‘Yote Notes – May 10, 2006

Mike Safford Jr. – Sports Info. Director

msafford@collegeofidaho.edu

SOFTBALL: Lady ‘Yotes bow out at CCC tournament, season ends with 18-25 mark

LAST WEEK: at Cascade Conference postseason tournament – vs. Eastern Oregon (L 11-0), vs. Concordia (L 5-2) – season complete.

COYOTES TWO-AND-OUT IN PORTLAND: The playoff run for the Albertson College softball team lasted just seven hours, as the Lady ‘Yotes dropped an 11-0 opening round decision to Eastern Oregon, then lost a 5-2 loser-out contest to Concordia – finishing tied for fifth in the Cascade Conference Tournament, Sunday at Delta Park. The Coyotes came in to their first postseason contests riding a five-game win streak, and were scoreless after three innings with Eastern. However, a three-run Sheena Lindholm homer capped a four-run fourth, and a Hannah Shelley grand slam capped a seven-run sixth inning for the Mountaineers. Kelly West allowed just three hits in the shutout victory, with EOU pounding out 12 hits against ACI pitching. Nicole Illias (Beaverton, Ore. / Valley Catholic HS) had two of the three Coyote hits. Game 2 saw Concordia jump out to a 2-0 lead in the first, but the Coyotes rallied to tie it in the third on a Katie Zillner (Emmett, Idaho / Chicago State U.) RBI single and an A.J. Cavanaugh (Covington, Wash. / Kentwood HS) RBI double. However, A Rebekah Cox RBI double in the bottom of the frame, and a pair of insurance runs in the fourth were all Annele Huckins needed, fanning 13 batters to get the win. Heather Kirtley (Eagle, Idaho / Eagle HS) went 2-for-4 with a stolen base for the Coyotes, while Zillner went 2-for-2, along with five strikeouts in the circle.

TECH WINS TOURNEY, CONCORDIA TAKES FINAL SPOT: Oregon Tech completed a 3-0 weekend by claiming their first Cascade Conference championship since 2002 with an 11-3 victory over Southern Oregon. SOU took second place, and Concordia took the final spot to the NAIA Region I tournament with a come-from-behind 4-3 win over Eastern Oregon in the consolation bracket championship. Simon Fraser will be the No. 1 seed, OIT the No. 2 seed, with Southern and Concordia rounding out the tournament – with the winner of the event earning a spot in the NAIA Women’s World Series in Decatur, Ala.

ZILLNER NAMED ALL-CONFERENCE: The Albertson College softball team placed one member on the All-Cascade Conference team, as pitcher/outfielder Katie Zillner was selected by CCC coaches to the 15-member team. The sophomore from Emmett had a banner season, hitting a team-high .368, with 11 doubles, two home runs, and 27 RBI.  She also went 7-9 with a 3.82 ERA in the circle, with a school-record 134 strikeouts, including five games with ten-or-more punch-outs.  She was a two-time CCC and NAIA Region I Player of the Week selection and was also named CCC and NAIA Region I Pitcher of the Week once. Two other Coyotes were named to the team as honorable mention selections.  Freshman catcher Nicole Illias earned the honor after batting .327 with nine doubles and ten RBI in her rookie campaign.  Junior outfielder Heather Kirtley received accolades after hitting .354 with 19 stolen bases. League champion Oregon Tech led the way with five selections – sweeping all of the major awards.  Shortstop Amanda Doherty was named Player of the Year, pitcher Jenni Bittle was named Pitcher of the Year, and Greg Stewart was named Coach of the Year.

18 WINS FOR THE THIRD TIME: For the second-straight season and the third time in program history, the Lady ‘Yotes recorded 18 wins. ACI has recorded just one winning season in the five years of softball (18-17 in 2003), but the 18-25 mark was the second-highest win percentage for the Coyotes.

RECORDS BROKEN: As a unit, the Lady ‘Yotes broke nine team records during the 2006 season – highest batting average (.273), runs scored (159), RBI (142), double (55), home runs (20), total bases (426), slugging percentage (.386), fielding percentage (.948), and saves (5). The squad also set records for most hits in a game (14) and for most consecutive games without being shutout (34).

PLAYER-BY-PLAYER RECORDS FOR THE 2006 SEASON:

Katie Theisen (Boise, Idaho / Centennial HS) – No. 1 in career hits (144), RBI (70), doubles (31), and triples (7), No. 2 in batting average (.314), home runs (5), and runs scored (64), No. 3 in at bats (458), stolen bases (51), and walks (35), and No. 4 in games played (165) and games started (155).

