CONNECTICUT BRAKETTES SIGN SEVEN MORE PLAYERS, INCLUDING PITCHERS LESLIE MALERICH AND KACI CLARK

April 27, 2006 - The Connecticut Brakettes have announced the signing of seven more players, bringing to nine the number under contract for the team's inaugural season in the National Pro Fastpitch league. The Connecticut Brakettes begin play June 1 with a four-game series against the New England Riptide of Lowell, MA, at Frank DeLuca Hall of Fame Field.

Pitchers Leslie Malerich and Kaci Clark, infielders Jennifer Owens and Erica Sobel, catcher Callie Piper and outfielders Julie Brooks and Denise Denis are the most recent players to ink contracts. They join pitcher Sarah Pauly and catcher/DH Germaine Fairchild on manager John Stratton’s roster. All nine players were members of last year’s amateur team that compiled a 51-17 record and finished runner-up in the ASA National tournament.

“Our roster is really coming together,” said Stratton. “We expect to get back a few more contracts next week and then we’ll turn our attention to signing our draft choices when their collegiate seasons are over.”

Malerich, a 6-foot-1 right-hander from Merrillville, IN, fashioned a 15-3 record last year with a 0.57 ERA and 116 strikeouts against only 19 walks. In 2001, Malerich led the staff with a 24-4 record and 0.22 ERA with 299 strikeouts in 227 innings. A member of the Italian National Team from 2002-present, Malerich played for Italy in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Clark, of Brandon, FL, is entering her fourth year with the Brakettes. The former UCLA standout, who previously pitched in the Women’s Professional Fastpitch League, Clark is currently pitching in Japan and will join the team in early June. A member of the 2004 NPF champion New York Juggernaut, Clark was 6-5 last summer for the Brakettes and she played most of the year with an injured right index finger that has healed in the off season. Owning a 60-7 career record, Clark has 755 strikeouts in 229 innings.

Sobel, of Worcester, MA, is a five-year veteran who has played second, third and shortstop along with outfield. While her fielding has been superb, Sobel owns a .314 career batting average with 30 doubles, nine triples, 22 home runs and 135 RBI. Owens, a former standout at Florida International in Miami, had an abbreviated first season with the 2005 Brakettes. A back injury sent her to the sidelines for three weeks during the season and her elementary school teaching duties in Miami prevented her from playing in the National Tournament. However, she came through with a solid .309 average with eight doubles and 17 RBI in 40 games. She will play first and third base.

Defensively, Piper is one of the top catchers in the game. A four-year starter at Florida Atlantic University, where she played for Stratton, Piper has a .311 average with 39 RBI in her two seasons with the Brakettes. The Wichita, KS, native has thrown out nearly 80 percent of the runners attempting to steal base.

Brooks and Denis were both first-year Brakettes last season. The only two left-handed hitters on the roster thus far, both of them are exceptional defensive players. Brooks, a Rutgers University graduate and 2004 member of the NPF Texas Thunder, hit .306 with 20 RBI despite missing half the season with a hand injury. Her Canadian citizenship kept her out of the ASA Nationals. Denis played at UMass before joining the Brakettes. She hit .328 with 15 doubles, four triples, six home runs and 37 RBI in 57 games.

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