Lenser leads list of 6 Polar Bears named All-OAC in Softball for 2022
By Wes Mayberry
| All-Ohio Athletic Conference Team (.pdf) |
ADA — Ohio Northern freshman Ashley Lenser (Brookville) was named to the Ohio Athletic Conference First Team as both the John Wells Pitcher of the Year and Rookie of the Year for the 2022 season as part of six Polar Bears named All-OAC in voting conducted by the league's 10 head coaches.
Sophomore catcher Kaylie Griffin (Grafton/Elyria Catholic) and junior third baseman Sydney Motylinski (Ida, Mich.) joined Lenser on the All-OAC First Team.
Senior outfielder Rachel Hish (Gainesville, Va./Patriot) and junior pitcher Allie Bican (Solon) were selected to the Second Team, and senior shortstop Lauren Renner (Columbus/Hilliard Bradley) was an Honorable Mention honoree.
Additionally, sixth-year head coach Jackie Price and assistant coach Erica Cross were recognized as the Donna J. Newberry Coaching Staff of the Year after guiding the Polar Bears to OAC Regular Season and Tournament championships. The tournament title was the second straight for ONU and its seventh in program history. This is the second such honor for Price and her staff, joining the one she earned in 2018.
Lenser is ONU's third Pitcher of the Year honoree all-time, joining two-time winner Kirsten Lightel ('15, '18).
She is Northern's fifth Rookie of the Year award winner and first since Kylie Asmus in 2016.
After Sunday's conclusion of the OAC Tournament, Lenser boasts a conference-best 1.34 ERA with a record of 12-2 and 69 strikeouts with just 11 walks over 99.1 innings. She is tied for third in the conference in wins and ranks 10th in strikeouts. Lenser's ERA is tied for eighth-best in a single season in program history.
A two-time OAC Pitcher of the Week this season and a member of the All-OAC Tournament Team, Lenser threw a no-hitter in a 5-0 win at Muskingum on April 15 to highlight her six shutout outings. She also posted two saves.
She was also a force at the plate, finishing tied for third on the team with a .309 batting average with 21 hits and nine RBIs.
Another of ONU's 2022 All-Tournament Team selections, Griffin leads the team in batting average (.414), hits (41), RBIs (25) and home runs (6) and is tied for first in doubles (7). She ranks third in the OAC in batting average and fourth in home runs.
Motylinski, who was an All-OAC Second Team selection in 2021, has a .288 batting average with 24 hits, including five doubles and one home run, and 17 RBIs. She has 12 home runs in her career.
Hish is tied with Lenser for third on the team in batting average at .309 and has 29 hits and a team-high 10 stolen bases. A career .328 hitter, she was named to the All-OAC First Team and OAC All-Tournament Team in 2021 and is a two-time Academic All-OAC selection. She joined ONU's 100-Hit Club this season, and her 115 career hits is tied for 30th all-time at ONU.
Bican pitched well this season, finishing second in the OAC behind Lenser with a 2.14 ERA. She currently boasts a 6-1 record with 40 strikeouts and one save.
Bican's season was highlighted by the five-inning no-hitter she threw in a 10-0 win over John Carroll on April 29. In three seasons, she is 12-10 with a 3.01 ERA and ranks 11th in program history with 158 career strikeouts.
Renner, a 2022 All-OAC Tournament Team selection, is batting .308 with 28 hits, including six doubles and one home run, to go with 17 RBIs. An Honorable Mention All-OAC, Academic All-OAC and OAC All-Tournament Team honoree in 2021, Renner is a career .323 hitter with 81 hits and 41 RBIs in her three seasons at ONU after transferring from Hillsdale (Mich.).
As the OAC Tournament champion, the Polar Bears (24-9 overall) earned the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament. Matchups and locations for tournament games will be announced today, Monday, May 9, at 1 p.m. on NCAA.com.