Merrimack Warriors softball

Merrimack Warriors
Merrimack Warriors
University	Merrimack College
Head coach	Elaine Schwager (17th season)
Conference	MAAC
Location	North Andover, MA
Home stadium	Martone-Mejail Field
Nickname	Warriors
Colors	Blue and gold;
NCAA Tournament champions
	1994*
NCAA Tournament appearances
	1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2011, 2017, 2018*
Conference Tournament championships
	1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2002
Regular Season Conference championships
	1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2017; *at Division II level

The Merrimack Warriors softball team represents Merrimack College in NCAA Division I college softball. The team participates in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), having joined following the 2023–2024 academic school year.^[3] From 1985 until 2019, the team was a member of the Northeast-10 Conference (NE–10), playing at the Division II level before transitioning to Division I in 2020.^[4] From 2020 until 2024, the team was a member of the Northeast Conference (NEC).^[5] In 2024 they joined the Metro athletic conference (MAAC). The Warriors are currently led by head coach Elaine Schwager. The team plays its home games at Martone-Mejail Field located on the college's campus.^[6]

History

During their time as an NCAA Division II program, Merrimack found significant success as a member of the Northeast-10 Conference, They had 19 straight winning seasons from 1986-2004. Including winning the 1994 NCAA Division II softball championship over Humboldt State going 45-4 overall that year, ^[7]^[8] In addition to a national title, the Warriors won 12 regular season championships, eight conference tournament championships, 5 regional championships and qualified for the NCAA tournament 15 times.^[9] Since transitioning to Division I in 2020, The team has yet to finish a season with a winning record. However they were runners up in the NEC championship during the 2023 season. In 2025 they moved to the MAAC.

Merrimack won several awards during their time in the Northeast-10 Conference. The program won eight NE-10 Player of the Year awards, doing so in 1988 with Jenny Jenkins, 1993 and 1994 with Kim Page, 1996 with Daniela Paparo, 1996 with Raffaela Paparo, 1998 and 1999 with Stacey Dell'Anno, and 2002 with Katie Morgis.^[10] The team has also won six NE-10 Coach of the Year awards, winning in 1986, 1988, and 1992 with Bob DeGregorio, 1993 with Michelle Myslinski, and in 2009 and 2017 with Elaine Schwager.^[11] The 1994 team was inducted into the Northeast-10 conference hall of fame as well as the Merrimack athletics hall of fame.^[12]

Coaching history

Years	Coach	Record	%
1985–1992	Bob DeGregorio	209–122–2	.631
1993–2004	Michelle Myslinski	434–127	.774
2005	Stacey Sullivan	23–35	.397
2006–2011, 2015–present	Elaine Schwager	308–378	.449
2012	Jill Karwoski	19–23	.452
2013–2014	Jim Cardello	42–44–1	.489

Roster

2024 Merrimack Warriors roster

Pitchers

21 – Madie Fornwalt – Graduate Student
31 – Anna Gedacht – Freshman
12 – Cecelia Imbimbo – Freshman
16 – Brandi Neil – Sophomore
44 – Sofia Palyan – Junior
00 – Sydney Samuel – Sophomore

Catchers

22 – Madi Gibeault – Freshman
28 – Gabby Kaduson – Freshman
20 – Caity Lemay – Sophomore
7 – Madison Metcalf – Sophomore
17 – Jordan Theriault – Freshman

Infielders

23 – Madeline Arvai – Freshman
15 – Thiana Brito – Sophomore
24 – Ellen Hubbard – Junior
27 – Bailey McDermott – Sophomore
2 – Alex Miller – Sophomore
9 – Sam Russalesi – Sophomore
18 – Sydney Shinopulos – Junior

Outfielders

42 – Madison Cerpa – Senior
3 – Abby Choquette – Freshman
26 – Hannah Scarano – Senior

Utility

13 – Courtney Lanpher – Graduate Student

Reference:^[13]

Individual Awards

Player awards

NE10 player of the year

Jenny Jenkins (1988)
Kim Page x2 (1993, 1994)
Daniela Paparo (1995)
Raffaela Paparo (1996)
Katie Morgis (2002)

NE10 Rookie of the year

Jenny Jenkins (1986)
Sue Foulds (1989)
Kim Page (1991)
Judy O’Connell (1992)
Raffaela Paparo (1993)
Katie Morgis (1999)
Meghan Condon (2001)

