Delaware Softball Head Coach Jaime Wohlbach Adds Four High School Standouts, Two Transfers To Recruiting Class
August 23, 2011
NEWARK, Del. – University of Delaware softball head coach Jaime Wohlbach has announced the commitments of four additional high school standouts as well as two transfers who will begin playing for the Blue Hens during the 2012 season. Alicea Coy, Kaitlyn Breneman, Mary O’Reilly and Maggie Creciun committed to UD during the spring period while Marisa Newman and Chenxi Jiao have transferred into the program, and all will enroll at Delaware later this month.
These six players add to Wohlbach’s first recruiting class at Delaware, joining Jess Epler, Jess Grisler and Brianna Jennings who all signed during the 2010 fall period.
Coy (above), who attended Roseville High School in Roseville, Calif., was named to the first team All-Sierra Foothill League during her first three high school seasons. A four-year starter, Coy was selected the squad’s Defensive MVP as a freshman before earning Offensive MVP honors during the next two seasons. A 2010 Max Preps/Sacramento River Cats All-City Athlete, Coy also led her squad to a seventh place finish at the ASA Nationals last summer.
Breneman (left) was a three-year member of the softball team at Grassfield High School in Chesapeake, Va., and currently resides in the state of Delaware. She served as team captain during her sophomore and senior seasons, and was the team’s starting catcher and leadoff hitter this spring when she was named the squad’s MVP. Breneman was selected first team All-Eastern Region and first team All-Tidewater as a senior, while her Grassfield squad was ranked first in both its district and region, as well as fourth in the state of Virginia.
O’Reilly (right), a native of Cortlandt Manor, N.Y., was a four-year starter and two-year team captain at Walter Panas High School. She was a three-time New York State Section A All-League honoree, while earning NYS Scholar Athlete honors four times. Primarily a catcher and shortstop, O’Reilly batted over .500 during her sophomore and junior seasons and hit .476 in her senior year. She earned All-League and All-Section honors this spring, and was given the NYS Softball Officials Sportsmanship Award.
Creciun graduated in 2010 from Norristown High School where she was named the team’s Offensive Player of the Year 
as a junior and senior. She earned All-Area, All-Suburban One, and All-State honorable mention honors during the 2009 season, before being named the Times Herald Best in Athletics during her senior year. Creciun (left), who attended Penn State last year but was not a member of the softball team, began her high school career at Kennedy Kenrick Catholic where she was twice named All-Area and All-Philadelphia Catholic League as a shortstop.
Newman, a native of Sacramento, Calif., arrives in Newark after playing two seasons at Iona, including the 2010 season under Wohlbach. She started all 52 games at shortstop during her freshman year, helping lead the Gaels to the MAAC 
Championship. Newman (right) finished the year with 31 hits and 17 runs scored, while ranking sixth on the team with seven doubles. She appeared in 29 games while starting nine during her sophomore campaign, when she contributed four hits and three RBI as Iona claimed its second consecutive conference title.
Jiao, a Beijing, China native, will also have two years of eligibility remaining at Delaware following two seasons at Highland (Kan.) Community College. Jiao was a first team All-Jayhawk Conference Selection this spring after earning second team honors in 2010, and also was a first team NJCAA Division II All-Region District E selection this year. Additionally she was named to the NJCAA Division II All-America Second Team after leading the team to a 38-14 record, the Region VI District I title, and a berth in the Division II National Championship Tournament. As a sophomore Jiao (below) posted a 18-3 record with team-highs of 220 strikeouts, 159.2 innings pitched, and a 1.10 earned run average.
“I am very excited to add these six players to our program,” Wohlbach said. “The two transfers have ‘been there, done that,’ and I look forward to the leadership and experience they will bring to the team. All of these players are excited to become Blue Hens, and will bring a lot of passion to the program.”
Wohlbach completed her first season at the helm of the Blue Hens this spring, guiding the squad to a 21-34 overall record and a berth in the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament. Delaware lost just two seniors from the 2011 squad and welcomes the nine newcomers to the program this fall.
