Canessa, Hughes Named ECAC Division I All Stars

ECAC Release

Danbury, Conn. – After standout junior and freshman campaigns, respectively, Fordham softball's Sydney Canessa and Jessica Hughes have added to their postseason honors with Eastern College Athletic Conference's (ECAC) Division I All-Star accolades, the organization announced Tuesday morning. Canessa was named to the All-ECAC First Team, while Hughes was placed on the All-ECAC Second Team.
 
They are the first such awards for both players and the sixth straight year that at least one Fordham player has earned an ECAC accolade. Canessa and Hughes are the 15^th and 16^th Rams to ever be named among the ECAC end-of-year ranks.
 
Canessa, named to the Atlantic 10 First and All-Academic teams and NFCA All-Mid Atlantic Second Team, continued her excellent Fordham career by slashing .346/.418/.600 with a team-leading 11 home runs, a conference-leading 53 RBIs, and 111 total bases. Canessa also scored 44 runs on 64 hits and 12 doubles, while starting all 60 contests. The junior is in the top-five in all the above stats and also leads the A-10 with seven sac flies. Canessa has yet to miss a start or even a game in her Fordham career, totaling 174 straight starts in the outfield. As the primary #3 hitter for most of the season, Canessa came through with many clutch hits, most notably a memorable walk-off RBI double in the 12^th inning of a 1-0 elimination game against Dayton at this year's A-10 Tournament. Nationally, the Wall, N.J. native is the 22^nd-toughest hitter to strike out in the country, with just one whiff in every 29.8 at bats, or six strikeouts to 24 walks in 185 at bats. Canessa recently entered several all-time program ranks, where she is now eighth with 115 runs driven in, sixth with 139 runs scored, 11^th with 22 home runs, 11^th with 271 total bases, seventh with 70 walks, and her .326 career batting average ranks 12^th.
 
Hughes made a large impression in her first year in the Bronx, becoming the school's all-time single season base stealer and putting up impressive all-around numbers en route to the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year award, as well as First Team, All-Rookie, and NFCA All-Mid Atlantic Third Team accolades. Hughes finished with a .352/.469/.445 slash line, with the first two numbers ranking second and first on the team, respectively. Hughes matched Canessa's team-leading 64 hits and scored a conference-leading 56 runs, with six doubles, three home runs, and 21 runs driven in. The freshman speedster finished the year with a league-leading 36 steals in 41 tries, already the fifth-most thefts in school history, and also led the conference with 37 walks compared to 19 strikeouts. The Sewell, N.J. native's 56 runs and 37 walks rank fourth and third, respectively, on the all-time single season lists.