The College of Staten Island women’s softball team has plenty to celebrate. The Dolphins have won nine of their last 10 games, and most recently the team took a pair of weekly City University of New York Athletic Conference honors with Victoria Procopio winning Player of the Week, and freshman Maxine Jasko taking Rookie of the Week honors, her first ever citation. On top of all of that, CSI is also collecting accolades as a team. The Dolphins lead all schools in the nation, spanning all NCAA Divisions in batting average, topping out at a whopping .385.
Procopio had a terrific week last week, not even counting CSI’s doubleheader sweep of York College of Tuesday. The Dolphins won three of four weekend contests and Procopio was the winning pitcher for all three contests, pitching a total of 13 innings, allowing three earned runs on 11 hits. At the dish, she was equally up to par. The sophomore went 3-6 with two RBI and four runs scored in a lop-sided doubleheader sweep of John Jay College, and then batted 4-6, with another RBI and a pair of runs in the doubleheader against Drew University.
For the season, Procopio leads the squad with an 11-4 record inside the circle, leading the team in categories like innings pitched, strikeouts and opponent batting average.
Jasko, a freshman shortstop, is one of six Dolphins to start every game this season. She sported a sensational week to earn rookie honors. Jasko went 5-7 with two RBI and four runs scored in the twinbill against John Jay, and followed up with a 3-3 performance with an RBI and runs scored in CSI’s 5-2 win over Drew on Sunday. Jasko is batting a healthy .462 with six extra-base hits. She is also third on the squad with 17 RBI.
Perhaps CSI’s highest honor of the week came when the NCAA released its weekly statistics, where sitting at the top of the list was Staten Island with a .385 batting average. CSI raised that average by 17 points last week, jumping from 10th to the pole position. The number is not only higher than the 404 NCAA Division III schools, but also all of NCAA Division I & II as well. This is believed to be the only time the school has led the nation in this or any other softball category.
Extra-base hits are also on the rise, and the Dolphins’ 0.95 triples per game average is also tops in NCAA Division III. CSI ranks in the Top 20 in Slugging (.537) and Scoring (7.57 runs per game) and defensively for Double Plays turned per game (15th, 0.48). Individually, CSI freshman Christina Tufano is fourth in the nation with a 0.24 triples per game average.
CSI is back in action on Saturday, when they face Baruch College in a 12 Noon doubleheader at Randall’s Island.
