Softball's Maria Bye sweeps MIAC honors

May 13, 2008

Senior Maria Bye repeated as MIAC Player and Pitcher of the Year and was one of five Tommies voted to the 23-player All-MIAC softball first team announced this week. The five, plus two honorable mention honorees, helped Coach John Tschida's team to a 25-0 record vs. MIAC opponents that extended UST's conference win streak to 57.

Bye tied the MIAC career record for winning percentage of 44-1 also held by former teammate Janet Nagle. In all-game stats, Bye surpassed Nagle's MIAC record for career strikeouts and wins. Bye became the first player in Division III history to record 85 wins and 700 strikeouts as a batter and hit more than 35 home runs as a batter.

In 2008 MIAC games, she led the conference with a .564 batting average, 30 RBI, and eight home runs. On the mound, Bye led the conference with a 0.28 ERA and was 10-0 with 67 strikeouts over her 49.2 innings of work. In all 47 games, Bye finished 21-2 with a 1.29 ERA, and in batting hit .397 with 52 hits, 42 RBI, 36 runs, 12 home runs, 11 doubles, 17 walks and a .756 slugging percentage.

Bye is expected to win All-America honors for a third year in a row and is on the ballot with a chance to receive Academic All-America honors for the third consecutive season.

Other repeat first-team All-MIAC honorees were junior catcher Steph Moores and sophomore OF Alison Wright. Junior OF Missy Bruggeman and sophomore pitcher Marta Radcliffe joined them as first-team selections, and junior 2B Kaity Wightman and senior 3B Olivia Graham.

Moores finished third in MIAC batting average at .560 in 22 games with 28 hits, 13 runs, four homers, four doubles and seven walks. In all 47 games, Moores batted .362 with 46 hits, 24 runs, 34 RBI, nine doubles, five homers and 13 walks.

Wright took fourth in batting at .542 with 32 hits in 21 games. She also had 26 runs, five homers, 20 doubles, 10 steals and five walks. In all 47 game stats, Wright led conference players with 68 hits and batted .493 with 45 runs, 17 doubles, nine home runs, 37 RBI, nine walks, 16 steals, a .527 on-base percentage and an .812 slugging percentage.

Bruggeman took fifth in batting at .488 in 19 games with 20 hits, 17 runs, six doubles, three walks and six steals. In 42 games overall, she batted .400 with 40 hits, 26 runs, 10 RBI, seven doubles, four walks and eight steals.

Radcliffe finished 11-0 with an 0.38 ERA and 87 strikeouts and just 13 walks in 55 innings. In overall stats, Radcliffe finished 19-3 with a 1.64 ERA, 167 strikeouts and just 44 walks in 132 innings.

Graham batted .415 in 21 games with 22 hits, 10 runs, 17 RBI, four homers and three doubles. In 46 games overall, Graham hit .384 with 48 hits, 21 runs, 32 RBI, nine doubles, seven homers and seven walks.

Wightman hit .397 in 21 games with 23 hits, 24 runs, 15 RBI, five doubles, one homer, one triple, 11 steals and five walks. In all 46 games, Wightman batted .428 with 59 hits, 43 runs, 38 RBI, 10 doubles, five home runs, one triple, 13 walks and 16 steals.

Click here to view complete All-MIAC team:

http://www.miac-online.org/News/softball/2008/5/12/sbawards08.asp?path=softball