Kerri Russell (Melba, Idaho / Melba HS) – No. 2 in single-season starts (21) and appearances (27), No. 3 in wins (9) and decisions (21), No. 4 in innings pitched (118) and complete games (7), No. 6 in strikeouts (47), and No. 9 in ERA (4.33); No. 1 in career starts (58), appearances (80), and shutouts (5), No. 2 in ERA (4.54), innings pitched (325), complete games (21), walks (110), and strikeouts (156), No. 3 in wins (17) and saves (2).

Angie Gribble (Boise, Idaho / Bishop Kelly HS) – No. 5 in career games played (139), games started (130), and sacrifice hits (11), No. 7 in doubles (9), at bats (292), and hit by pitches (3), No. 8 in hits (55) and runs scored (34), and No. 9 in stolen bases (9) and walks (22).

Lisa Stout (Caldwell, Idaho / Caldwell HS) – No. 7 in single-season hit by pitches (3); No. 6 in career hit by pitches (6), No. 7 in hits (61) and doubles (9), No. 8 in games played (112) and games started (105), and No. 9 in batting average (.226), RBI (22), and at bats (270).

Nikki Stevenson (Eagle, Idaho / Eagle HS) – No. 6 in career sacrifice hits (9).

Anna Schroeder (Eagle, Idaho / Eagle HS) – No. 8 in single-season batting average (.325), stolen bases (12), and stolen base attempts (14); No. 1 in career batting average (.325) and stolen bases (57), No. 3 in triples (4), No. 4 in hits (105) and runs scored (60), No. 5 in walks (30), No. 6 in RBI (28) and at bats (323), and No. 7 in games played (114) and games started (107).

Heather Kirtley – No. 2 in single-season runs scored (27), No. 3 in sacrifice hits (13) and on base percentage (.430), No. 4 in batting average (.354), hits (40), and hit by pitches (5), and No. 6 in stolen bases (19) and stolen base attempts (21); No. 1 in career walks (39), hit by pitches (14), and runs scored (67), No. 2 in stolen bases (53) and sacrifice hits (25), No. 3 in batting average (.314), No. 5 in hits (101) and at bats (333), and No. 6 in games played (130), and games started (129).

Katie Zillner – No. 1 in single-season strikeouts (134 – pitching), No. 2 RBI (27), doubles (11), and on base percentage (.448), No. 3 in complete games (14), innings pitched (119), batting average (.368), hits (43), home runs (2), and walks (16), No. 4 in wins (7), starts (19), and decisions (16), No. 6 in ERA (3.82), No. 7 in appearances (22), and No. 8 in runs scored; No. 3 in career complete games (14) and strikeouts (134), No. 4 in career wins (7), innings pitched (119), and starts (19), No. 6 in career doubles (11) and home runs (2), and No. 7 in career RBI (27) and appearances (22).

Nicole Illias – No. 3 in single-season home runs (2), No. 4 in doubles (9), No. 7 in batting average (.327), and No. 8 in runs scored (19); No. 6 in career home runs (2), and No. 7 in career doubles (9).

A.J. Cavanaugh – No. 1 in single-season saves (4), No. 2 in home runs (5), No. 5 in ERA (3.50) and RBI (22), No. 8 in doubles (6), and No. 9 in at bats (123); No. 1 in career saves (4), No. 2 in home runs (5), and No. 8 in strikeouts (22) and appearances (18).

Stacy Smith (Draper, Utah / Juan Diego Catholic HS) – No. 1 in single-season home runs (8), No. 3 in RBI (25), and No. 7 in hit by pitches (3); No. 1 in career home runs (8), No. 7 in hit by pitches (3), No. 8 in RBI (25).

