EASTON, Pa. – Seniors Ellen McDonnell and Brooke Wensel have been selected as the team captains for the 2019 Lafayette softball season. The duo was chosen in a team vote.
 
McDonnell (Warwick, R.I./Pilgrim) has played in 63 games during her Leopards career, seeing the most time in her junior season when she played 32 games in left field. She hit for a .235 average with three doubles and nine RBIs while committing just two errors before injury cut short her 2018 season.
 
"Ellen has really good relationship with everyone on the team. She leads by example, but is also someone that her teammates can trust and go to when they need help with something," said second year head coach Caitlyn de la Haba. "She has been on every end of the spectrum in terms of not being a starter, being injured, being a starter. She's experienced it from all angles which makes her very relatable for her teammates."
 
Wensel (Bechtelsville, Pa./Berks Catholic) has started 135 games during her collegiate career and is a two-time All-Patriot League Second-Team selection. Named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year in 2017, she committed just two errors at shortstop, assisting on 56 plays and putting out 40 to rank as the top-fielding shortstop in the Patriot League. She also garnered team rookie of the year honors in 2016 when she hit for a career-best .324 average with eight doubles and 17 RBIs. Wensel is coming off a 2018 campaign during which she managed a .257 average with five home runs and 20 RBIs (both career bests).
 
"Brooke has been a four-year starter and one of the faces of the program. She leads by example, but in a different kind of way than Ellen does," de la Haba explained. "She works hard, and she plays hard and wants to win. The two of them complement each other and speak to everyone on the team in different ways."
 
Wensel, McDonnell and the Leopards open the season on Feb. 23-24 with a three-game series at Coppin State in Baltimore.