Recap: Softball team posts eighth consecutive upper division OAC finish in 2013
By Tim Glon
ADA — The Ohio Northern softball team posted its eighth consecutive upper division finish in the Ohio Athletic Conference in 2013 under third-year head coach Kim Burke.
The Polar Bears tied for fifth in the 10-team OAC with a 9-9 record, just missing a spot in the 4-team OAC Tournament.
ONU was 13-15 overall against one of the most challenging schedules in the nation.
Juniors Christin Miller and Colleen Baliga were named First Team All-Conference, freshman Anne Dreher was named Second Team All-OAC and senior Michelle Sweet received Honorable Mention All-Conference honors.
Baliga was also named Second Team All-Central Region and Miller was a Third Team All-Region selection.
Sweet, Miller and junior Carly McKenzie all received Academic All-Conference kudos.
Miller is now a three-time First Team All-OAC honoree and is a two-time All-Region selection in the outfield.
She led the Polar Bears in batting this season with a .412 average, marking her third consecutive season with an average of better than .400.
Miller also led the team in hits (42), runs (23) doubles (6) and stolen bases (6).
She will enter her senior season ranked second all-time at ONU with a .444 career batting average.
Miller is also sixth all-time with 192 base hits, is fourth with 124 runs scored, is eighth with 10 triples, is seventh with 235 total bases and is ninth with a .544 career slugging percentage.
Baliga was third on the team with a .362 batting average after moving from the outfield to third base this season.
She led the team with a .443 on-base percentage and was second with 20 runs scored.
Dreher hit .279 and tied for team-high honors with five home runs, playing primarily as a designated player.
She was also second with five doubles and was fourth with a .512 slugging percentage.
Sweet hit .250 in 21 starts in the outfield and had a .362 on-base percentage.
McKenzie was fourth on the team with a .319 batting average and led the team with five home runs and 27 RBI in her first season as starting second baseman.
Sophomore outfielder Kelly Sheridan also had an outstanding season at the plate, finishing second on the team in batting with a .378 average and a team-best .578 slugging percentage.
Senior Ashley Sujkowski and freshman Amanda Lahti also had solid years, both at the plate and in the field.
Sujkowski hit .250 and was outstanding in the field in her third season as starting shortstop.
She ended her career ranked 16th all-time at ONU with 131 base hits and 25th all-time with a .343 career batting average.
Lahti hit .294 while starting 24 games at catcher, providing a solid backstop for the ONU pitching staff.
On the mound, the senior tandem of Abbey Bensing and Katy Newman combined to throw 162.1 of the team's 183 innings on the year.
Bensing was an even 7-7 with a 3.36 ERA and one shutout while logging 102 innings of work.
She had a team-high 54 strikeouts and started 14 of ONU's 28 games this spring.
She finished her career ranked eighth all-time with 27 career victories, was fifth with 199 career strikeouts and was eighth with 302.1 innings pitched.
Newman was 3-7 with a 5.80 ERA and had 22 strikeouts in 60.1 innings in the circle.
Freshmen Jessica Camper (1-0, 6.60 ERA, 1 save) and Alex Manno (2-1, 8.56 ERA) showed signs of promise in limited action in their rookie seasons.
The Polar Bears started the season slowly, posting a 1-5 record against outstanding competition at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Columbus, Ga.
The tournament consisted of 20 of the top teams from the 2012 season and ONU was highly competitive, defeating Mississippi College and falling three times by two runs or less.
Northern returned home and dropped OAC double headers to eventual league runner-up John Carroll and OAC Tournament participant Marietta.
But the Polar Bears then rattled off six consecutive wins with sweeps of Otterbein, Heidelberg and 2013 OAC Tournament champion Mt. Union to get to 6-4 in league play and 7-9 overall.
Splits with Wilmington and Baldwin Wallace kept ONU in the OAC Tournament hunt with an 8-6 mark, but a sweep at the hands of OAC Regular Season Champion Capital knocked ONU out of contention.
The Polar Bears finished the season with solid splits with Muskingum and Denison and a sweep of Anderson (Ind.), who would win the Angola Regional and advance to the NCAA Division III World Series.
In all, ONU played 13 of its 28 games against teams than played in the NCAA III Tournament.