FINAL 2006 CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:

Player AVG GP-GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB SLG% BB HBP SO GDP OB% SF SH SB-ATT PO A E FLD%
14 Katie Zillner.... .368 43-42 117 19 43 11 1 2 27 62 .530 16 1 14 0 .448 0 2 6-6 27 36  1 .984
 1 Heather Kirtley.. .354 40-39 113 27 40 2 0 1 8 45 .398 10 5 15 0 .430 0 11 19-21 45 3 3 .941
11 Katie Pond....... .333 3-2 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 .333 0 0 2 0 .333 0 0 0-0 10 0 0 1.000
22 Nicole Illias.... .327 38-36 110 19 36 9 1 2 10 53 .482 7 0 18 0 .364 1 3 3-8 162 22 4 .979
 4 Anna Schroeder... .325 29-27 83 16 27 5 0 0 8 32 .386 5 0 14 0 .364 0 2 12-14 53 30 4 .954
 9 Stacy Smith...... .290 39-34 93 11 27 4 0 8 25 55 .591 4 3 24 0 .340 0 1 2-2 58 9 2 .971
27 A.J. Cavanaugh... .276 43-41 123 11 34 6 0 5 22 55 .447 8 2 22 0 .326 2 3 1-1 54 64 20 .855
 5 Haley Butcher.... .250 41-41 116 13 29 5 0 0 10 34 .293 4 1 14 0 .281 0 3 1-1 27 92 6 .952
12 Johnna Bice...... .250 5-4 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 .250 0 0 0 0  .250 0 3 0-0 26 0 0 1.000
19 Lisa Stout....... .247 32-32 93 11 23 5 1 1 12 33 .355 4 3 16 0 .300 0 1 1-1 220 18 6 .975
15 Katie Theisen.... .235 39-34 98 8 23 5 0 0 10 28 .286 8 0  18 1 .287 2 4 3-3 22 3 1 .962
24 Christine Fancher .222 13-5 18 1 4 0 0 0 1 4 .222 3 0 3 0 .318 1 0 0-0 2 1 0 1.000
 3 Stephanie Stover. .200 21-12 20 5 4 1 1 0 1 7 .350  0 1 7 0 .238 0 4 0-1 10 1 2 .846
 8 Nicole Becvar.... .158 13-6 19 2 3 0 0 1 7 6 .316 1 0 4 2 .200 0 1 1-1 29 0 1 .967
21 Angie Gribble.... .107 24-18 28 3 3 1 0 0 0 4 .143 2 0 9 0 .167 0 2 1-1 47 24 7 .910
18 Nikki Stevenson.. .098 27-19 41 4 4 1 0 0 1 5 .122 4 0 13 0 .174 1 5 0-0 15 0 1 .938
10 Kelsi Murdock.... .043 23-12 23 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 .043 1 1 9 0 .120 0 1 2-2 26 27 4 .930
 7 Jen Ward......... .000 6-1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 0 .000 0 0 0-0 3 1 0 1.000
23 Kerri Russell.... .000 4-2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 0 .000 0 0 0-0 5 55 6 .909
16 Shane Parsons.... .000 5-0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0-0 0 0 0 .000
 2 Joelle Cote...... .000 16-0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2-3 0 0 0 .000
Totals.............. .273 43-43 1108 159 303 55 4 20 142 426 .384 77 17 205 3 .328 7 46 54-65 841 388 68 .948
Opponents........... .303 43-43 1166 219 353 66 8 25 185 510 .437 97 19 203 4 .364 8 35 44-63 838 382 54 .958
 
Player  ERA W-L APP GS CG SHO/CBO SV IP H R ER BB SO 2B 3B HR  AB B/Avg WP HBP BK SFA SHA
27 A.J. Cavanaugh... 3.50 2-3 17 2 1 0/0 4 38.0 44 32 19 16 22 5 2 5 160 .275 9 2 0 2 2
14 Katie Zillner.... 3.82 7-9 22 19 14 1/0 0 119.0 139 81 65 55 134 35 4 8 483 .288 16 5 0 4 13
23 Kerri Russell.... 4.33 9-12 27 21 7 3/0 1 118.0 160 101 73 23 47 25 2 11 499 .321 6 12 0 2 19
29 Megan Kautz...... 6.56 0-1 2 1 0 0/0 0 5.1 10 5 5 3 0 1 0 1  24 .417 1 0 0 0 1
Totals.............. 4.05 18-25 43 43 22 4/0 5 280.1 353 219 162 97 203 66 8 25 1166 .303 32 19 0 8 35
Opponents........... 3.38 25-18 43 43 35 3/0 2 279.1 303 159 135 77 205 55 4 20 1108 .273 31 17 1 7 46

MORE INFORMATION: Updated information and statistics on the 2006 softball team can be found on Albertson softball official website at www.collegeofidaho.edu/athlete/fastpitch.htm. Up-to-date NAIA Region I standings can be found online at www.collegeofidaho.edu/athlete/softball/stats/standings.htm.

- ALBERTSON -