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 Head Coach Kim Staehle will see a familiar face across the diamond Wednesday |
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Former Teammates and Colleagues Collide as Softball Faces Georgetown Wednesday
March 25, 2008
WASHINGTON, DC - Former teammates Kim Staehle and Pat Conlan, both of whom competed for the Connecticut Huskies College Softball World Series team in 1993, collide as the George Washington Colonials and Georgetown Hoyas take part in a doubleheader Wednesday, March 26 at 4:00 pm at the Hoyas' Guy Mason Field.
Two years ago, Staehle returned from a three-year hiatus from coaching to assist head coach Pat Conlan start a program at Georgetown. The following year, a head coaching position opened at nearby George Washington University, which was offered and accepted by Staehle.
Now, the two former teammates and colleagues will look across the diamond, and see each other in opposing dugouts.
The Colonials come into the twinbill at 5-10 overall and 1-3 in the Atlantic 10 after a pair of heartbreaking losses at conference rival Saint Louis over the weekend. Redshirt sophomore Elisa Van Kirk hit a pair of home runs in game two, and sophomore hurler Amanda Gabriel had a herculean effort of 17.1 innings and two complete games go to waste. Senior Jackie Yaniga batted .500 in the two games.
GW is paced offensively by six players who are batting over .300 with Yaniga leading the team with a .417 average. Most of the power numbers are coming from the bottom of the order as Van Kirk and Gabriel lead the team with five home runs apiece, while Van Kirk also has a team-leading 15 RBIs. Senior Katie Miller, who recently moved from the outfield to first base, is second on the team with four roundtrippers and nine runs batted in. Junior Carrie Higdon has been a terror on the base paths, leading the team with seven stolen bases in seven attempts. Gabriel is also the ace of the pitching staff at 4-6 with a 2.26 ERA. She recently broke the GW career strikeout record and has wrung up 71 batters opposed to just 10 walks in 65.0 innings on the season.
Colonials Head Coach Kim Staehle is very familiar with the Hoyas as she was the assistant for Georgetown Head Coach Pat Conlan two years ago, the Hoyas' first season as a varsity program. The coaches were also teammates on the 1993 University of Connecticut College World Series team. Georgetown comes into the doubleheader at just 11-23, but is coming off a pair of impressive victories over Virginia and Rutgers. Samantha Peters leads the Hoyas in every offensive category as she hits for power (6 home runs and 21 RBI), average (.366) and can steal bases (13-14). Demetria Cipriano is second on the team with a .292 average and has 11 doubles. Aimee Moffat and Suria Bahadue are also potent with the bat as the combine for six home runs and 30 RBI. Jennifer Connell and Melissa Conners make up the Hoyas' pitching staff with Connell pitching the majority. Connell is now 8-17 with a 4.74 ERA and has struck out 101 batters in 144.1 innings. Conners is 3-6 with a 6.90 ERA to go with 52 strikeouts in 74.1 innings.
Following the twinbill with Georgetown, the Colonials will travel to Buffalo, NY for a A-10 doubleheader at St. Bonaventure Saturday, March 29 at 12:00 pm.
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