Lenser, Motylinski named All-OAC in Softball for 2023
By Wes Mayberry
| 2023 All-OAC Softball Teams (.pdf) |
ADA — Ohio Northern sophomore Ashley Lenser (Brookville) and senior Sydney Motylinski (Ida, Mich.) were named All-Ohio Athletic Conference in softball for the 2023 season in voting conducted by the league's head coaches.
Lenser, a pitcher, was named to the All-OAC First Team, and Motylinski was named to the Second Team at third base.
Lenser is now a two-time First Team All-Conference selection after earning the honor in 2022 as the OAC Pitcher of the Year and Rookie of the Year.
Twice named the OAC Pitcher of the Week this season, Lenser became the 21st member of ONU's 100-Strikeout Club against Marietta on April 2. She closed the year with a record of 10-8 with one save in 20 appearances, including 18 starts and 17 complete games. In 124.1 innings, she posted a 2.14 ERA with 60 strikeouts, which ranked fourth and 12th, respectively, in the OAC.
Lenser highlighted her 2023 season by pitching three consecutive shutouts against Wilmington, John Carroll and Otterbein from April 15-19.
She also contributed offensively, batting .245 with 13 hits, including a double and home run, and seven RBIs on the year.
An NFCA Second Team All-Region VII selection in 2022, Lenser is a four-time OAC Pitcher of the Week with two career no-hitters. In two years at ONU, she boasts a 22-12 record with a 1.82 ERA and 134 strikeouts in 38 appearances, including 33 starts, spanning 234.2 innings. She ranks 12th all-time in career strikeouts.
Motylinski is now a three-time All-OAC selection after being named to the Second Team in 2021 and the First Team in 2022.
She finished the season with a .296 batting average, 29 hits, five doubles, five home runs, 13 RBIs and 23 runs scored. She led the team in home runs, tied for the team lead in runs and ranked third in batting average.
Defensively, she committed just 10 errors in 34 starts for a fielding percentage of .921.
Motylinski became the 43rd member of ONU's 100-Hit Club this season, recording four hits, including a home run and two doubles, in a doubleheader against Capital on April 26.
A career .314 hitter, Motylinski has 105 hits, 18 doubles, two triples, 17 home runs and 76 runs in 111 games in her four years at ONU. She is tied for fifth all-time at ONU in home runs.
The Polar Bears posted a 19-17 record in 2023 and tied for fifth place in the OAC with a 9-9 league mark under seventh-year head coach Jackie Price.