The Empire 8 Athletic Conference has announced
2016 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 College senior
Kelly Robichaud was voted the Player of the Year. In 30 regular season games, she batted .373 with a .855 slugging and .424 on-base percentage. She totaled 27 RBI as she belted 10 home runs, six doubles and two triples. Robichaud also scored 23 runs. In the field, she collected 144 putouts behind the plate.
In conference play, Robichaud started all 14 games at catcher, hitting for a .450 batting average. She led the league in slugging percentage (.900) and RBI (16). She also ranks among the conference leaders in home runs (4), hits (18) and on-base percentage (.500). In the field, Robichaud committed just one error in fourteen conference games for a .988 fielding percentage.
Robichaud is the tenth Ithaca player to earn the yearly honor.
Sophomore
Lindsey Thayer from St. John Fisher was named the Pitcher of the Year for the second straight season. The Winthrop, NY native appeared in 24 regular season games, making 23 starts and posting a 20-3 record with 18 complete games. She tossed 147 innings with 10 shutouts and a .71 ERA, improving from last year’s mark of a .96 ERA. She struck out 299 batters , including 20 against RIT on April 14. For the year, she has allowed just 15 earned runs and walked 20 batters.
In conference-only games, Thayer tossed 75 innings and recorded 138 strikeouts. She finished the conference regular season with a 9-3 record, including nine complete games, for a 1.31 ERA. Thayer limited conference foes to a .137 batting average.
Thayer is the first-ever pitcher to win the award in back-to-back seasons and the fourth overall from St. John Fisher. The sophomore will look to guide the Cardinals (33-10) in post-season play as they earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Softball Championship beginning May 13. Fisher will host a three-team regional with the University of Rochester and Penn State-Behrend.
Freshman
Vanessa Brown from Ithaca garners Rookie of the Year honors after starting in 35 games at third base. She hit an impressive .365 at the dish with 19 RBI. Of her 42 hits in 2016, five were doubles and two were home runs. In the field, she contributed 20 putouts with nine errors.
During conference play, she started all 14 games, generating a league-best .511 batting average on 24 hits. The Vista, CA native compiled a .660 slugging percentage and drove in 15 runs.
Brown is the seventh player in program history to be named the Empire 8 Rookie of the Year.
Ithaca head coach
Deb Pallozzi has been named the Coach of the Year for the seventh time in her career and first since 2012. Pallozzi guided the Bombers to a 13-1 league record, earning the top-seed in the E8 tournament. Ithaca won its first two games of the tournament, before falling to second-seeded St. John Fisher in the first game of the championship round. In the winner-take-all game 7, Ithaca rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the seventh inning to win 3-2 and earn its 10
th Empire 8 crown.
The Bombers, currently 32-8, are ranked 16th nationally in the latest NFCA Division III poll and first in the NCAA Northeast Regional rankings. Ithaca is making its 27
th NCAA appearance as the Bombers will host Mount Saint Mary, Moravian, and Worcester State in a regional pod.
One member of each team was named that institution's representative on the 2016 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.