Sun Conference Announces 2010 Softball All-Conference Team
LAKE WALES, Fla. – Four schools were represented on the All-Sun Conference softball team, which was announced at the conference tournament luncheon, Saturday at the Rigel Student Center on the campus of Warner University. Savannah College of Art and Design led the way with six honorees, while Webber International and Warner had five selections apiece. St. Thomas placed two on the list.
Headlining the 18-person honor roll were Kristen Curette and Kristen LeFan who were tabbed as the Player and Pitcher of the Year, respectively, as voted on by the league’s coaches. Ashley Clarke was named the Champion of Character Award winner, while Coach of the Year honors went to Warner head coach Shawn Gary.
Now in her senior season at Savannah College of Art and Design, Curette played in 47 games in 2010 with a .455 batting average (65-143), 45 runs scored, 12 doubles, three triples, three homers and 53 RBI. The Baytown, Texas native also provided leadership from the mound yielding only four earned runs in 54 innings and posting a .90 earned run average to go with a 5-2 record in conference play. On Apr. 4, Curette earned the distinction of becoming the first softball player in conference history to earn Pitcher and Player of the Week honors in the same week.
LeFan, a senior at Webber International, earned Sun Conference Pitcher of the Week honors five times in 2010. She turned in a 1.76 earned run average with a 19-7 record in 29 outings for the Warriors and led the league in wins (7), strikeouts (68), innings pitched (61) and opponent batting average (.136) in conference play. She registered 12 shutouts on the year, fanning 271 batters in 179.1 innings, including a 16-strikeout performance against Ave Maria.
Gary led Warner to The Sun Conference regular season title with a 13-2 league mark. The 24th-ranked Royals are 28-12-1 overall and enter the 2010 conference tournament as the No. 1 seed.
Clark is now a junior at Webber International and contributed a .328 batting average, 35 runs, eight doubles and 25 RBI to the Warriors’ success in 2010. She also managed to maintain a 4.0 grade point average in Sport Management and logged 90 hours of community service in a variety of activities, including volunteering at the Lakeland YMCA and at Elder Point Ministries where she cleaned apartments for the elderly residents of the facility. Clark was also instrumental in organizing a fundraiser for a teammate who was diagnosed with Lupus in December and serves as tutor for he teammates.
The Sun Conference tournament gets underway at 4:30 p.m. with Warner taking on No. 4 St. Thomas and No. 2 Webber International going up against No. 3 SCAD. The tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship that takes place at the Wilson Morgan Softball Complex in Decatur, Ala., May 20-26.
2010 Softball All-Sun Conference Team
P - Kaitlyn Grimail, Warner
P - Kristen LeFan, Webber International
P - Kristen Stewart, Webber International
P - Kiara Boccia, SCAD
C - Cindy Castrillon, St. Thomas
C - Danielle Fennimore, Warner
C - Joy Fuller, Webber International
C - Dominica Jordan, SCAD
INF - Carissa Albizu, St. Thomas
INF – Ashley Clark, Webber International
INF - Kristen Curette, SCAD
INF - Lindsay Garchinski, Warner
INF - Franki Grimes, Warner
INF - Courtney Mienkina, SCAD
INF - Shauna Ward, Webber International
OF - Jackie Rooney, SCAD
OF - Carleigh Shannon, SCAD
OF - Kaitlyn Wilbanks, Warner
Champion of Character
Ashley Clark, Webber International
Player of the Year
Kristen Currette, SCAD
Pitcher of the Year
Kristen LeFan, Webber International
Coach of the Year
Shawn Gary, Warner