(Release courtesy of the Commonwealth Coast Conference)

BEVERLY, Mass. – Endicott's Samantha DiBella (Danvers, Mass.) and Western New England's Hadiatou Barry (New York, N.Y.) have been selected as the 2016 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) nominees for NCAA Woman of the Year.

The NCAA Woman of the Year award honors graduating female college student-athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in academics, athletics, service, and leadership.

DiBella has had an impressive career as a student-athlete with highlights both on and off the softball field. She was a three-time All-CCC First Team honoree and was twice recognized by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) as a member of the All-Region Second Team.

She helped her team to the CCC Championship in 2014, a year in which the Gulls advanced to the Regional Final in the NCAA tournament. DiBella was also recognized as a CCC Academic All-Conference member three times and was a 2014-15 CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-District First Teamer.

The nursing major, who was on the Dean's List for eight semesters, also added the 2016 CCC Softball Senior Scholar-Athlete award to her list of accolades this spring.

The recent graduate was also named the Endicott College Senior Athlete of the Year. In her four years at Endicott, DiBella participated in a number of community service and campus activities. She served as a team leader with Toys for Tots from 2012 to 2016 and also served as the team leader/point of contact with Team Impact from 2014 to 2016.

Barry was a member of the Western New England cross country team while completing biomedical engineering and law studies as an undergraduate and working toward a law degree as a graduate student.

Throughout her time at WNE she earned a number of academic achievements including placing third in the Senior Project Poster Presentation, receiving the Dean Richard DiRuzza Excellence in Leadership Award, and the Student Association Distinguished Service Award.

She was also very involved on campus and in the community. She held officer positions in the National Society of Black Engineers (President), the Intellectual Property Law Association (Secretary), and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) (Utility officer, Secretary, President). She also helped coordinate community service efforts like the Turkey Trot and canned food drives.

The two CCC nominees will be placed in a pool with the nominees from other conferences and independent institutions, which will be announced later this month. In September, the top 30 nominees (10 from each NCAA division) will be selected by the Woman of the Year selection committee. From these 30, the selection committee will determine the nine finalists.

The top 30 honorees will be celebrated and the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced at the annual award ceremony which takes place Oct. 16 in Indianapolis. 

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