Five members of the Emory University softball squad have been selected to the 2019 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 Adrianna Baggetta placed three players on the first team and two on the second team.
Highlighting the Emory honorees were senior shortstop Cassie Baca (Pasadena, CA) and junior outfielder Sami Feller (Coral Springs, FL), both of whom landed first-team honors while sharing the league's Position Player of the Year.
Baca, a starter in 38 of 39 games, ranks second on the team in hitting with a .371 average, collecting 46 hits (second on the team) in 124 plate appearances. She has scored a conference-high 36 runs and also tops the league with six triples, tying for the sixth place on Emory's all-time seasonal chart. Second on the squad with 12 multi-hit contests, she is tied for second on the club with eight outings of two or more RBIs. She has produced a team-high 31 RBIs, good for the No. 2 position on the UAA ladder, and her .556 slugging percentage is second on Emory's stat sheet and 10th in the UAA. Earlier in the season she was tabbed as UAA Hitter of the Week after hitting .556 (5-9) with 4 RBIs in a three-game series against DePauw. In a four-game sweep at No. 20 Brandeis, Baca went .385 in the batter's box (5-13) and knocked in five runs. In a 6-3 win over the Judges, she drove in three runs with a homer and a two-run double. It is the third time in her career that she has garnered a first-team nod.
Feller emerged as one of the conference's top offensive threats, hitting .398 (45-113) in overall action while lighting up UAA pitchers to the tune of a league-high .471 (32-68) with 19 runs scored and 18 RBIs. On the year, Feller, who has seen action in 38 games, has totaled a team-leading 15 multi-hit contests with her total of 45 safeties third on the club. She sets the pace for the team and is eighth in overall slugging percentage (.566) while her mark of .662 in league affairs tops all UAA performers. Feller has been named UAA Hitter of the Week on two occasions this year, most recently in the team's four-game sweep at Brandeis when she logged a .615 (8-13) hitting effort with six RBIs. She socked a three-run homer in a five-inning, 12-3 victory in the opener and later followed that by hitting safely twice, knocking in the team's first run in the first and then scoring the game winner in the sixth in 3-2 triumph. Her first UAA Hitter of the Week accolade came after the Case Western Reserve (Apr. 20-21) series when she hit a blazing .688, racking up 11 hits in 16 at-bats which included four doubles and a homer.
Senior outfielder Jenna Wilson (Malvern, PA) landed her second consecutive first-team berth, starting all 37 games she has appeared in and hitting at a .367 clip with a team-high 47 hits (fifth in the UAA) in 128 trips to the plate. She has scored 34 runs, second on the club and tied for third in the league, and owns the Eagles' longest hitting streak of the year at 12 games (Mar. 21 – Apr. 7). She has come through with 11 contests (third on the team) with two or more hits and has three multi-RBI performances to her credit. She helped the Eagles to a four-game sweep of Carnegie Mellon (Mar. 29-30) by hitting .461 (6-13) with three RBIs. In a 4-3 win in the final game of the New York University series, Wilson picked up three hits and registered the GWRBI. Wilson has stolen a school record 29 bases this year, tops in the UAA, and her average of 0.81 swipes per game is 21st in the D-III ranks.
Emory's two representatives on the second team are sophomores Natalie Arreguin (Lee's Summit, MO) and Madison Schaefer (Newton, MA).
Arreguin has started at third base in all 40 Emory contests, and ended the regular season hitting .309 with 38 hits (fourth on the team) in 123 at-bats. She has come through with a team-high nine games with two or more RBIs while delivering eight multi-hit contests. Her 28 RBIs place her third on the team and tied for fifth in the conference, while her 10 doubles are the second-highest total on the team and sixth on the league ladder. She went a combined 4-for-7 at the plate with three two-baggers in a doubleheader vs. Piedmont College (Mar. 19), and would go on to help Emory to a win in the series finale against Washington University with a three-run double. She figured prominently in the team's dramatic come-from-behind 9-7 win over Case Western, singling twice, driving in two runs and crossing the plate with the deciding tally.
Schaefer is tied for first in the league in wins with a record of 13-4. She has appeared in 20 contests in the circle, 15 as a starter, and has recorded eight complete games with that mark tying for sixth among UAA hurlers. She has fanned a team-leading 54 batters over 94 2/3 innings and owns an ERA of 2.96. She tossed a complete-game four hitter with five punch outs in a 2-1 decision over Emory and Henry and also went the distance in a 3-2 verdict at Washington University, surrendering eight hits while striking out a season-high seven opponents.
Freshman Mattie Ryan (Atlanta) rounds out the Emory awardees with her selection as the UAA Rookie of the Year. A starter at first base in all 40 games, Ryan is hitting .318 in overall play with 34 hits in 107 plate appearances. She leads the team with 12 doubles, fourth among UAA players, and her 29 RBIs are second-most on the club and are good for a third-place tie on the conference chart. Her .514 slugging percentage ranks among top league's top 15 and she has drawn a conference-high 24 walks, good for a fourth-place tie on the Eagles' seasonal list. She is the 11th player in program history to be named Rookie of the Year.
Emory finished off the regular season with an overall record of 30-10 and captured the league title with a 16-4 record. The Eagles will find out what awaits them in the postseason when the bids to the NCAA D-III Tournament are announced on Monday, May 6.
Mattie Ryan was named 2019 UAA Softball Rookie Of The Year