IRVINE, Calif. – The nationally ranked Concordia University Irvine softball team racked up an eye-popping FIVE PacWest Special awards and NINE All-Conference honorees as the league announced its end of the year awards.
CUI head coach Crystal Rosenthal was voted The PacWest Coach of the Year for the third straight season. It's the fourth time in the NCAA DII era for the program as well.
Along with associate head coach Rose Imbriano and the coaching staff, Rosenthal guided Concordia to the regular season title with 16 straight wins against conference opponents and a 24-4 record in PacWest play. CUI will be the No. 1 seed at the PacWest Conference Championships and has finished in first place now in six consecutive seasons.
Concordia senior
Cortney Koelmans was named PacWest Pitcher of the Year. Koelmans
also just received the Female Golden Eagle Award at the Concordia Senior Legacy Banquet. She led the PacWest with 18 wins & was second with 127 strikeouts while posting a team-best 1.26 ERA with eight complete games, four shutouts and three saves. She tossed the first Perfect Game in the program's NCAA DII era in a 1-0 road win over second place APU and was PacWest Pitcher of the Week four times. She only had 12 walks this regular season with an insane 10.5-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Fellow senior
Kaia Nisby becomes the first CUI softball player to be PacWest Defender of the Year since 2019 (catcher Mackenzie Graham). The NFCA Gold Glove nominee hit .305 this regular season as the starting centerfielder with 36 hits, 8 doubles and her first career home run. She was also a perfect 8-for-8 on steals while showing off her speed patrolling the outfield. She routinely makes tough diving catches and robs hitters near the warning track.
Megan Casper is the Newcomer of the Year after serving as a solid option in the circle as well. The righty went 4-1 with a 2.32 ERA in 16 appearances. She pitched 48.1 innings & made four starts, showing off her versatility as both a starter and a reliever. This is the fourth straight season CUI has featured the Newcomer of the Year (Kelsea Sweeney,
Katlin Entrup and current graduate assistant
Daniela Alvarez).
Jessica Im turned heads this season as garnered Freshman of the Year honors. The freshman outfielder led CUI in batting average (.338), hits (44), steals (13-for-15), and triples (2) as a true freshman. In addition, she is second in the PacWest in steals & Top 5 in on-base percentage (.421). She enters the postseason with 13 multi-hit games.
Joining Koelmans, Im and Nisby as First Team All-Conference selections this spring is CUI first baseman
Missy Nemeth. Nemeth hit .275 with 9 HR, 34 RBI & 7 doubles.
Nemeth was second in the PacWest in RBI and led CUI in that category as well as with 29 walks, which helped her post a .925 OPS (5th in PacWest). She showed off her clutch gene as she hit walk-off homers to beat San Fran State & Azusa Pacific this season. In addition, the graduate student was the MVP of the Concordia Kickoff Classic after a week with 2 HR & 8 RBI.
Five more Golden Eagles made Second Team All-PacWest. Seniors
Mary Baccay,
Katlin Entrup,
Megan Johnson and
Michalah Robison were joined by catcher
Shelby Pfeiler on the list.
Entrup went 14-7 with a 1.73 ERA and led the entire league with 131 strikeouts & 145.2 innings pitched. She also led CUI with both 11 complete games and six shutouts. The Claremont, Calif. native ranks Top 8 in school history in career strikeouts. She was PacWest Pitcher of the Week multiple times this spring, made the CUI Kickoff Classic All-Tournament Team,
and
she was named Female Athlete of the Year at the recent Concordia Senior Legacy Banquet.
Mary Baccay hit .283 with 6 doubles, a homer and 14 RBI. her 41 hits were second-most on CUI and she started at both second base and third base throughout the year, starting 45 of 48 games. One of her memorable at-bats this year was her walk-off RBI single at home to beat Hawai'i Hilo.
Robison was recognized as a superior utility player. She hit .269 with 28 hits, 8 doubles, one home run, 12 RBI and 10 walks. She has started a combination of games as an outfielder and as the designated player. She can also play infield and has 8 multi-hit games.
Pfeiler hit .271 with 4 HR and 15 RBI. She is the primary starting catcher of a CUI squad with 1.98 team ERA that features two NFCA Pitcher of the Year candidates in Koelmans and Entrup. Pfeiler caught the one-hit complete game shutout by
Cortney Koelmans against nationally ranked Northwest Nazarene and has also had an 8-game hitting streak this spring.
Megan Johnson was also a sneaky effective and steady outfielder that tormented opposing pitchers. She hit a career-best .324 and started 25 of 30 games while also swiping six bases. Her versatility both defensively and on the bases has also added an extra element to the CUI offense.
The Golden Eagles are eager to keep it rolling as they face Biola in the first game of the PacWest Conference Championships this Wednesday at 12 p.m. up at Dominican.
It is a double elimination tournament with the winner earning the automatic bid to the NCAA DI West Regional.
CLICK HERE for the updated CUI softball schedule
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