Ruonavaara |
Staudle |
Sumski |
Carbone |
Ruonavaara collects first team honors, Staudle and Sumski named to second team, while Carbone earns third team and All-Rookie accolades
EASTON, Mass. (April 30, 2014) – Four members of the Stonehill College softball team have earned Northeast-10 All-Conference honors as selected by the league's 15 head coaches, it was announced yesterday.
Sophomore designated player Megan Ruonavaara (Rocky Hill, Conn./Rocky Hill) collected first team All-Northeast-10 honors, while classmates Megan Staudle (New Windsor, N.Y./Cornwall Central) and Alison Sumski (Amherst, N.H./Souhegan) earned second team accolades, and freshman Michelle Carbone (Deer Park, N.Y./St. Anthony's) was named to both the third team and the All-Rookie Team.
Ruonavaara, who was named to the All-Rookie team as a pitcher last season after going 15-12 in the circle with a 2.97 ERA, had a breakout season at the plate this year. Ruonavaara led the Skyhawks with a .342 batting average (40-for-117), seven home runs, and 29 RBI. She also drew ten walks and scored 20 runs while posting a .395 on-base percentage and .556 slugging percentage.
During a 14-game stretch from April 6th-April 19th, Ruonavaara hit .449 with three doubles, six homers, and 21 RBI. In the rubber game of a three-game series against eventual Northeast Division champion Southern New Hampshire University on April 13th, she delivered a two-out, two-run, walk-off single down the left field line to complete Stonehill's 4-3 comeback victory.
Ruonavaara has been named to the NE-10 Commissioner's Honor Roll (3.0 semester GPA) and the Athletic Director's Honor Roll (3.3 semester GPA) in each of her three semesters at Stonehill, while also earning the Saint Thomas Aquinas Medal for having the highest cumulative GPA on the softball team the past two years.
Staudle, a sophomore catcher, earns a spot on the NE-10 All-Conference second team a year after collecting first team honors as an outfielder. She was one of two Skyhawks to play in all 45 games this season, making 44 starts. Staudle hit .300 (39-for-130) with six doubles, three home runs, and 13 RBI, while getting on base at a .405 clip and slugging .415. She also chipped in with 23 runs, six stolen bases, and was hit by 20 pitches, the second most in the NE-10.
As a freshman in 2013, Staudle posted one of the best rookie seasons in program history. She played in all 51 games, making 48 starts, and led the team in hits (60) and runs (38) to go with eight homers and 27 RBI. In the classroom, Staudle has been named to two NE-10 Commissioner's Honor Rolls and one Athletic Director's Honor Roll.
Sumski, a sophomore second baseman, joins Staudle on the second team for the first NE-10 All-Conference honor of her career. Sumski hit .318 (50-for-157) this season with six doubles, one triple, four home runs, 18 RBI, and a team-high 25 runs scored. Her 70 total bases ranked second on the team, and she also posted a .352 on-base percentage and .446 slugging percentage.
Sumski opened the 2014 campaign on a nine-game hitting streak, and posted 16 multi-hit efforts over the course of the season. As a freshman in 2013, she started 46 of the 49 games that she appeared in, hitting .300 with seven doubles, three home runs, 13 walks, 19 RBI, and 28 runs scored. Sumski has been named to the NE-10 Commissioner's Honor Roll and Athletic Director's Honor Roll in each of her three semesters at Stonehill, and she was one of five Skyhawk student-athletes to post a perfect 4.0 GPA for the Fall 2013 semester.
Rounding out Stonehill's 2014 NE-10 All-Conference honorees is Carbone, a freshman outfielder. Carbone was named to both the third team and All-Rookie team after a breakout campaign in which she hit .341 (46-for-135) with eight doubles, five home runs, 26 RBI, and a team-high 71 total bases. She slugged .526 and got on base at a .348 clip while also adding five steals and 17 runs scored. In the circle, Carbone when 6-6 with a 4.90 ERA in 21 appearances, including 10 starts. She recorded a team-best 52 strikeouts in 82.2 innings of work, and held opponents to a .298 batting average.
Carbone collected two NE-10 Rookie of the Week awards this season, first on April 8th and again two weeks later on April 22nd. She posted a season-best ten-game hitting streak from April 12th-April 21st, a stretch in which she hit .543 (19-for-35) with three doubles, two homers, and nine RBI while stealing three bases and scoring eight runs.
Stonehill (20-25, 14-15 NE-10) finished the regular season at 11-10 in the NE-10 Northeast Division, just a game out of fourth place for the final spot in the NE-10 Championship.
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