June 3, 2003

Hasse, Murray Earn IWU Top Softball Honors

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- Sophomore centerfielder Brynn Hasse and junior pitcher Kelly Murray are co-winners of the "Most Valuable Player" honor for the Illinois Wesleyan University softball team that finished third in the 2003 NCAA Division III national tournament.

Hasse (Chillicothe, IVC HS), who was chosen as IWU’s first-ever first team All-American, set school records with 77 hits, nine triples, and a .472 batting average this spring. She had a team-high .620 slugging percentage, stole 15 bases and batted in 26 runs from her lead-off slot in the batting order.

Murray (Bloomington, Central Catholic HS) set IWU records with 19 wins (19-4), a 1.09 earned run average and 160 innings pitched. For her career she has 40 pitching victories, seven short of the all-time record, and her career 1.37 earned run average is the best of any Titan with more than 300 innings pitched. She is also second all-time with 246 strikeouts, behind Jennie Siron, who fanned 363 from 1993-96. As a position player when not pitching, Murray hit .258 with 22 RBI and seven doubles.

The Titans finished 38-8, marking the fourth straight season and the seventh time in 13 years with 30 or more victories, and qualified for the NCAA Division III tournament for the fourth straight year as a result of winning the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin tournament as well as the league’s regular season title.

In other team awards, junior third baseman Nicole Reed (Normal, West HS) was chosen as the team's "Most Improved Player" and senior infielder/catcher Kristin Scott (Bloomington, Central Catholic HS) won the "Gwen Meyer Award."
Reed got playing time when regular third baseman Colleen Schuster (Joliet HS) moved to shortstop midseason to take over for the injured senior Stephanie Hieser (Minier, Stanford Olympia HS). Reed batted .309 with three home runs and eight RBI in 26 games and batted .500 in IWU’s four Division III World Series games.
Scott batted .205 in 22 games before breaking her wrist. The "Gwen Meyer Award" is given to the player who gives 100 percent, shows support of the team and is self-motivated. The award was established in 1986 to honor the memory of Meyer, IWU's most valuable softball player in 1984, who died of cancer.

Senior Stephanie Stephen (Martinsville, Casey-Westfield HS) ended her career third all-time at IWU in hits (168) and home runs (12), fourth in runs batted in (99) and fifth in doubles (26). The CCIW “Player of the Year” as a freshman, Stephen played in a school-record 180 games in her career.

Seniors A.J. Reeley (Danville HS) and Ellen Furr (Newark HS) also wrapped up their IWU careers ranked highly in the pitching record books. Reeley is the Titans’ all-time leader in pitching victories (47-12), innings pitched (407), games (76), and winning percentage (.797). She is third with 181 strikeouts and second with a career 1.44 ERA. Furr is third with 65 appearances, eighth in innings pitched (289 2/3), and sixth in both wins (33) and strikeouts (134).

Hieser, slowed by the knee injury, still managed to hit .287 in 40 games this spring. In her career she was seventh in hits (162), 10th in runs (89) and second in games played (174).

Junior outfielder Nicole Williams (Park Forest, Crete-Monee HS), who also suffered a knee injury and missed almost half the season, batted .466 and stole 27 bases in 29 attempts. With one season remaining she is already  IWU’s all-time steals leader with 80, easily eclipsing the old mark of 54, held by Jackie Kloiber, who played from 1997-2000.

Second-year head coach Beth Hasheider awarded letters to 20 players, including 14 who will return for next season. They are, with hometowns and high schools:

SENIORS - Ellen Furr (Newark HS); Stephanie Hieser (Minier, Stanford Olympia HS); Megan Pietrucha (Orland Hills, Andrew HS); A.J. Reeley (Danville HS); Kristin Scott (Bloomington, Central Catholic HS); Stephanie Stephen (Martinsville, Casey-Westfield HS).

JUNIORS - Kat Mason (Galesburg HS); Kelly Murray (Bloomington, Central Catholic HS); Jamie Palmer (Knoxville HS); Nicole Reed (Normal, West HS); Nicole Williams (Park Forest, Crete-Monee HS).

SOPHOMORES - Brynn Hasse (Chillicothe, IVC HS); Ashley Patten (Dwight HS); Alesia Perry (Yorkville HS); Colleen Schuster (Joliet HS).

FRESHMEN ­ Michelle Bradley (Oak Brook, Downers Grove North HS); Katie Frawley (Oswego, N.Y., HS); Jenny Freeman (Tremont HS); Natalie Hackett (New Lenox, Lincoln-Way Central HS); Jessica Lothman (Springfield, Sacred Heart Griffin HS).
 

MEDIA NOTE: For quotes and comments on individual players, contact head coach Beth Hasheider at (309) 556-3348.