Christiansen And Pagano Take Home All-Northeast Conference Softball Recognition

EMMITSBURG, Md. – Liz Christiansen (Etters, Pa./Red Land) and Nicole Pagano (Berlin, N.J./St. Joseph), members of the Mount St. Mary's softball team, have been honored by the Northeast Conference (NEC) with all-conference selections. Christiansen earned All-NEC first-team honors while Pagano was selected to the All-NEC second team.

Christiansen, a 5-7 redshirt junior, nabs her second All-NEC first-team selection after being named to the first team in 2010. The redshirt junior paced the Mount in batting average (.320), hits (47), doubles (9), home runs (9), RBIs (34) and total bases (83) while ranking second in runs scored (16). She now has two of the top three single season home run totals after smacking a program-record 11 in 2010. The 2010 NEC Defensive Player of the Year was even better in conference play, posting a .355 batting average with 22 hits, four doubles, five home runs and 15 RBIs. Christiansen became the program's all-time career home run leader with a homer against Niagara on Mar. 11.

For her career, Christiansen is the program's all-time leader in home runs (24) while ranking second in RBIs (96), second in slugging percentage (.591), fourth in total bases (215), seventh in doubles (25), 10th in batting average (.319) and 10th in bases on balls (41) in team history. The redshirt junior is also just outside of the Top-10 in runs (63) and hits (116).

Pagano, a 5-4 redshirt sophomore pitcher, picks up her first all-conference honor with her second-team selection. She went 11-11 with a 1.77 ERA and 147 strikeouts in 154.0 innings pitched. The redshirt sophomore tossed the squad's first Division I perfect game in an 8-0 win against Rhode Island on Mar. 16. Pagano had a no-hitter in an 11-0 victory against UMBC on Mar. 10 and tossed one inning to combine with freshman Danni Cummings (Owings, Md./Northern) for a no-hitter in a 15-0 win against Coppin State on Apr. 24. She also tossed two one-hitters this season. A two-time NEC Pitcher of the Week in 2012, Pagano became the seventh hurler in program history to win double figures in a single season and the 11 wins are the seventh most on the program's single-season list. In addition, the redshirt sophomore registered the second-best ERA and strikeout total while she tossed the eighth-most innings pitched in program history on the single-season chart.

For her career, Pagano ranks second in program history in ERA (2.26), third in winning percentage (.500) fourth in strikeouts (280) and fifth in wins (24). The Mount has recorded six no-hitters in team history and Pagano was a part of three this seasons.  

Mount St. Mary's finished 17-34 overall and 8-12 in NEC play.