EDISON, N.J. (May 11, 2022) - After leading the Saint Peter's University softball team to its most wins in over a decade, head softball coach Chris Stelma has become the first Peacock head coach to be named the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, the league announced Wednesday.
In addition, the Peacocks placed a player on the All-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference team for the first time since 2007 as junior Cara McNulty earned Second Team All-MAAC honors while freshman Dakota Pitts earned a spot on the All-Rookie team.
In winning the award, Stelma joins Ron DeRogatis (1999) and Rich Gilberto (1996) as one of only three coaches in program history to earn conference coach of the year honors.Â
This season, Stelma led SPU to 22 total victories and seven wins in MAAC play, the most since 2007, while earning his 50th career win in a doubleheader sweep of Iona to close the season. Additionally, Stelma helped the Peacocks finish the year second in the league in fielding percentage as a team and close the year with 355 hits, good for eighth-best all-time and the most since 2006.
McNulty, meanwhile, places her name in the record books once again as she becomes the first player since Julie Saporito was named the MAAC Player of the Year in 2007. McNulty finished the year first on the team in batting average (.322), OPS (.796), hits (55), home runs (4), RBIs (32) and slugging percentage (.450) while sitting inside the top-10 in the MAAC in average and hits. A junior out of Middletown, N.J., McNulty hit safely in 37 games this season and had 13 multi-hit games on the year.
Pitts rounded out the All-MAAC accolades for the Peacocks as she became the first SPU player since Theamaris Ramirez in 2018 to land on the All-Rookie team. A freshman out of Abingdon, Maryland, Pitts was recognized as one of the top first year players in the league after hitting .301 with 28 RBI, second on the team to only McNulty. Pitts finished the year with 12 doubles, the most on the team and the ninth-most in a single season in program history while her .992 fielding percentage is tied for sixth-best in single season history.
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