Schuh, Giesseman earn Softball All-NACC First Team honors
WAUKESHA, Wis. – Seniors Jamie Schuh and Mariah Giesseman have been named to the All-Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference First Team, as the league announced its awards for the 2014 season Thursday morning.
All in all the Falcons had four players earn All-NACC honors as sophomore pitcher Melissa Perkins (Park Forest, Ill.) was named to the Second Team. Freshman Carly Sobrilsky (Brookfield, Wis.) earned All-Freshman accolades to round out the CUW selections.
Schuh (Freedom, Wis.) was one of four pitchers named to the First Team after leading the conference with a 1.29 ERA. She threw four complete game shutouts in conference play this season and also became the Falcons all-time leader in strikeouts when she recorded her 341st on Saturday, April 19 against Benedictine University. She finished the 2014 regular season with six wins and struck out 52 batters in 72 innings, all while allowing just 14 earned runs.
Giesseman (Sturgeon Bay, Wis.), a Second Team selection in 2013, moved up to the First Team this spring after leading the NACC in home runs with eight. She tied for third in the conference with 32 RBIs and was the team's top offensive threat in the middle of the Falcons lineup. The third baseman posted a batting average of .342 and a slugging percentage of .667. She totaled eight doubles and three triples and scored a team-best 27 runs.
Perkins earned Second Team honors as her and Schuh proved to be a solid duo in the circle for CUW. Perkins ranked fifth in the NACC with a 1.88 ERA. She led the team with 119 innings pitched and struck out 62 batters during that time, while allowing 32 earned runs. Perkins finished the season with seven complete games and nine wins in 18 starts.
Sobrilsky had a solid rookie campaign as the Falcons backstop, batting .295 with 21 RBIs. The rookie belted a pair of home runs and added eight doubles. She also proved to be valuable defensively as the catcher for the two previously mentioned pitchers. Sobrilsky threw out 29.4 of the runners who attempted to steal on her this season.
League champion Aurora University and runner-up Wisconsin Lutheran College swept the main awards. WLC had the Position Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year in Brittney Blazich, while Aurora's Vanessa Hartzell was named Pitcher of the Year. The Spartans Mike McKenzie and the Warriors Bill Curtis were selected as Co-Coaches of the Year by their peers.
Schuh, Giesseman and the rest of the Falcons are set to begin NACC Tournament play today (May 1) at noon. The fifth-seeded Falcons will take on No. 4 Dominican University in their first tournament game.
