2007 Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division III All-America Teams
SALEM, Virgina – Three teams placed two players each on the first team squad of the 2007 Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division III All-America teams, announced Thursday night at the national championship banquet in Salem, Va.
St. Thomas, which finished 42-4, placed junior pitcher Maria Bye and senior first baseman Carrie Embree on the first team. Embree finished a stellar career by batting .479 with 67 hits, 54 runs, 39 RBIs and 35 stolen bases. She was also 12-1 from the circle with an 0.77 ERA, 103 strikeouts and 13 walks in 92 innings. Bye hit .413 this season with 45 hits, 34 walks, 49 RBIs, 35 runs, nine doubles and 10 HR. On the rubber, Bye was 26-3 with an 0.71 ERA in 158 innings with 237 strikeouts and 48 walks.
Ithaca College also placed two on the first team, including senior catcher Hannah Shalett and junior utility player Nicole Cade. Cade, who split time between being the squad’s ace and designated player, was named the inaugural winner of the Empire 8 conference Pitcher of the Year award. She posted a 20-4 record with a 1.26 ERA and 162 strikeouts as part of the nation’s second highest ranked team ERA. Cade also batted .339 this season with 37 hits, 26 RBIs and 18 runs scored. Shalett was named the Empire 8 Player of the Year after starting all 44 games at catcher. She led the team with a career-best .417 batting average, while recording 55 hits, 12 doubles, 31 RBIs and 26 runs scored.
Montclair State was the only other program with multiple players on the first team, with Jennifer Jimenez taking home shortstop honors while teammate Carolyn McCrea was a utility selection. Jimenez was named the NJAC Player of the Year as a sophomore after batting .439 with 61 hits, eight doubles, 12 home runs and 51 RBIs. She led the NJAC in on-base percentage, RBIs and walks with 27 and was second in runs scored, hits, home runs and total bases. McCrea was named NJAC pitcher of the year after going 30-7, leading the nation and tying the school record for victories. She posted a 1.57 ERA and set a single-season school record with 223 strikeouts. The junior pitcher also threw the fifth perfect game in school history and was an integral part in her team’s first regional appearance in eight years.
The other first team pitcher selected was Washington-St. Louis senior Laurel Sagartz. Sagartz’s extraordinary career has been capped off by a stellar senior year in which she led the nation with a 0.31 ERA. She has struck out a school-record 288 batters on her way to a 23-1 record and has given up only seven earned runs in 161 innings. She also batted .360 with six home runs and 28 RBIs to lead her team to its first ever national championship appearance.
Linfield’s Jenny Marshall was the first team second base selection, leading her team to a repeat appearance at the national championship. A junior, Marshall was the team’s co-leader in batting average, hitting .450 with 48 runs, 13 doubles and two triples. She drove in 43 runs, stole 17 bases and posted a .986 fielding percentage as part of the second highest team fielding percentage in the country. She was also named the Northwest Conference Player of the Year.
Capital University junior Lindsay Shepherd took home first team third base honors. Shepherd batted .478 with 65 hits while scoring 45 runs. She led the nation and set a school-record with 47 stolen bases in 51 attempts; she also made just six errors in 105 chances at third base.
Lynchburg senior Caroline Cubbage finished a stellar career with a second All-American award after leading the nation in batting average at .533. She was named ODAC Player of the Year after leading the program to its first conference title since 1996. Cubbage scored 58 runs, with 11 doubles and 15 home runs, good for second in the nation. She also walked a school-record 51 times.
Other first team outfield selections included Rutgers-Camden senior Autumn Millett and Wartburg junior Ashley Steines. Millett completed one of the greatest offensive season in program history, hitting .464 with an .836 slugging percentage. She set single-season school records with her 65 hits, 13 home runs, 50 RBIs and 117 total bases. Steines batted .430 with 64 hits and 12 doubles. She was ranked 17th in the nation in triples per game with a total of nine and batted in 39 runs while scoring a team-leading 64 runs.
At first team designated player is Bridgewater College junior Caity Butler. Butler was a large part of the most potent run-scoring offense in the nation, batting .463 with eight home runs. She also drove in 43 runs while leading the Old Dominion Athletic Conference in hits with 57.
Wisconsin-Osh Kosh junior Ronessa Stampfli was a first team at-large selection. Stampfli earned her third WIAC Pitcher of the Year award after going 19-8 with a 0.87 ERA and hurled 41 consecutive scoreless innings at one point this season. Her 757 career strikeouts is a WIAC record and represents the 12th-highest total in NCAA Division III history.
Wrapping up the first team as an at-large selection was senior Cortland State shortstop Jamie Neuner. Neuner was named the SUNYAC Player of the Year for the third consecutive season after batting .442 with three home runs, eight doubles, and six triples. She also posted a .971 fielding percentage, committing only four errors in 138 chances.
