May 8, 2008

Park Ridge, Ill. -The Big Ten office announced the 2008 softball All-Big Ten teams and individual honors today with co-champions Michigan and Northwestern each earning two individual laurels. NU's Tammy Williams picked up Player of the Year accolades while teammate Lauren Delaney was named Pitcher of the Year. Michigan's Jordan Taylor was tabbed Freshman of the Year and her coach Carol Hutchins earned Coach of the Year laurels.

Williams leads the nation in batting average, hitting at a .482 clip, and is among the top 10 with a .576 on- base percentage. The Roscoe, Mo., native  has scored a Big Ten-best 21 runs and has 23 RBI during conference play. The prolific shortstop has 42 putouts in Big Ten action and sports a .932 fielding percentage. Overall, Williams has 68 hits, 10 homeruns and 37 RBI on the season. The junior was named National Player of the Week on Feb. 19 by Louisville Slugger/NFCA National and is in contention for National Player of the Year. Williams is the fourth-straight Wildcat to claim top conference accolades as Garland Cooper was honored in 2007, 2006 and 2005. In addition, two other Wildcats have earned the award -- Brooke Siebel in 2000 and Lisa Ishikawa, who was named the Big Ten's first-ever Player of the Year in 1985.

Northwestern's Delaney becomes the third-straight Wildcat to earn Pitcher of the Year laurels, joining two-time honoree Eileen Canney (2006 and 2007). The sophomore hurler closed out the Big Ten season with an 18-1 record while leading the Big Ten with 188 strikeouts. The Jefferson City, Mo., native also allowed opponents to hit only .146 during conference play.

Taylor, a native of Valencia, Calif., becomes the 10th Michigan player to be named Freshman of the Year. She went 10-0 in conference play, while striking out 80 batters, and only allowing conference opponents to hit at a .156 clip. Taylor joins teammate Samantha Findlay, who was honored in 2005, as the conference's top freshman, as well as former Wolverines Patti Benedict (1990), Kelly Kovach (1992), Tracy Carr (1993), Sara Griffin (1995), Traci Conrad (1996), Melissa Gentile (1997), Kelsey Kollen (1999) and Nicole Motycka (2002)

Michigan's Hutchins claims top coaching laurels after leading the Wolverines to a share of the Big Ten title, marking the 12th time in program history that they have been crowned. This is U-M's first title since the 2005 campaign. In a deadlock with Northwestern, the Wolverines needed to win their final two games of the season against Penn State to clinch a share of the title. Michigan upended the surging Nittany Lions, 2-0 and 3-0, to end the season. The Wolverines finished the Big Ten season with an 18-2 mark, while claiming the No. 2 seed in this week's Big Ten Tournament. Hutchins picks up her 10th Big Ten Coach of the Year accolade.

In addition, the conference office announced honorees from each team for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. The student-athletes chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. The student-athletes also must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. Honorees for softball are Illinois' Katie Gaitros, Indiana's Anna Olson, Iowa's Summer Downs, Michigan's Teddi Ewing, Michigan State's Nikki Nicosia, Minnesota's Colleen Conway, Northwestern's Jessica Rigas, Ohio State's Brittany Vanderink, Penn State's Rebecca Bautista, Purdue's Tara Palmer and Wisconsin's Theresa Boruta. These 11 student-athletes are now candidates for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, as the conference office will honor one male and one female student-athlete from each institution at the end of the school year.

The 2008 Big Ten Softball Tournament gets underway today through Saturday, May 10. All four of Friday's games as well as the championship game on Saturday will be aired live on the Big Ten Network with coverage beginning at 9 a.m. CT on Friday. Visit www.bigten.org for additional tournament information.
A complete list of the 2008 Big Ten softball postseason honors follows.  

 

2008 ALL-BIG TEN SOFTBALL TEAMS AND POSTSEASON HONORS

FIRST TEAM
*Dorian Shaw, Fr., MICH   1B
*Samantha Findlay, Sr., MICH  2B
Shanna Diller, Sr., ILL   3B
Tammy Williams, Jr., NU   SS
Samantha Marder, So., OSU  C
Nikki Nemitz, So., MICH   UT
*Angela Findlay, So., MICH  OF
Alessandra Giampaolo, Sr., MICH  OF
*Nikki Nicosia, Sr., MSU   OF
Katie Brown, So., IOWA   DP
Jordan Taylor, Fr., MICH   P
Lauren Delaney, So., NU   P

SECOND TEAM
Michelle Batts, Fr., NU   1B
Nicole Pauly, So., NU   2B
Robin Thompson, Fr., NU   3B
Teddi Ewing, Jr., MICH   SS
Erin Dyer, Jr., NU    C
Colleen McGlaughlin, Jr., IOWA  UT
Sarah Bryers, Sr., ILL   OF
Hope Howell, So., ILL   OF
Kelly Quinn, Fr., NU   OF
Emily Haug, So., NU   DP
Brittany Weil, Jr., IOWA   P
Briana Hassett, Jr., MINN   P 

THIRD TEAM
Malisa Barnes, Fr., MINN   1B
Kelly Miller, Jr., PUR   2B
Colleen Conway, Jr., MINN  3B
Bianca Mejia, Fr., MSU   SS
Jenna Alexander, So., PUR  C
Ashley Esparza, Sr., PSU   UT
Quinn Morelock, Jr., IOWA   OF
Sila Fernandez, Sr., MINN   OF
Dee Dee Hillman, Fr., OSU  OF
Jessica LeFevre, Sr., MSU   DP
Suzie Rzegocki, Fr., PUR   P

PLAYER OF THE YEAR:  Tammy Williams, NU
PITCHER OF THE YEAR:  Lauren Delaney, NU
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Jordan Taylor, MICH
COACH OF THE YEAR:  Carol Hutchins, MICH 

  
2008 SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD HONOREES
Katie Gaitros, ILL   Jessica Rigas, NU
Anna Olson, IND   Brittany Vanderink, OSU
Summer Downs, IOWA  Rebecca Bautista, PSU
Teddi Ewing, MICH  Tara Palmer, PUR
Nikki Nicosia, MSU  Theresa Boruta, WIS  
Colleen Conway, MINN

* - Unanimous selection