NE10 Pitcher of the year

Kelli Jo Deardorff (2011)
Megan Cook (2018)

Coaches awards

NE10 Coach of the year

Bob Degregorio x3 (1986, 1988, 1992)
Michele Mylinski (1993)
Elaine Schwager x2 (2009, 2017)

All Americans

Daniela Paparo (1995)
Keri Bianchini (1995)
Michelle Lefebvre (1995)
Raffaella Paparo (1995)
Stacey Dell'Anno (1988, 1999)
Sheryl Marshall (1999)
Jennifer Connolly (1999, 2000)
Heather Faria (2000)
Katie Morgis (2001, 2002)
Jill Gagnon (2009)
Kelsey Ellis (2009)
Tawny Palmieri (2013)
Megan Cook (2018)

Merrimack Athletics hall of fame

Kim Ducharme (2003)
Stephen McAuliffe (2017)
Judy O'Connell (2018)
Stacey (Dell'Anno) Laganas (2018)

Season by season results

Statistics overview
Season	Coach	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Merrimack Warriors (Northeast-10 Conference) (1985–2019)
1985	Bob DeGregorio	7–16	4–10	T–6th
1986	Bob DeGregorio	20–11	9–5	2nd
1987	Bob DeGregorio	18–14	7–7	5th
1988	Bob DeGregorio	37–10	12–4	T–1st
1989	Bob DeGregorio	30–20	11–5	T–3rd
1990	Bob DeGregorio	27–22–1	16–2	2nd
1991	Bob DeGregorio	34–18–1	15–3	T–1st	NCAA Tournament
1992	Bob DeGregorio	34–12	17–1	1st
1993	Michelle Myslinski	41–6	18–0	1st	NCAA Tournament
1994	Michelle Myslinski	45–4	16–2	T–1st	NCAA Champions
1995	Michelle Myslinski	40–11	16–2	T–1st	NCAA Tournament
1996	Michelle Myslinski	33–9	11–3	2nd	NCAA Tournament
1997	Michelle Myslinski	23–14	12–4	2nd	NCAA Tournament
1998	Michelle Myslinski	40–6	19–1	1st	NCAA Tournament
1999	Michelle Myslinski	42–6	17–1	1st	NCAA Tournament
2000	Michelle Myslinski	39–13	16–2	1st	NCAA Tournament
2001	Michelle Myslinski	40–8	25–3	1st	NCAA Tournament
2002	Michelle Myslinski	35–16	23–5	1st	NCAA Tournament
2003	Michelle Myslinski	23–16	17–9	4th
2004	Michelle Myslinski	35–18	20–8	T–3rd	NCAA Tournament
2005	Stacey Sullivan	20–22	16–12	5th
2006	Elaine Schwager	17–27	13–13	9th
2007	Elaine Schwager	23–20	17–11	6th
2008	Elaine Schwager	9–27	9–19	13th
2009	Elaine Schwager	26–19	18–10	4th
2010	Elaine Schwager	17–26	13–17	10th
2011	Elaine Schwager	31–23	20–10	T–2nd	NCAA Tournament
2012	Jill Karwoski	19–23	13–17	T–10th
2013	Jim Cardello	21–22–1	13–11–1	5th (Northeast)
2014	Jim Cardello	21–20	13–7	3rd (Northeast)
2015	Elaine Schwager	19–24	12–13	5th (Northeast)
2016	Elaine Schwager	24–26	14–13	4th (Northeast)
2017	Elaine Schwager	35–15	19–5	1st (Northeast)	NCAA Tournament
2018	Elaine Schwager	33–16	17–10	3rd (Northeast)	NCAA Tournament
2019	Elaine Schwager	25–23	15–12	3rd (Northeast)
Merrimack Warriors (Northeast Conference) (2020–2024)
2020	Elaine Schwager	2–12	0–0	N/A	Season cut short due to COVID-19 Pandemic
2021	Elaine Schwager	4–12	4–12	8th
2022	Elaine Schwager	14–28	10–14	7th
2023	Elaine Schwager	18–30	11–10	4th
2024	Elaine Schwager	19–34	12–12	5th
Total:		1,035–729–3 (.587)
National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion