FOUR SAINTS NAMED TO GNAC SOFTBALL ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM

BOSTON, Mass. – For the first time since 1998, the Emmanuel College softball program has four members named to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) All-Conference team, it was announced by the conference office on Tuesday afternoon. Junior pitcher Megan Kieselback (Wethersfield, Conn.) and junior catcher Casey Sheehan (Medway, Mass.) were named to the GNAC Second Team while junior outfielder/pitcher Olivia Burgos (Newington, Conn.) and sophomore outfielder Yuleska Ramirez Tejeda (South Boston, Mass.) were tabbed to the GNAC Third Team. Sophomore outfielder Sarah Hoisl (West Hartford, Conn.) earned GNAC All-Sportsmanship Team honors.

Kieselback enjoyed a breakout junior campaign as the Saints ace, posting a 10-9 record in the circle to tie for fourth all-time for wins in a season at Emmanuel. She tossed a total of 130 2/3 innings to rank fourth in a single season at EC while her 101 strikeouts ranked second this year in the GNAC and sixth all-time at Emmanuel. The Wethersfield, Conn. native finished the campaign with a 2.46 ERA to rank second in the GNAC among pitchers with more than 100 innings pitched, and sixth overall, while ranking fifth all-time at Emmanuel. Her season was highlighted by her first collegiate no-hitter on April 22 in a 6-0 victory over Anna Maria. It was one of her four complete game shutout wins and she finished the season with a total of 19 complete games to lead the GNAC while ranking second in Emmanuel annals.

Over her three years at Emmanuel, Kieselback has accumulated a career record of 18-19 in the pitching circle over 253 innings of work to rank fourth all-time in wins and seventh in innings pitched. She currently boasts a career ERA of 3.29, good for fifth best in program history and will enter her senior campaign with 187 career strikeouts to rank third all-time. Kieselback is the program record holder in saves with four and ranks third all-time in appearances with 59.

Sheehan earns All-Conference honors for the second straight season after earning Third Team honors last year. The catcher finished the 2018 slate with a .349 batting average to rank second of the squad, collecting 45 hits to rank tied for 13^th in the GNAC. She recorded her 100^th career hit against Emerson College on March 28 and finished the year with 29 RBI, good for 12^th in the GNAC. She posted a career-best 13-game hitting streak from April 18 through May 3 and stole a career-high 11 bases on the year. Defensively, Sheehan threw out seven runners attempting to seal to tie for the second most in the conference and posted a .988 fielding percentage. For the second straight season, Sheehan caught even inning behind the dish for the Saints (264 1/3) and helped the Saints pitching staff to a 3.15 team ERA.

Over her career, Sheehan has appeared in 119 games and compiled 134 hits and a .349 batting average to rank in the Emmanuel top 10 in all three categories. She'll enter her senior season with 68 career RBI, 40 extra base hits and a career .518 slugging percentage.

Burgos earns Third Team All-Conference honors after arguably one of the best all-around seasons in Emmanuel softball history. She led the team with a .407 batting average while also slugging .714 which ranks second all-time among EC for single-season numbers. The utility player cracked eight home runs to rank tied for second in the GNAC while tying the Emmanuel single-season record while her 100 total bases led the GNAC and is also a new EC standard. She recorded 24 extra base hits to rank second in the conference and also executed six sacrifice bunts to rank fourth-most in the GNAC and during the year also recorded her 100^th career hit. In the pitching circle, Burgos posted a 10-7 record with a 3.23 ERA, striking out 67 batters over 93 1/3 innings. She worked in four complete game shutouts and tossed nine complete games during the year.

In three years, Burgos has improved her hitting numbers every season and enters senior year with a .327 career batting average on 115 hits. She currently ranks fifth all-time in runs scored with 75 and sixth in RBI with 69. As a pitcher, Burgos has compiled 14 wins, 100 career strikeouts and a 4.15 ERA over 40 outings and 170 and 1/3 innings pitched.

Ramirez-Tejeda appears on her second All-GNAC team of the calendar year after earning GNAC First Team honors in Women's Basketball. The transition from the court to the diamond showed as the outfielder saw limited action early on but by midseason, the South Boston, Mass. native became an every day starter in the Saints outfield. She hit safely in 21 of the final 25 games of the year including five of six GNAC tournament games to close the year with a .368 batting average. She slugged .750 on the year, a new EC single-season record, and with seven home runs in just 76 at bats averaged a homer every 10.86 at bats to top the GNAC. Ramirez-Tejeda stole 13 bases on the season to rank tied for eighth in the GNAC and finished her first collegiate softball season with 25 RBI and 24 runs scored.

The Saints capped the 2018 season with an overall record of 25-18, marking the second-most wins in a season by a softball team at Emmanuel. EC posted a 14-10 record in GNAC play, tying the most wins in conference action, to earn the No. 7 seed in the GNAC tournament. The Saints picked up a 5-2 win over University of Saint Joseph (CT) to advance to the weekend play and in the double-elimination format, posted a 4-2 record picking up two wins over Simmons as well a win over Albertus Magnus before falling in the loser's bracket championship to Suffolk on Championship Sunday, 4-3 in eight innings.

With no seniors on the 2018 roster, the Saints will look to build off of an impressive campaign in 2019.

Click here to view the entire 2018 GNAC All-Conference Softball Team