22  • Marleah Stapf Class: Sophomore Hometown: Hudsonville, Mich. High School: Hudsonville Position: Catcher/First Base Height: 5-8 Bats/Throws: R/R

Coach Gwydir on Marleah: “Marleah has great command of the game and understands softball as well as anyone I’ve ever coached. She is very vocal and has a great rapport with all of our pitchers. Physically, she is very strong. She hurts the ball when she hits it. Marleah is one of the keys if we are going to score runs this year. She’s made tremendous improvement this fall, and I expect big things from her.”

2002: Played in 53 games, starting 43…Battled through injuries as a freshman, suffering a dislocated finger on her throwing hand…Batted .205 (24-for-117) with three doubles and seven RBI…Drew 11 walks…Stole a pair of bases and laid down three sacrifice hits…Posted five multiple-hit games…Knocked in a run with a single in her first collegiate at-bat…Went 2-for-3 on three occasions – Illinois State (2/1), Illinois-Chicago (2/16) and Louisiana-Lafayette (4/27)…Batted .276 (8-for-29) in conference play.

High School: Three-sport letterwinner in volleyball, basketball and softball…Won the White Conference all four years at Hudsonville High School and made the state quarterfinals her junior and senior years …Owns numerous high school records, including the single-season record for hits and the career records for home runs and batting average…Drove in 111 runs, while hitting .448 in 359 career at-bats during her high school career…Named the 2001 Detroit Free Press’ Top Defensive Catcher…Earned all-conference and all-district accolades all four years while picking up all-region honors for three seasons and all-state for two years.

Personal: Born Marleah Katherine Stapf on May 19, 1983, in Grand Rapids, Mich…One of four children of Joseph and Constance Stapf…Her mother played tennis at Penn State…Her older brother, Bennett, plays baseball at Winthrop and hit 17 home runs in 2002 – the second-highest single-season total ever for the Eagles…Also has a younger brother, Dan, and a younger sister, Jill…Majoring in chemistry.