Wilmington University Softball Coach Erin Harvey and her staff are pleased to announce their recruiting class for the upcoming 2012 season. 

The Wildcats are adding four new student-athletes to their roster.  Joining the program are two freshmen and a pair of transfers.  The incoming freshmen are Chelsea Botsch (Smyrna HS/Smyrna, DE) and Cambria Ziemba (St. Mark's HS/Wilmington, DE), while the transfers are Shelby Thompson (Del Tech Stanton/Hodgson Vo-Tech HS/Newark, DE) and Jillian Stafford (Burlington CC/Gloucester HS/Gloucester City, NJ). 

Botsch, a pitcher from Smyrna, Delaware, is a multiple All-State and All-Henlopen conference award winner at Smyrna High School.  She led the Lady Eagles to the Delaware State Championship game this past season, and also plays for the Delaware Sabres travel ball organization. 

Ziemba, a utility player, hails from Wilmington, is also a multiple All-State recipient, along with garnering All-Catholic Conference honors at St. Mark's during her tenure.  She plays with the Delaware Cobras 18U travel ball team, and can play the middle infield and outfield positions.

Thompson, an outfielder from Newark, was a former All-State and All-Blue Hen Conference selection at Hodgson Vo-Tech.  A transfer from Delaware Tech-Stanton, she hit .470 this past year for the Spirit while stealing 19 bases.  Thompson, a rising junior, garnered All-Region 19 honors in both seasons for Del-Tech, earning first-team accolades this past spring and second team laurels last season. 

Stafford, a pitcher from Gloucester City, New Jersey, is a transfer from Burlington County College, where she was named the Region 19 Player of the Year after going 16-4 with a 1.16 earned run average.  She is a two-time All-Region 19 and All-Garden State Athletic Conference award winner.  Stafford, who will be entering her junior year of eligibility, tossed four no-hitters this past year, striking out 154 in 132 innings pitched, an average of over eight strikeouts per seven innings. 

Also new to the team this season is freshman Rachel Painter (St. Elizabeth HS/New Castle, DE), who is coming off a medical red-shirt year.  Painter, a catcher, had an outstanding beginning to the fall season last year before suffering a season-ending elbow injury just two weeks in.   A former All-State selection with the Vikings, she will be a valuable addition to the team this season.

"We are ecstatic to have these players join us and look forward to their arrival", stated Coach Harvey.  She added, "This is one of the more solid recruiting classes we have put together, and they should fit in nicely with our returning players, while giving the squad the deepest team we've had in quite some time.  Each should challenge for significant playing time, and it should make for some extremely competitive softball here at Wilmington."

These new recruits join a Wildcat squad that finished the 2011 season with an overall record of 29-21 (17-9 in the CACC) and qualified for the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference playoffs, where they placed fourth. 

Wilmington University is an NCAA Division II institution located in New Castle, Delaware, that competes in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference.  The Conference is comprised of 14 schools throughout Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and Connecticut.