There was a new look for the 2023 Moravian Greyhound softball team; well, it was sort of a new look. At the end of the 2022 season, legendary head coach John Byrne retired after 29 years as the head Hound with 923 career victories. Replacing Byrne was a familiar face to Greyhound softball, Byrne’s longtime assistant and Moravian alum, Josh Baltz.

Baltz had served as Byrne’s top assistant for six years, so he was well-prepared to take over the top spot. He knew that consistency was a key item in the success of a program, so he was intent in keeping the coaching staff intact.

Longtime assistants Amy Rodgers, Leah Holmes, Justine Rossi and Josie Novak would continue to lead the Hounds. Josh also added former Hound and All-American catcher Janae Matos (Catasauqua HS) to his staff.

Big shoes to fill seemed like the appropriate task facing Baltz in his first year as head coach. With only two seniors and 11 freshmen on his 23-player roster, success would not come easy, but he was more than ready for the challenge.

The season began with the team’s annual spring trip to Winter Haven, FL. Maybe it was an indication of this team’s potential as the Hounds gave Baltz his first victory with a 4-1 win over Chatham University in their first game of the 2023 campaign. By the way, sophomore pitcher Madi Cunningham (Whitehall) added to the optimism as she hurled her first career no-hitter.

The team finished that 10-game Florida tour with a 7-3 record as it headed home to Bethlehem, Baltz and his staff saw some good things for this team under the Florida sun and they were cautiously optimistic this success could continue.

“I wasn’t thinking World Series, but I thought a Landmark Conference championship was a possibility,” Baltz said.

Over the next two months, this young team continued to gel and mature, developing an attitude of determination that all good teams need to possess. Never losing back-to-back games after Florida, the Hounds ended the regular season as the Landmark Conference champions. That title earned them the privilege of hosting the Landmark Conference tournament.

As the host team, the Hounds made quick work of the other three conference opponents and laid claim to the conference championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA D3 tournament. With over 400 Division 3 softball teams, only 62 make the NCAA postseason tournament. Coach Baltz and the Hounds were continuing the winning tradition of Moravian softball.

Obviously, this team loaded with youth at the start of the season grew up fast, and most importantly, it grew together.

The postseason awards supported this statement as six Hounds garnered 1st Team All Conference honors: Cunningham (P) was joined by Marci Silberman (C; Salisbury), Holly Walter (3B; Southern Lehigh), Sage Snyder (OF; North Warren, NJ), Emily Silberman (DP; Salisbury), and Mya Zettlemoyer (UT; Central Catholic). Soph Ajala Elmore (SS; Wilmington, DE) and Frosh Sarah DiStefano (P; Hunterdon Central, NJ) were 2nd Team selections. DiStefano was also named the Conference Rookie of the Year.

The Regional Round of the NCAA tournament had the Hounds traveling to Massachusetts to the campus of host and 7th-ranked Tufts University. Cabrini College and Husson University (Maine) were the other participants in this double elimination round. An opening win over Cabrini led to a showdown with Tufts and it turned into a best-of-three series with the Hounds coming out on top and earning a berth in the Super Regional for the following weekend.

DiStefano was selected as the Regional Tournament’s Outstanding Player, an easy choice as she beat Tufts twice only allowing one run in the process. She was joined on the All Tournament Team by Cunningham, Marci Silberman, and 1B Lindsey Gawrys (Whitehall).

A week later, it was back to Massachusetts for the Super Regional and the best-of-three versus host M.I.T. For the second weekend in a row Baltz and his Hounds would face off against a nationally-ranked team as the Engineers entered the postseason in the 16th position in the NFCA poll. It posed another challenge that this team was eager to take on.

The opening game found the Hounds on the wrong end of a 5-1 score. With their backs to the wall, the next day the Hounds would have to defeat the Engineers twice if their season was to continue. This time it was Madi Cunningham’s turn to shine in the circle, pitching both games as the Hounds dominated M.I.T. with 5-2 and 8-0 scores. Cunningham’s outstanding performance, she only threw a total of 90 pitches in the two games, earned her the tournament’s Outstanding Pitcher Award. Her teammate, Sage Snyder, was named the tournament’s Outstanding Player.

The victories meant the Hounds would be one of the eight remaining D3 softball teams who would be playing in the World Series vying for a national championship. This year’s tournament was played in Marshall, TX, on the campus of East Texas Baptist University. The well-traveled Hounds were more than happy to trade in their long bus rides for the chance to fly, though weather issues made the trip a bit of a nightmare.

Arriving in Texas, the Hounds found themselves seeded 8th in the eight-team tournament, which meant their opening game would pit them against their old nemesis, the top-seeded Sea Gulls of Salisbury (MD) University.

Ignoring the seeding numbers, the Hounds went out and opened the World Series with a 4-1 win. Cunningham, once again, led the way going the distance in the circle and contributing a 2-run double along the way.

With the victory, the Hounds would move on to play Berry College of Georgia. Berry was a participant in the 2022 D3 World Series and in a small world scenario, both teams were being coached by a former Greyhound and Byrne assistant: Jessica Strong for Berry and Baltz for the Hounds.

The Berry Vikings had the upper hand in this game and earned an 8-1 win, pushing the Hounds into the elimination bracket.

In the elimination game the next day, the Hounds faced another nationally-ranked team and another participant from the 2022 D3 World Series, the Thunder of Trine (IN) University.

Weather would become the real opponent as the 1:30 p.m. scheduled start was pushed back over six hours. When the game finally got underway,

Trine wasted no time in putting runs on the board scoring four runs in each of the first two innings. The Hounds kept pushing, but it was a big hole to dig out of and they saw their magical season come to an end with the 12-4 loss.

So what began in Winter Haven, FL, in late February, ended in Marshall, TX, in early June in the D3 Softball World Series. First-year head coach Baltz couldn’t have predicted the season would go this way, but he was not complaining. Watching his young team grow up and grow together enabled him to have a very enjoyable and satisfying first season as the top Hound.

When asked if he could use a few words to describe the season, he responded, “Enjoyable is the first word that comes to mind.” He could take further enjoyment knowing that in addition to the previously mentioned players who earned All-Conference honors, three of his players earned NFCA All-Region honors: Cunningham (P, 1st Team); DiStefano (P/OF, 2nd Team); and Marci Silberman (C, 2nd Team).

What about the future? When one considers the fact that the starting lineup for the Hounds throughout the World Series consisted of three juniors, five sophomores and two freshmen, it’s easy to see that the future is bright. Seven returning players finished the season with a batting average well over .300.

Pitchers Cunningham and DiStefano, who combined to get 35 of the teams 38 victories and both finished with ERA’s of just over 2.00, will return to toe the rubber of the pitcher’s circle providing Baltz more reason to be excited about next season and beyond. Greyhound softball did indeed shine in 2023 and there is plenty of reason to think that the shine will continue for years to come.