Folk, Berardi, Rees and Mehalick Take Top Honors in Softball; 2014 All-Conference Teams Announced
The Empire 8 Athletic Conference has announced 2014 Softball All-Conference teams as voted on by the conference coaches. In addition, the Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Coach of the Year have been selected.
Ithaca senior Sydney Folk earns the Player of the Year for the second time in her career, previously earning the honor in 2012. Folk is the second player in E8 history to earn the top honor twice, joining Shari McNamara of RIT (2002 & 2003). In just 29 starts, she ranked first on the team in batting average (.393), slugging percentage (.685), on-base percentage (.465), doubles (11), RBI (32) total bases (61) and home runs (5). Folk ranked first with 13 RBI in conference play, while her six doubles ranked third in Empire 8 games.
Senior Kayla Berardi becomes the first Pitcher of the Year from Stevens Institute of Technology. She is 16-8 in 26 appearances in the circle with a 1.19 ERA. In 158 innings pitched she has struck out 143 batters while allowing 18 walks, limiting the opponents' batting average to .229. Berardi has thrown 20 complete games including five solo shutouts.
Stevens freshman outfielder Jessica Rees has been named the Rookie of the Year. Rees started all 34 games in which she played totaling 22 putouts and two assists. She has registered 40 hits in 109 at bats for a .367 batting average, knocking in 28 RBI and scoring 20 runs. Rees is the first Duck to earn Rookie of the Year accolades.
Stevens head coach Erica Mehalick has been named the Coach of the Year for first time in her career. The Ducks experienced a remarkable turn-around season this spring after winning just seven games last year. The Ducks set program records in wins (currently 27-11), win-streak (10) and finished with their highest seed in the Empire 8 Championship at No. 2.
One member of each team was named that institution’s representative on the 2014 Softball Sportswoman of the Year Team. Empire 8 emphasizes that "Competing with Honor and Integrity" is an essential component of a student-athlete’s experience in conjunction with an institution’s educational mission. These honorees have distinguished themselves and consistently exhibit the critical traits as outstanding sportswomen.