Thayer, Thompson and Wickwire named Softball All-Americans
SALEM, VA – Three members of the Empire 8 have been named
2015 Division III Softball All-Americans.
Alfred University senior utility player
Alison Wickwire (Towanda, PA/Towanda) and sophomore third baseman
Liz Thompson (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) were each named National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Second Team All-Americans, while St. John Fisher College freshman pitcher
Lindsey Thayer (Wintrop, NY) was selected to the third team.
The NFCA honored its Division III All-American teams on Wednesday, May 20 during a banquet opening the College World Series, which is being held in Salem Thursday (May 21) through Tuesday (May 26). Alfred is one of eight teams competing in the national championship tournament.
Wickwire and Thompson are the second and third NFCA All-Americans in the 22-year history of the Saxon softball program and the first since Nicole Hendrick earned Second Team honors in 2010.
The two have earned several honors this year, for the regular season and also during the Saxons' march through the NCAA championships. Both were First Team Empire 8 Conference all-stars and NFCA First Team Northeast Region picks. Wickwire was named Most Outstanding Player for the AU-hosted Alfred (NY) Regional, while Thompson was named Most Outstanding Player for last weekend's Tiffin (OH) Super Regional hosted by Heidelberg University.
Wickwire is batting .374 with 43 hits and 36 runs and leads the team with 16 homeruns (a school single-season record) and 53 RBI. She also has 10 doubles and is second on the team in slugging (.878) and third in on-base percentage (.503). She has made 18 pitching starts and is 13-3 with a 3.04 ERA and a team-leading 110 strikeouts.
Thompson is second on the team in hitting (.493) and RBI (45) and leads the Saxons in runs (58) and hits (70), both school records. She also has a school-record eight triples to go with eight doubles and 12 homeruns. Thompson leads the team in slugging (.915), on-base percentage (.514) and stolen bases (21, in 22 tries) and has a .966 fielding percentage.
Alfred (40-5) opens World Series play on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. against Linfield College. If AU wins, the Saxons would play the winner of the Texas-Tyler/Kean matchup (11:05 a.m. Thursday) at 4 p.m. Friday. If the Saxons lose to Linfield, Alfred would play the loser of the Texas-Tyler/Kean game at 11 a.m. Thursday.
Thayer marks Fisher's first pitcher and first freshman to pick up the national award. The Winthrop native is also Fisher's first All-American in softball since 2013 when the NFCA honored Sarah Fordyce on the Second Team.
Thayer, the Empire 8 Pitcher of the Year and Rookie of the Year, tallied 294 strikeouts over 202.0 innings pitched en route to recording a 1.00 earned run average. The freshman broke the previous school record of 290 strikeouts and in fewer innings pitched (222.0). She ranks third and fourth in Fisher's single-season top-10 lists for innings pitched and wins (20), respectively.
Thayer's rookie season featured her first career no-hitter – and the program's first since 2004 – in an 8-0 win over Elmira College. In that doubleheader, she tallied 30 strikeouts out of a possible 36 She continued to dominate throughout the season, shutting out SUNY Cortland, the then-top-ranked team in the region, allowing just two hits and striking out 11 in a complete-game effort.
In addition to the All-American award, Thayer has earned a spot on the NFCA Northeast Region First Team and garnered the Empire 8 Conference Pitcher of the Year and Rookie of the Year honors.