Read full release at NFCA.org

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of New Haven softball team has been recognized as having one of the top GPAs in Division II softball for the 2019 season, as announced by Easton and the National Fastpitch Coaches' Association on Wednesday. Ten individuals from the 2019 team were also honored as Easton/NFCA All-America Scholar-Athletes.

The 10 scholar-athletes recognized by the organization include current sophomores Emily Bump (Stratford, Conn./Lauralton Hall), Mya Case (Syracuse, N.Y/West Genessee) and Mia Iodice (Rehoboth, Mass./Dighton-Rehoboth Regional), current junior Melissa Bike (Stratford, Conn./Saint Joseph), current senior Megan Butts (West Chester, Pa./Henderson), and graduated seniors Madison Derosia (Brattleboro, Vt./Brattleboro Union), Rachel Gilmore (Clarks Summit, Pa./Abington Heights), Jolie Morrell (West Haven, Conn./West Haven), Vanessa Strohm (Lititz, Pa./Warwick) and Sierra Whitlock (Woodbridge, Va./Woodbridge).

As a team, the Chargers boasted a 3.500 team grade-point average, which ranked 35th among all Division II programs, and was the second-highest in the Northeast-10 Conference. New Haven was one of seven schools from the NE10 listed among the top 87 GPAs in Division II, joining Adelphi, Merrimack, American International, Bentley, Le Moyne and Pace.

This past spring, softball had three players – Derosia, Strohm and Whitlock – all earn Academic All-NE10 honors. Bike, Derosia and Morrell all posted 4.0 GPAs during the Spring 2019 semester and 18 members of the team were named to the Spring NE10 Commissioner's Honor Roll.

Nationally, over 8,000 student-athletes were named 2019 Easton/NFCA All-America Scholar Athletes for achieving a GPA of 3.50 of higher, the highest number in NFCA history. That number included 1,306 softball student-athletes from NCAA Division II.