Softball quartet earns All-SCIAC honors
ORANGE, Calif.- Following an impressive 24-14 regular season, the Chapman University softball team had four players named to the 2013 All-SCIAC Softball team, including two first team selections. The Panthers made their mark in their first year as full-fledged members of the conference, adding a postseason berth to the four All-SCIAC selections announced by the conference on Friday.
Senior center fielder Jenny Richards and freshman pitcher Natalie Both were named to the All-SCIAC first team while sophomore pitcher Cassie Oregel and senior left fielder Kerry Peterson earned second team honors.
Richards, who transferred from the University of Delaware, excelled in her first season as a Panther. The speedy center fielder led the team and ranked fifth in the SCIAC with a .423 batting average while her six triples were second most in the conference. The Panthers every day leadoff hitter ranked tied for fourth with 32 runs scored, thanks largely to a notable .483 on-base percentage.
While there is no doubt that this year’s Panthers squad can hit, it was the pitching duo of Both and Oregel that secured the club’s postseason fate. Both made an immediate impact, opening up her college career with seven straight victories. The Phoenix, Ariz. native never slowed from there, finishing the season with an 11-6 record the featured two saves, 10 complete games, two shutouts and a conference-leading 112 strikeouts. In the last month of the regular season, Both threw two complete games of 10+ innings, including an 11-inning shutout at La Verne on April 5.
For a second straight season, Oregel notched double-digit victories, overpowering opponents from the circle. The Anaheim, Calif. native led the Panthers with 11 wins, 11 complete games and a 1.81 ERA that was third-best in the conference.
Capping off an impressive Chapman career, Peterson batted .349, collecting 37 hits while driving in 16 runs. The explosive outfielder tallied nine multiple hit games, including a four-hit game at La Verne on April 5. The left fielder’s All-SCIAC recognition follows All-Independent honors in her freshman and sophomore seasons.
The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference was established in 1915. The league is currently comprised of nine private colleges and universities in Southern California: California Institute of Technology, California Lutheran University, Chapman University, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, University of La Verne, Occidental College, Pomona-Pitzer Colleges, University of Redlands, and Whittier College. The conference recognizes outstanding athletic achievements of its student-athletes on a weekly and annual basis.
All-SCIAC Team: http://www.thesciac.org/sports/sball/2012-13/releases/all_sciac
by Ryan Cavinder
Sports Information Assistant
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