Hall of Fame
Novello was honored as the 1983 East Coast Conference Player of the Year and MVP while serving as a team captain and pitcher/hitter for Lafayette softball's ECC finals run that season. During that campaign, she broke the single-season record for victories with 15. In her career, the History major finished second in pitching wins (35) and ERA (1.94). Novello ranks sixth all-time for strikeouts (199) and seventh for innings pitched (407.2) and strikeouts per game (3.42) while in the circle. On offense, she ranks fourth all-time in on-base percentage (.433) and is sixth in career batting average (.333).
Novello recorded nine shutouts in her career, including four in one season, and threw two no-hitters. The scoreless opponents include Eastern, Allentown College, Seton Hall, Lehigh, Villanova, Princeton, Scranton, East Stroudsburg and Rider. The two no-hitters took place against Eastern, 3-0, on April 25, 1980 and versus Seton Hall, 3-0, on May 1, 1981. As for individual season records, she holds three of the top-five spots in lowest earned-run average with 1.52 (147.0 IP) in 1983, 1.81 (58.0 IP) in 1980 and 1.84 (118.0 IP) in 1981. Lastly, she ranks fifth in most strikeouts per seven-inning game with 5.43 in 1980.
Alongside her History degree, she graduated from Lafayette with a teaching certificate in Social Studies. Novello furthered her education at rival Lehigh, where she earned her Master's of Education in 1998.
In May of her senior year, she was hired to teach Social Studies at Pen Argyl Area High School where she taught for 38 years. Over the course of that position, the Mountain Lakes, N.J. native taught Advanced Placement European History, World Cultures, Psychology, American Government and Modern American History. She coached six years of softball and two years of basketball and served as the advisor to the National Honor Society and Student Government. Novello founded the Diversity, Tolerance and Awareness Club and carried out duties as the Social Studies Department Coordinator for more than 20 years. Before retiring in 2021, she was awarded the Educator of the Year by Pen Argyl School district.
Novello currently resides in Northampton, Pa., where she has been teaching Foundations of Education as a visiting professor at Lafayette since 2016.
