Softball players among NCAA stats leaders heading into ECAC play this weekend
Indianapolis, IN – The Sage Colleges' softball team boasts a 21-18 record and for the second straight year has advanced in play at the 2013 ECAC Metro Tournament. The Gators have surpassed 20 wins twice during Jamie Brown's career at Sage as she boasts a career record of 50-35 at Sage.
Link to updated ECAC Metro Bracket
With the release of the latest NCAA Division III softball statistics, a number of Sage's players are listed as ranked performers.
Sophomore second baseman, Kristen Beikirch (Brockport, NY/Brockport) continues to add to her extensive resume as she earned a spot on the 2013 CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-District First Team after also being named Sage's 2012-2013 Female Athlete of the Year as well as the 2013 Skyline Conference Softball Player of the Year, ranks nationally in five different categories. She ranks No. 36 in runs scored per game (1.16), while ranking 71st in batting average (0.451). She is also ranked in slugging percentage (0.707) as well as home runs (6), and triples (3).
She not only leads Sage in batting average, but the entire conference in batting with her blistering .456 average after collecting a pair of hits in Sage's 1-0 win over Rutgers-Camden in the opening game of the ECAC playoffs. For the second year in a row, she has 62 hits on the season, marking the second year she has tallied a single-season mark for hits after adding 62 hits as a rookie for the Gators. She also has a team-leading 10 doubles, three triples, and six home runs. She had a .706 slugging percentage that matched her impressive .476 on-base percentage. Beikirch had 16 multiple-hit games this season, while starting all 39 games for the Gators.
Beikirch is already making her own run for several of Sage's career marks in just two seasons on the softball diamond. She already has 124 career hits in 85 games played and started, while carrying a .444 career batting average and 12 home runs, while ranking 4th in career hits, third in career home runs and fourth in runs scored.
Also ranked is junior short stop Hillary Faas (East Greenbush, NY/Columbia), a 2013 Skyline Conference All-Star First Team pick. Faas is a 39-game starter and ranks 51st nationally with her three sacrifice flies. She has a .339 batting average with a .548 slugging percentage on 11 doubles and five home runs and a team-best 25 RBIs this season. A two-time Skyline Conference Player of the Week this season, she is making a run at a number of Sage career marks in her three seasons of play as she already ranks No. 9 in career games played (112), No. 4 in at-bats (363), No. 4 in hits (130), and No. 3 in doubles (31). She is also tied for No. 3 in career home runs with 13 and No. 3 three in runs scored (84).
Senior pitcher and utility performer, Kelsey Newberg (New Britain, CT/New Britain) was named to the 2013 Second Team at two positions as she was chosen as both a starting pitcher and a utility player. Another of Sage's 2013 CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-District Honorees, Newberg was also named Sage's Gator of the Year in softball for the second time in her career as she won the awards in both 2011 and 2013. Twice this spring she was named the Skyline Conference Pitcher of the Week as well as the ECAC Metro NY-NJ Pitcher of the Week once on another occasion. She has shattered several of Sage's career pitching marks, while also making quite a statement as a performer at the plate in her three seasons in a Sage uniform. She holds the career record for most strikeouts 261 and most wins 28, while ranking among the top performers as well in innings with 338.0 (No. 2), complete games (36, No. 5), and ERA with a 3.29, which is sixth. She also holds Sage single-season marks for most games (30), most wins (16), and most strikeouts (119). She ranks in the Top 10 in several categories as well having played in 107 games with 324 at-bats, 95 hits and 12 doubles.
Newberg ranks nationally with her two shutout wins, while rookie pitcher Katie Kovage (Hoosick Falls, NY/Hoosick Falls Central) is ranked nationally with her four shutout wins. Kovage earned three Skyline Conference Rookie of the Year selections this year. She has a team-best 9-3 record with a 2.14 ERA in her 22 appearances, while also batting .340, which is third highest on the team. She is making a run at a number of Sage single-season pitching marks as her 22 appearances ranked is 11th, and her nine victories in seventh. She has fanned 59 batters this season and ranks No. 7 for a season, while her 2.14 ERA is also ranked No. 6 in the Sage single-season record book.
The Gators will be back in action at the ECAC Metro Tournament facing Elmira College on May 11 at 10 a.m. on the campus of Richard Stockton College (Pomona, NJ). The ECAC Tournament is now a four-team field with a double-elimination format that will conclude on Sunday, May 12 with the crowing of the 2013 ECAC Metro Champions. A year ago, Sage finished as the tournament runner-up in Brown's first campaign as the Gator mentor.
