Friel, Gannon, Marini earn NJAC weekly honors
CAMDEN, NJ (April 15, 2024) – The Rutgers University-Camden softball program added two more weekly honors from the New Jersey Athletic Conference on Monday, while the Women's Track and Field program gave the Scarlet Raptors their third NJAC honor of the week.
Softball freshmen
Sammie Friel (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee) and
Alana Gannon (Clayton, NJ/Clayton) captured honors as the NJAC Rookie Pitcher of the Week and Rookie Player of the Week, respectively, while the Raptors' star thrower on the track and field team, senior
Alexis Marini (Pilesgrove, NJ/Woodstown), was named the Women's Field Athlete of the Week.
The honor was the second of the season for Friel, who also earned NJAC Rookie Pitcher of the Week on April 1.
Friel, who added Rutgers-Camden honors as the school's Raptor of the Week on Monday, hurled a pair of 1-0 shutouts in conference play last week, blanking The College of New Jersey on Tuesday and Kean University on Saturday. Against TCNJ, she allowed four hits and two walks, while striking out three. In the Kean game, she hurled a no-hitter into the seventh inning before the Cougars collected a one-out double for their only hit. She walked two and struck out seven.
For the week, Friel worked 14 shutout innings, allowing only five hits and four walks, while fanning seven.
This season, Friel owns a 7-4 record with a 2.22 ERA and four shutouts in 72.2 innings. She has 66 strikeouts and has added one save.
Gannon appeared in three games during the week, starting two as the designated player. She went 2-for-5 (.400) with one run and one RBI during the week, but saved her biggest moment for a pinch-hit appearance in the opening game of the Kean doubleheader. She delivered a sacrifice fly to account for the lone run of the game in Friel's 1-0 victory.
For the season, Gannon has appeared in 15 games, starting seven, and producing three runs and three RBIs.
The double softball honors on Monday give the Scarlet Raptors six NJAC Rookie honors during the season, including the two by Friel. Freshman
Anna Milillo also earned NJAC Rookie Pitcher of the Week on March 25, while sophomore second baseman
Gianna Bauer, a first-year collegiate player, was the NJAC Rookie Player of the Week March 11 and March 18.
Marini had another fine week for the women's track and field team. On Friday, she competed in a Division I meet, the Larry Ellis Invitational, at Princeton University, where she placed 12th of 23 athletes with a hammer throw of 49.26 meters. On Saturday, Marini competed at the TCNJ Invite and Multi, where she finished fourth of 41 athletes in the discus (34.63 M) and 16th of 34 in the shot put (10.19 M).
The Rutgers-Camden program record holder in the discus (37.81 M), set at the Widener Invitational on April 21, 2023, Marini has earned NJAC Honorable Mention during both indoor and outdoor seasons during her stellar career, while capturing USTFCCCA All-Metro Region recognition in both the weight throw and hammer throw. She is a six-time Raptor of the Week and has captured numerous academic honors, including USTFCCCA Div. III All-Academic, a pair of NJAC Academic Honorable Mention recognitions and seven Dean's List and Rutgers-Camden Athletic Director's Honor Roll awards. During her seven full semesters, she has posted a perfect 4.0 GPA on four occasions.
