Cougars Amass 10 Yearly Honors on Eve of CAA Tourney
5/7/2014 2:39:00 AM | Softball
HARRISONBURG, Va. – College of Charleston senior shortstop Lizzy Vaughn was named the Colonial Athletic Association co-Defensive Player of the Year, while eight other Cougars earned yearly honors at the CAA Championship Banquet on Tuesday night, the eve of the Cougars' first ever CAA Championships.
Vaughn, in addition to Defensive POTY honors, was also named a first-team all-CAA selection, along with CofC third baseman Kelsey Hodgson, pitcher Hope Klicker, and utility player Carly Hansis.
The Cougars also earned two second-team all-CAA selections in outfielders Carly Corthell and Rebecca Mueller.
The league coaches also voted on an all-rookie team, and freshmen Samantha Martin and Katie Padilla represented the Cougars as standout newcomers.
An all-academic team was also selected, and sophomore Jordan Trgovac represented the Cougars as a full embodiment of the complete student-athlete.
Tuesday's ceremonial banquet kicked off the 2014 CAA Championships to be held May 7-9 at Veterans Memorial Park on the campus of James Madison. In their first year in the league, the Cougars qualified for the tournament as the No. 2 seed after a record of 40-14 overall and 14-4 in CAA play.
Charleston is joined in the four-team, double-elimination tournament by No. 1 seed and tournament host James Madison, No. 3 seed Hofstra and No. 4 seed Towson.
All of the tournament games will be broadcast live, free of charge, through CAA.TV. More information regarding the championships can be found at the CAA's tournament page, here.
The Cougars make their tournament debut on Wednesday, May 7 at 3 p.m. against Hofstra and will be seeking retribution from the Pride, the only team in the CAA to win a regular-season series against CofC.
Charleston storms into the postseason as winners of 18 of their last 20 and 10 consecutive games, their second 10-game winning streak of the season.
Mueller, the sophomore second-team selection, was just named the CAA Player of the Week for her role in the Cougars' third consecutive CAA series sweep over Towson in the last weekend of regular season play. Mueller batted .500 (4-for-8) on the week with an RBI and three runs scored, adding two doubles and a home run for a 1.125 slugging percentage.
Vaughn, in addition to her defensive prowess, led the CAA in hits during the regular season and brings a .372 batting average into the tournament. Hansis (.363), Mueller (.333) and Hodgson (.319) all enter the tournament with better-than .300 averages as well.
Hodgson blisters into the tournament batting .700 (14-for-20) over the last nine games, all of which were CAA games. Of those 14 hits, eight went for extra bases including the CofC record-tying 42nd home run of her career. She managed 14 hits in nine games despite being largely pitched around by the opposition, resulting in nine walks and a .800 on-base percentage.
Klicker posted a 9-2 record in conference play, earning more CAA wins than any other pitcher as she led the Cougar pitching staff which finished third in the league in staff ERA (1.99) and struck out 36 more hitters than any other team in the league this season.
Her staffmates Martin and Valerie Cassell both ranked in the top six in the league in opponent batting average, with Cassell ranking second with a .202 mark.
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