BUFFALO, New York – Senior Melanie White of the Marist softball team was named Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year on Wednesday night.
White went 16-11 with a 2.95 ERA in 166.1 innings pitched this season. She appeared in 33 of Marist's 54 games, and started 24 of them, going the distance 17 times. She pitched three shutouts and had one save.
White was named MAAC Pitcher of the Week twice during the season, and was the only Red Fox to earn First Team All-MAAC honors. Four Red Foxes – junior Maureen Duddy, junior Kyrsten Van Natta, junior Colleen McWilliams and senior Janine Lalli – were named Second Team All-MAAC, while freshmen Gabrielle Kelliher and Samantha Reilly were named to the MAAC All-Rookie Team.
Playing primarily first base, Duddy stole a program single-season record 32 bases this season, and hit .349 with a team-high 40 runs scored. Duddy was named MAAC Player of the Week on Feb. 24. Van Natta started all 54 games at shortstop, and hit .308 with seven homers, 39 runs batted in, 38 runs scored and 22 stolen bases. McWilliams started 42 games, primarily in the outfield, and hit .320 with three homers, 27 runs batted in and a team-high 12 doubles. Lalli was honored in the utility spot after hitting .308 with six homers and 29 runs batted in while in the field, and she tossed 61.1 innings over 14 appearances. Lalli played all nine positions in Marist's season finale at Saint Peter's on May 3.
Kelliher was named MAAC Player of the Week on May 5, and MAAC Rookie of the Week on March 24. She led the Red Foxes with 10 home runs and a .585 slugging percentage while hitting .300 and driving in 28 runs. Reilly was a unanimous selection to the All-Rookie Team. She led the Red Foxes with 40 runs batted in, was second with eight homers, and hit .297.
Marist's five selections to the First and Second All-MAAC Teams were the highest total of any school in the conference. The two selections to the All-Rookie Team were tied for the most.
Four Red Foxes were named to the MAAC All-Academic Team – White, Lalli, Van Natta and sophomore pitcher Jayne Oberdorf. To make the team, a student-athlete must carry a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.2 on a 4.0 scale, and must have spent at least two semesters at her institution.
Marist finished its season at 28-26 overall and 11-9 in the MAAC, and closed the year with a six-game winning streak. The Red Foxes have had winning seasons overall and in conference play each of the last five years.
