Head coach Megan Bryant and her Stony Brook softball team inked five new players to their 2015 recruiting class, using both coasts to bring in a pitcher, two infielders and two outfielders.
These players will finish their high school careers this season before putting on the red and white for the Seawolves, beginning in the 2016 season.
California girls Lindsey Hughes and Irene Rivera get to make the trip to the east coast, while Danni Kemp, Katelyn Corr and Emily Acquaviva stay close to the Atlantic Ocean to play collegiate softball for the Seawolves.
Hughes posted a 1.34 ERA and .162 opposing batting average on her way to a 14-5 record in her junior season for the Saints at San Dimas HS
in San Dimas, California.
The 2014 All-Valle Vista League pick was named a scholar athlete after sporting a 4.2 GPA.
45 minutes west of San Dimas, Rivera made her name in Sylmar, CA becoming a second-team all-league selection at Granada Hills.
The catcher batted .357 and hit six home runs in her junior season.
Back to the east coast, Kemp and Corr heil from Connecticut where both swung the bat very well and played travel ball together with the Connecticut Charmers.
Corr was a power-hitter at Suffield HS. She earned All-State and All-Conference honors as a junior, hitting .575 with nine long balls and a whopping slugging percentage of 1.050.
The multi-sport athlete was also placed on the Connecticut Junior All-Select team.
She also earned all-conference and first team all-state honors, while hitting .446 for J.A. Foran HS last season.
In her three year career with the Lions, she has accumulated over 100 hits and 40 stolen bases showing herself as a threat both at the plate and on the basepaths.
The Empire State is the home of the final signee of 2015, as Acquaviva will bring her powerful bat down from New Hartford.
As an all-conference and second-team all-state selection in 2014, the scholar-athlete batted .499 on the season with six home runs and 31 runs batted in.
She also showed some speed, stealing 25 bases in her junior campaign.
These five players cannot take the field at University Field until the 2016 season, but as for the upcoming 2015 slate, it will be filled with tough tests.
In each of the last three seasons, Megan Bryant’s club has earned 34 wins.
Accomplishing that feat this season could be tough, as eight teams on this slate finished last season in the top 100 of the final RPI rankings of the season. Six teams also earned bids into the 2014 NCAA Tournament.
Two-time America East Pitcher of the Year Alison Cukrov, as well as two second-team selections in Bria Green, and Shayla Giosia return in 2015 to lead the Seawolves.
Cukrov is coming off of a 23-9 season, posting a 2.10 ERA and striking out 187 in 213 innings.
She held opposing batters to a .203 batting average last season.
Green led the team in slugging with a .660 average and a team-high 16 home runs. Jessica Combs was second with just seven.
They will start the season by travelling to the Sunshine State for a pair of tournaments.
The first one is the Florida Gulf Coast tournament and the following weekend Stony Brook will go to the North Florida tournament.
At the Invite at FGCU, they will play two of their top-100 RPI opponents, as the Seawolves will go toe-to-toe with Purdue (No. 73) and the Eagles of FGCU (No. 90).
In North Florida, they will play the Jayhawks of Kansas, who finished No. 37 in the RPI from last season, and North Florida who finished No. 86.
Stony Brook will face its toughest opponent of the season after they finish their stay in Florida, facing the James Madison.
The Dukes finished No. 24 in the RPI and No. 25 in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches’ Poll last season, in the JMU Dukes Invitational.
Mike Daniello contributed to this story.
