ALBANY, N.Y.-- University of Maine junior second baseman Ashley Waters (Amesbury, Mass./Amesbury) garnered the 2008 America East Softball Player of the Year, highlighting the America East Softball Championship Banquet held Wednesday night at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Albany, N.Y. Stony Brook ace Alyssa Struzenberg (Cooper City, Fla./Cooper City) received this year’s Pitcher of the Year, while Boston University outfielder April Setterlund (Torrance, Calif./South Torrance) became the second straight Terrier to earn the Rookie of the Year award. Chris Cannata, head coach of the number-one seed Albany Great Danes, was voted Coach of the Year by her peers. All awards were voted on by the conference’s eight head coaches. Click here for PDF copy of release and full list of All-Conference honorees.
Waters is the first Black Bear to take home softball’s top honor since 2000. The junior was among the league leaders in nearly every offensive category, leading America East in hits (58), home runs (10) and total bases (101). Waters hit .352 during the 2008 campaign, and rose to the occasion in conference games, hitting at an even .400 against league foes. She was twice named the America East Player of the Week, and received the same honor from the ECAC on April 9.
Struzenberg was dominant in the circle all year long, racking up 38 appearances, 190.2 innings pitched, 21 wins and 223 strikeouts to lead the conference in each category. Opposing batters hit just .172 off of this sophomore hurler as she compiled a 1.98 earned run average. Struzenberg was truly the Seawolves’ workhorse, starting 30 games, finishing eight and going over five innings per game. She earned the league’s Pitcher of the Week twice on February 25 and April 21. Struzenberg is the first Stony Brook pitcher to garner this award.
Setterlund was the top offensive freshman in the conference, hitting for a .363 average, reaching base at a .433 clip, and stealing 14 bases. She finished tied for second in the conference with 12 doubles and tied for first with Waters with 58 hits. Setterlund went errorless in 54 chances manning the outfield and recorded 52 putouts. Setterlund, the sixth Terrier to win the rookie accolade, won the Rookie of the Week on April 14.
Cannata, a 1985 graduate of Albany, is nearing the end of her 14th season as the head coach for the Great Danes and is the winningest coach in program history. She led the Great Danes to this year’s America East Regular Season crown, the top seed for the America East Softball Championship and a 32-15 overall record. Seven of Cannata’s players were honored with All-Conference accolades this season. This is the fourth time in her career Cannata has received this honor.
Joining Struzenberg, Waters and Setterlund on the All-Conference First Team were Albany’s Leah McIntosh (Whitby, Ontario/Sinclair), Meagan Butsch (Tomball, Tex./Tomball), Amber Maisonet (Newburgh, N.Y./Newburgh), Boston University’s Melissa Dubay (Auburn, Wash./Auburn Riverside), Shayne Lotito (Acton, Calif./Vasquez), UMBC’s Kali Shirk (North Wales, PA./North Penn), Ashley Gray (Pasadena, Calif./Northeast), Amanda Fefel (Baltimore, Md./Catonsville), and Stony Brook’s Marissa Fleury (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac).
Making up the second team was Albany’s Michelle Connors (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa), Bailey Van Deest (Goddard, Kan./Goddard), Boston University’s Cassidi Hardy (Jupiter, Fla./Jupiter), Christy Leath (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell Central), Rachel Hebert (Humble, Tex./Humble), Tyler Benson (Tucson, Ariz./Catalina Hills), Hartford’s Brittney Stratton (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville), Maine’s Terren Hall (Bucksport, Maine/Bucksport), Alexis Souhlaris (Derry, N.H./Pinkerton Academy), Stony Brook’s Vicki Kavitsky (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill East), Kelsi Fanelli (Audubon, N.J./Audubon) and Vermont’s Rachelle Eloschuk (Calgary, Alberta/Bishop Grandin).
Setterlund and Hall were also named to the All-Rookie Team, an honor they shared with Albany’s Andrianna Walraven (Thompson Ridge, N.Y./Pine Bush), Gina Mason (Sacramento, Calif./El Camino), Binghamton’s Brianna Andrews (Endicott, N.Y./Union-Endicott), Deannie Plemon (Irvine, Calif./Woodbridge), Boston University’s Melanie Delgado (Torrance, Calif./Bishop Montgomery), Kelley Engman (Vienna, Va./Bishop O’Connell), Maine’s Kirstin Allen (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks West), UMBC’s Stephanie Weigman (Elkridge, Md./Archbishop Spalding) Lauren Brummell (Hanover, Va./Hanover) and Vermont’s Caroline Goddard (Oakland, Calif./Piedmont).
Twenty-five All-Conference and All-Rookie honorees will take Albany Field for the 2008 America East Softball Championship, a double-elimination tournament, on Thursday, May 8. Top-seeded Albany and fourth-seeded UMBC will meet at 1 p.m. in a rematch of last year’s final which the Great Danes took from the Retrievers. No. 2 Boston University and No. 3 Stony Brook will play at 3:30 p.m. The conference champion will be crowned on Saturday, May 10, and will receive an automatic berth into the NCAA Softball Championship.