CLERMONT, Fla. - The Sun Conference announced the 2014 All-Conference Softball team at the conference tournament banquet hosted by the National Training Center on Wednesday evening. The team featured 18 student-athletes representing seven league teams; in addition, 12 student-athletes were named honorable mention.
ERAU head coach Sarah Lockett was named the league Coach of the Year. Lockett led the Eagles to a 23-16 overall record in the program’s second season of competition. ERAU enters the tournament as the No. 1 seed after posting a 12-4 mark in league play this year.
Player of the Year honors went to Southeastern outfielder Kim Pierce. A senior from Brandon, Fla., Pierce’s name is littered across the national leaderboards in most offensive categories, including a number 16 ranking in slugging percentage (.807) as well as number 28 in batting average (.462). Pierce has also stolen 22 bases, hit nine home runs, driven in 31 runs and scored 41 times.
South Carolina Beaufort sophomore Ashlie Layman garnered Pitcher of the Year recognition. Layman has pitched in 21 games for the Sand Sharks, earning a 16-1 overall record. Layman fanned 111 batters in 116 innings in the circle and posted a 2.11 earned run average. She pitched 12 complete games with four shutouts on the year.
Southeastern’s Nicci Hopps was tabbed as the league’s Champions of Character Award winner. Hopps came to Southeastern after spending her freshman year at Warner and has been at SEU for the past three years. Hopps has been a captain on the softball team for the past two years captain and holds 3.55 GPA in Sport and Recreation Management. She volunteers at her church on campus and her coach says she is a “great teammate and leader and has a huge heart.”
Tournament play begins at 9 a.m. on Thursday with No. 4 seed Southeastern taking on No. 5 Warner. The tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round, which will be held at 10 campus sites around the country May 12-14.
2014 Softball All-Conference Team
C - Dee Espinosa (ERAU)
C - Danielle Borrelli (STU)
IF - Taylor Triplett (USCB)
IF - Sarah Huey (ERAU)
IF - Cassidy Miller (NU)
IF - Mariaha Sanborn (USCB)
OF - Kim Pierce (SEU)
OF - Kingsley Avery (AMU)
OF - DeVyn Barker (SEU)
P - Ashlie Layman (USCB)
P - Lauren West (SEU)
P - Chelsea Valentine (WU)
DP - Alex VanWagner (TU)
At-Large (IF) - Alexandria Simmons (USCB)
At-Large (IF) - Cat Maldonado (SEU)
At-Large (IF) - Talia Barraco (ERAU)
At-Large (OF) - Sammi Shaffren (USCB)
At-Large (OF) - Christina Horton (STU)
Honorable Mention
C – Jen Hedrick (SEU)
DP – Taylor Stoltz (SEU)
IF – Stefani Bonilla (WU)
IF – Cheyenne Benson (AMU)
IF – Jessica Adams (WU)
IF – Summer Rose (TU)
OF – Shelby Zipperer (USCB)
OF – Jessica Matias (STU)
OF – Alex Hartley (NU)
P – Alexis Estrada (ERAU)
P – Emily Bryant (SEU)
P – Beth Vaccarezza (AMU)
Player of the Year
Kim Pierce (SEU)
Pitcher of the Year
Ashlie Layman (USCB)
Champions of Character Award
Nicci Hopps (SEU)
Coach of the Year
Sarah Lockett (ERAU)
Academic All-Conference
Sarah Vinci (AMU)
Erika Avery (AMU)
Emily Lemin (AMU)
Beth Vaccarezza (AMU)
Taylor Sterling (AMU)
Alex Wood (ERAU)
Rae Heuer (ERAU)
Ariel Brayer (ERAU)
Robi Zimmerman (ERAU)
Jessica Osteen (ERAU)
Haleigh Lewis (ERAU)
Hailey Cusimano (NU)
Stefanie Self (NU)
Christina Horton (STU)
Carson Catasus (STU)
Cristina Sacramento (STU)
Maddie Byrd (USCB)
Chelsey Blasingame (USCB)
Emily Bryant (SEU)
Nicci Hopps (SEU)
Katelyn Baxley (TU)
Danielle Lower (TU)
Jessica Johnson (TU)
Jelisa Potter (WU)
Lindsey Martin (WU)
Stefani Bonilla (WU)
Tiffany Porter (WU)
Hannah Sikes (WU)