Six Polar Bears named Academic All-OAC in Softball for 2013-14 season

May 13, 2014

By Tim Glon

ADA — Six Ohio Northern student/athletes were named Academic All-Ohio Athletic Conference in softball for 2013-14.

Seniors Bree Hiteshew, Carly McKenzie and Christin Miller, junior Taylor Manahan and sophomores Anne Dreher and Amanda Lahti received the award for ONU.

A total of 302 student-athletes in baseball, softball, men's and women's golf, lacrosse, tennis and track and field among the league's 10 schools received the honor.

The award winners must be a sophomore or higher in class standing, maintain varsity status and have a cumulative grade-point- average of at least 3.50.

Ohio Northern had 32 student/athletes named Academic All-OAC this spring.

Hiteshew hit .327 while starting all 42 games at catcher and second base this season and is majoring in pharmacy.

She was a Second Team All-OAC honoree and finished the year with three home runs, 21 RBI and 23 runs scored.

In 60 career games, Hiteshew had 44 hits, three home runs, 23 RBI and scored 25 runs.

McKenzie, a pharmacy major, hit .324 while starting all 42 games at shortstop and third base this season.

She ranked second on the team with 11 doubles and 35 RBI and was third with 41 runs scored in 2014.

In 145 career games, she had 81 hits, 19 doubles, eight home runs, 64 RBI and scored 80 runs.

McKenzie ended her career with a .331 batting average.

Miller, a biology major, ended her career as ONU's all-time career hits leader with 259 and is a four-time All-OAC, three-time All-Central Region and was an Academic All-Conference honoree as an outfielder.

She earned First Team All-Conference accolades in each of her first three seasons as a Polar Bear and was a Second Team pick in 2014.

Miller was named Second Team All-Central Region this year, was First Team All-Region as a sophomore and Third Team All-Region as a junior.

She is only the second player in ONU history to hit .400 in four consecutive seasons and ranks second all-time with 53 stolen bases.

This year, she was second on the team with a .450 batting average and led the team with 67 hits and 22 stolen bases.

Manahan, a mechanical engineering major, started 21 games at second base and three games at first base for the Polar Bears with a .262 batting average this year.

In 30 career games, Manahan has 18 base hits and a .281 batting average.

Dreher is a mechanical engineering major who started 17 games at first base and six as the designated player this season.

In her two seasons at ONU, she has played in 61 career games with 51 starts. She has 49 base hits, seven home runs, 31 RBI and is a career .288 hitter.

Lahti, a social studies major, was a Second Team All-Conference honoree and started 27 games at third base.

She hit .367 this season with seven doubles, three home runs, 26 RBI and scored 20 runs.

In two seasons as Polar Bear, Lahit has 51 hits, four home runs, 36 RBI and has a .336 batting average.

The Polar Bears finished 23-19 overall this season and won a share of the OAC Regular Season crown with a 12-6 record under first-year head coach Ali Hess.