Emory Softball Puts Five On All-UAA Honors List -- Kocoloski Named League Rookie of the Year

Five members of the 2010 Emory University softball squad have been selected to the All-University Athletic Association Team.  The all-league honorees were chosen by the conference coaches based on their entire play this season. 

The Eagles of Head Coach Penny Siqueiros placed two players on the All-UAA First Team and three on the second team.  Sophomore left fielder Jessica Thomas (Springfield, VA) and freshman first baseman Ellyn Kocoloski (Victor, NY) landed first-team berths, with Kocoloski also earning the league’s Rookie of the Year award.  It is the seventh time that an Emory player has been named the conference Rookie of the Year.

Senior centerfielder Cassie Walsh (Palm, FL), senior Caitlin Fitzgerald (Warren, NJ) and freshman Dana Goodenough (Wellington, FL) were afforded second-team acclaim. It marked the fourth straight year that Walsh captured all-conference honors.

Thomas, the UAA Rookie of the Year in 2009, has enjoyed another big season with her .389 batting average ranking fourth on the team and 12^th among UAA players.  She has produced a team-high 38 RBIs, good for the No. 3 position on the league’s chart, and has blasted six home runs.  The owner of 13 multi-hit games this season, she has driven in two or more runs a team-high eight occasions. Thomas was named to the UAA All-Tournament Team after helping the squad to a 6-2 mark and the league crown after hitting .423.  In a March 27 game against Berry College, she went 3-for-4 at the plate, including a pair of homers, and totaled seven RBIs, the fourth-highest game total in school history in aiding in a 9-0 victory.

Kocoloski had a major impact on this year’s team with her .433 hitting average second on the team and sixth among UAA performers. Her 53 hits ranks third on the club while her 10 doubles ties for the top spot on the squad and fourth in the conference.  She has hit five home runs and has come through with 17 multiple-hit games this season, second high on the team.  She hit a league-best .577 (15-for-26) en route to UAA Tournament MVP honors with five of those hits the extra-base variety including three doubles and two homers.  Recently, she was chosen as the female recipient of the Emory athletic department’s Freshman Impact Award, symbolic of making a positive impact on her team through competition and sportsmanship. 

Walsh, a starter in all 41 games this year, leads the team and stands fifth in the UAA with a .434 batting average.  Her 63 hits top both the team and the league and is good for sixth place on the school’s seasonal ladder.  Walsh has registered a team-high 20 multiple-hit contests year and enjoyed a 23-game hitting streak.  Named the UAA Player of the Week twice this season, she helped the Eagles to the UAA championship after hitting .400 over eight games. Emory’s all-time leader with 228 hits, Walsh had been a first-team selection on three occasions prior to this year.  Recently, she was the female recipient of the Emory athletic department’s Aliberti and Partin Awards.

Fitzgerald, the club’s designated player, stands third on the team’s list and eighth in the UAA in hitting with a .396 mark.  She is third among Eagles with 14 multi-hit outings and has delivered seven games of two or more RBIs.  She closed out the regular season with a nine-game hitting streak, recording a .535 average (15-of-28) in that stretch.  Fitzgerald came through with a fine performance at the UAA Tournament where she hit at a .385 clip, and was tabbed as the league’s Player of the Week (Mar. 1) after hitting .500 at the Chik-Fil-A Classic.  She is 11^th all-time at Emory with 161 hits.

Goodenough has been a solid performer at third base this year, starting 28 of the 33 games she has seen action in.  She owns a .273 batting average and is fourth on the team with seven doubles.  She has knocked in 22 runs and has five multi-hit games under her belt, including a 2-for-3 effort at the plate with four RBIs against Maryville College.

Emory ended the regular season with a 25-16 won-lost mark.