Several Behrend Lions Earn Softball All-Conference Honors
The Penn
State Behrend (34-8) softball team had several players named to the 2006
All-AMCC Team, which was announced Sunday, May 7. Freshman pitcher
Julie Koman (McKees Rocks/Montour) was named AMCC Player of the Year, as
well as AMCC Newcomer of the Year, and to the First Team All-Conference.
The Behrend hurler led the AMCC in earned run average (0.57) and in opposing
batting average (.144), and was third in strikeouts (208).
Also named to the All-AMCC First Team were junior infielder Kristen Macha
(Export/Franklin), freshman outfielder Katie Whitby (Tyrone/Tyrone), and
freshman second baseman Nikki Kaschauer (South Park/South Park). Named
to the All-AMCC Second Team was freshman infielder Kelly Houghton
(Jamestown/Jamestown), while head coach Stacy Pondo was selected as the AMCC
Coach of the Year.
Macha led the AMCC in batting average (.474), on base percentage (.508), and
total hits (54) this season. This is the second all-conference honor
for Macha who was named All-AMCC First Team in 2005 as well. Whitby
was second in the AMCC in batting average (.435), while leading the league
in slugging percentage (.783), runs scored (41), and total bases (90).
Kaschauer was also among the league leaders in several categories. She
was fourth in batting average (.412), fourth in slugging percentage (.623),
fourth in runs scored (34), and fifth in total bases (71). Houghton
batted .313 this season with 18 RBIs and 16 runs scored for the blue and
white.
Pondo said, "We are very proud of their accomplishments this season, and for
our freshmen this is a great way to start their careers at Behrend. It
was nice to see several players honored as they were all critical to our
success."
Behrend earned the league's automatic bid to the NCAA
Tournament on Sunday with a 5-0 blanking of three-time defending AMCC
champions, Pitt-Bradford, on the Behrend diamond. The blue and white were placed in the
Northeast Regional as the seventh-seed and will play the second-seed and
host Ithaca (35-4) first in the double-elimination regional on Thursday, May
11 at 2:00 p.m. This is the first trip to the NCAA Tournament for the
blue and white.