaille Garners Coach of the Year

South Easton, Mass. ? Jordan Dargon, a senior catcher from Trumbull, Conn. has been named the Northeast-10 Conference Softball Player of the Year as voted on by the 15 conference coaches.

Dargon helped lead Bryant University to its first ever Northeast-10 regular season championship. The Bulldog captain and only senior led her team to a 23-5 (25-15 overall) record and the top seed and hosts for the 2006 Northeast-10 Conference Softball Championship. Her .346 batting average during the regular season was among league leaders and she led her team in runs batted in (29), walks (22), and on base percentage (.469). Dargon is the second straight Bulldog and second ever player from Bryant to garner a major award, following Deirdre Kittredge's appointment in 2005.

The University of Massachusetts Lowell claimed the other two major awards this year. Junior pitcher Kristen Mahoney received the Northeast-10 Pitcher of the Year award while freshman Stacey Lajoie was named the Freshman of the Year. Mahoney, a native of Burlington, Mass., had a league best 18 wins during the regular season and enters the NE-10 tournament with an overall record of 18-5.

Lajoie, a freshman shortstop for the River Hawks, was a unanimous pick in a vote of the league's coaches. She led the conference in hits with 57 during the regular season. The Gardner, Mass. native enters the NE-10 tournament among league leaders in batting average with .365, runs scored 33 and runs batted in 33.

Mahoney and Lajoie are the first River Hawk players to garner major awards. River Hawk coach Harry Sauter was named the Northeast-10 Coach of the Year following the 2005 season.

Southern New Hampshire University First Year Head Coach Deb Robitaille earned the Coach of the Year Honors after guiding the Penmen to their first ever NE-10 tournament selection. Robitaille's team finished the regular season with a 21-19 overall record including a 20-8 mark in the Northeast-10. Robitaille, who had spent the previous six years as assistant softball coach, collects her school's first conference softball major award since joining the Northeast-10 in 2000.

The Northeast-10 All-Conference First Team included Dargon, Mahoney and Lajoie. In addition, Dargon's teammates Amanda Wilbur and Lindsay Connor were named to the first team, as well as the River Hawks' Laurie Tanquay. From Le Moyne College, Sarah Reed was named to the first team, as well as Teresa Bonavita of American International College, Casey Brooks of Saint Michael's College, Tania Palumbo of Assumption College and Caitlin Flanagan of Stonehill College.

The Northeast-10 All-Conference Second Team included Janine Enos and Jessica Valentini of Bryant, Ashley Smith and Nikki Cote of Southern New Hampshire, Emily Atkinson of Southern Connecticut State University, Emma Murphy and Jennifer Winters of Le Moyne, Assumption's Stephanie Capone, Lisa Castillo and Korina Salafia, and UMass Lowell's Vikki Guido.

The Northeast-10 All-Conference Third Team included Lauren Otto, Clarissa Lewis and Steph Simon of Merrimack College, Caitlin Stazinski of Assumption, Kristen Calahan of The College of Saint Rose, Stonehill's Courtney Young and Jaime Ippolito, Saint Anselm College's Julie Pistorino, UMass Lowell's Julie Brodie, Bryant's Amanda Gagne and Kate Thomas, Le Moyne's Lindsay Spaziani, Margaret Russell of Saint Michael's and Carolyn Krause of Pace University.