Four Softball Players Named All-Big 12
5/9/2001 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 9, 2001
Oklahoma City - Stacey Hundley earned first-team All-Big 12 honors while Joni Miller, Naomi Fitzgerald and Ryan Stukel were named to the All-Big 12 second team. In addition, six players earned Academic All-Big 12 honors.
Big 12 coaches selected an 18-member first team and 18-member second team. The teams are broken down by positions with six at-large selections per team. Nebraska's Rhonda Revelle was named Coach of the Year, Oklahoma sophomore Kelli Braitsch, a shortstop, earned Player of the Year honors, pitcher Kara Pierce of Kansas was named Freshman of the Year and Texas Tech's Carmen Grindell, a junior first baseman, was the league's Newcomer of the Year.
Hundley, a sophomore second baseman from Mesa, Arizona, led the team in hitting in Big 12 Conference games with a .317 mark. She hits .331 on the season and leads the team in sacrifices with 24, stolen bases, swiping 17, and maintains a .967 fielding average. Hundley becomes the third Baylor softball player to earn first team honors. In 1997, Baylor's first year to participate in the Big 12, second baseman Jennie Vargas was named to the first team and last season centerfielder Naomi Fitzgerald earned first team kudos.
Earning second-team All-Big 12 honors were pitcher Joni Miller, centerfielder Naomi Fitzgerald and catcher Ryan Stukel. Miller, a sophomore from Edmond, Okla. who saw her season ended prematurely with surgery to remove an ovarian cyst, maintained a 1.40 earned run average and finished the 2001 campaign with a record of 27-14 which included 11 shutouts. In 275.1 innings pitched, the right hander struck out 148 batters and walked only 42. Fitzgerald, a senior from College Grove, Tenn., leads the team in hits (65), runs scored (32), and on base percentage (.442). She ranks second on the squad in hitting with an average of .359. Junior catcher Ryan Stukel, a native of Cochise, Ariz., was an at-large selection. She leads the team in batting on the season with a mark of .363. She also ranks first on the team in home runs with eight and shares the team-lead in doubles with Fitzgerald with three.
Six Baylor student-athletes were among the 50 named to the 2001 Softball Academic All-Big 12 Team. Holly Fields, Naomi Fitzgerald and Ryan Stukel were named to the first team while Joni Miller, Vanessa VandeBurgt and Jennifer Polk were on the second team. Fitzgerald was one of six student-athletes named for the fourth time.
First team members consist of those who have maintained a 3.2 or better grade point average, while the second team are those who have a 3.0 to 3.19 GPA.
For a complete listing please go to the league's website at www.big12sports.com.
