Jess Giordano finished her career with a flair, being named first-team All-Designated Player for Cabrini University.
By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com
May 22: Let’s hear it for the Hamilton Township Girls Softball Association.
Three HGSA graduates from Hamilton Square were all recently honored as First-Team All East Region performers by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.
Recent Cabrini graduate Jess Giordano and The College of New Jersey junior Gaby Bennett, both Steinert graduates, were named to the NFCA’s All-Region Division III first team, while Wagner University’s Karen Prihoda was named to the All-Region Division I first team.
Giordano was named as a designated player thanks to her hitting and pitching skills. A two-time All-Colonial States Athletic Conference first-team performer, Giordano hit .396 with 42 hits and 42 RBI this year. She ranked second on the team in RBI and third in hits, and was 20th in the NCAA with 1.24 RBI per game.
A model of consistency at the dish, Giordano notched at least two hits in 12 games, while driving in multiple runs in 11 occasions, including three games with at least four RBI. In the circle, she went 12-5 while winning 10 consecutive decisions. Giordano posted a 5.09 earned run average with 73 strike outs in 99 inning pitched. Her 34 called strikeouts ranked third in the CSAC.
For her career, Giordano hit .379 with 148 hits, 26 doubles, 10 home runs, 108 RBI and 59 runs scored. She had a .523 slugging percentage and .406 on-base percentage. As a pitcher she went 41-27 with a 4.41 ERA and 253 strikeouts in 412.2 innings pitched.
Gaby Bennett made first-team outfield for The College of New Jersey.
Bennett was an outfield selection after hitting .388 with 31 stolen bases.. She was the sixth most difficult player in the nation to strike out, having done so just once in 120 at-bats. Gaby had 47 hits, 12 doubles and three triples, amassing a .537 slugging percentage and .406 on-base percentage. In 42 outfield chances she did not make an error.
Prihoda was named to the NFCA All-Region Division I Team for the second consecutive season. It marks the third major honors that she has received this month. On May 11, she was named to the 2018 Google Cloud College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District Softball Team, also for the second straight season. Two days earlier, she was tabbed Second-Team All-Northeast Conference.
A utility player who played primarily at second base in 2018 for the Seahawks, Prihoda once again led Wagner in nearly every offensive category; batting .378 with 54 hits, 15 doubles, a triple, six home runs and 30 RBI. The Lawrenceville School grad won the conference batting title and led the NEC in doubles, while finishing second in the league in slugging percentage (.627), runs and hits.
Before earning her recent honors, Prihoda was already one of Wagner’s most decorated softball players ever, after being named First-Team All-NEC in 2016 and 2017, NEC Rookie of the Year in 2016, and to the CoSIDA Academic All-District, and NFCA All-Region First-Teams in 2017.
