MT. PLEASANT, S.C. ? The Southern Conference announced its softball all-conference teams and individual honors Wednesday night at the annual awards banquet held in conjunction with the SoCon Softball Championships. The teams were voted on by the league’s eight head coaches.

 

Regular season champions Chattanooga led the way by taking three of the four individual awards. Sophomore Brooke Loudermilk earned her second consecutive Pitcher of the Year award while teammate Michelle Fuzzard was selected as the Freshman of the Year. UTC head coach Frank Reed was also selected by his peers as the league’s Coach of the Year. Earning Player of the Year honors was Georgia Southern junior third baseman Robyne Siliga.

 

Loudermilk finished the regular season with a 13-7 record to go along with five saves and a 1.88 ERA. She also tossed four shutouts while striking out 191 batters.

 

Fuzzard, a first baseman for Chattanooga, finished the regular season batting .358 with five home runs and 31 RBI for the regular season champion Lady Mocs. She ranks in the top five in the league in batting average, slugging and on-base percentage and she is tied for the league-lead with 13 doubles.

 

Siliga hit .389 with 10 home runs and 51 RBI during the regular season and ranked in the top 10 in most hitting categories. Her batting helped the league’s highest-scoring team finish second in the regular season.

 

In his seventh season as head coach, Reed guided the Lady Mocs to the program’s 10th regular season title in 15 seasons and the fourth under Reed’s leadership. Chattanooga won a league-high 35 games, including 14 in a row from March 21 to April 12.

 

Georgia Southern led the way with eight all-conference members, including four first-team and four second-team selections. Chattanooga had five players honored as did College of Charleston while Elon had three selections and Appalachian State had two. Furman, UNC Greensboro and Western Carolina each had one player honored by the coaches.

 

 

Player of the Year ? Robyne Siliga, Georgia Southern

Pitcher of the Year ? Brooke Loudermilk, Chattanooga

Freshman of the Year ? Michelle Fuzzard, Chattanooga

Coach of the Year ? Frank Reed, Chattanooga

 

All-Conference Teams

First Team

P      Brooke Loudermilk, Chattanooga

P      Melissa Laliberte, Georgia Southern

C      Katie Boyd, Appalachian State

1B    Michelle Fuzzard, Chattanooga

2B    Nina Iduate, Georgia Southern

SS    Tracey Dahlen, Elon

        Tara Tembey, Chattanooga

3B    Robyne Siliga, Georgia Southern

OF    Mary Greenway, UNC Greensboro

OF    Laci Upchurch, Chattanooga

OF    Lindsey Hopkins, Georgia Southern

DP    Shannon Howard, College of Charleston

UT    Jamie Swank, Western Carolina

 

Second Team

P      Shannon Howard, College of Charleston

P      Megen Smith, Georgia Southern

C      Jenny Side, Georgia Southern

1B    Brythe Blankenship, Furman

2B    Jackie Gonzalez, Elon

        Brittany Gaston, Appalachian State

SS    Amanda Hall, Georgia Southern

3B    Kristie Shifflett, College of Charleston

OF    Tiffany Harmon, College of Charleston

OF    Lyndsey Stiles, Chattanooga

OF    Michelle Beasley, Georgia Southern

DP    Melanie Helterbran, Elon

UT    Katie Nutaitis, College of Charleston