FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Mansfield Athletics Announces Athletes of the Decade; Softball

MANSFIELD – With the 2010s ending, the Mansfield University sports information department is set to release its list of standout athletes of the decade from each of the 13 men's and women's sports programs.

Each program will receive three finalists and a moment of the decade. To be eligible, the student had to have graduated or is on track to graduate from Mansfield, competed in more than one season of competition and remained committed to the four elements of the Mansfield creed (Character, Scholarship, Culture, Service).

The list will generate 33 student athletes and 11 moments that represent a piece of the puzzle in the long-proud history of Mountaineer Athletics, where the tradition continues.
Each team will be honored with their own release and will come in the following days to ring in the New Year.

The next program up is Mountaineer softball. The 2010s was arguably the program's best decade, highlighted by the team's first ever NCAA postseason tournament bid in 2014, a PSAC Central Co-Championship in 2013, three PSAC playoff appearances, the program's first All-American recipient, two CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, 10 All-Region selections and 21 All-Conference selections. The Mountaineers earned their first NCAA postseason victory when they took down Indiana University, 9-5 in 2014. Softball brought home seven PSAC major awards, including two Player of the Years, two Freshman of the Years and three Coach of the Years (28^th-year head coach Edith Gallagher). The Mounties have won 20 or more games four times in the decade, including a stretch of three straight years (2012-2014) where they won a decade-high 25 games in 2013. The Mounties were (17-15-1 overall, 11-7-1 PSAC) in the final year of the decade, while reaching the conference postseason.

Softball Athletes of the Decade

Kate Pratt (2011-2014)
Pratt's name is found an unprecedented 40 times in the Mansfield Softball record book. In 2014, Pratt placed herself in Mansfield's top 10 single-season records in 10 different categories … those categories are: at-bats, hits, extra-base hits, doubles, home runs, slugging percentage, wins, innings pitched, shutouts, and ERA …  Pratt remains Mansfield's all-time career leader in extra-base hits (96), doubles (50), home runs (41), RBIs (146), and slugging percentage (.743).

(2014) PSAC East Player of the Year … 2nd Team Division II Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) honors … PSAC Spring Top Ten Scholar-Athlete …  Capital One Academic All-America Team … 1st Team Daktronics All-Atlantic Region honors at utility/pitcher … 2014 Capital One Academic Softball All-District 2nd Team … 2014 Mansfield Spring Female Athlete of the Year ... Named PSAC East Pitcher of the Week for the week ending 4/13/14 … led the team with 120.2 innings pitched and finished with a 1.91 ERA (5th in the PSAC and 44th in the nation) … totaled 76 strikeouts and had the best walk rate on the team … led the Mounties in hits (48), doubles (15), home runs (9), RBIs (31), total bases (92), and slugging percentage (.657) …  ranked tenth in the PSAC in slugging percentage, sixth in doubles, and eighth in home runs … ranked 37th in the nation in doubles per game (.35) … had 11 multi-hit games including three 3-hit performances. (2013) Three-time PSAC Central Player of the Week (4/22, 4/8, 3/18) … named All-PSAC Central Shortstop for third straight season … selected to PSAC Central Athlete of the Year honors … garnered NFCA 1st team All-Atlantic Region shortstop honors ... became first player in program history to earn All-American honors being named NFCA 2nd Team All-American at Shortstop ... earned ECAC Division II Softball Player of the Year honors  ... named MU Spring Female Athlete of the Year for third time in career ...  Division II ADA Academic Achievement Award ... ranked eighth in the PSAC in batting average at .396 with 53 hits in 134 at bats … led the conference and was 15th in nation in home runs while setting an MU single-season record with 17 … first in NCAA Division II in home runs per game at .43 … set the MU career home run record with 32 ... led the conference and ranked seventh in the nation in slugging percentage at .888 … ranks second in the PSAC and set an MU single season record in RBIs with 50 … eighth in the nation in RBIs per game with 1.25 … set school career RBI record with 115 … ranks third in conference in doubles with 13 to set MU career record with 35 doubles … set MU single season record for extra base hits with 31 and career record with 71 … ranked ninth in the PSAC in runs scored with 38 … had a 12-game hitting streak ... hit safely in 15 of the final 16 games of the season ... struck out 68 batters while issuing 18 walks … pitched seven complete games with one shutout. (2012) Named PSAC Central Pitcher of the Week twice and Player of the week once during the season ... named to 1st Team All-PSAC Central honors ... earned Capital One Academic All-District 1st team ... earned NFCA All-America Scholar-Athlete honors ... named Daktronics 2nd team All-Atlantic Region ... garnered NFCA 1st team All-Atlantic Region honors ... Division II ADA Academic Achievement Award ... named MU Spring Female Athlete of the Year for second time in career ... led the team and ranked 9th in the PSAC in batting average at .379 ... set a school record in home runs in a season with 10 and extra base hits with 25 ... second in the conference in slugging percentage at .776 ... ranked 4th in the conference with a team-leading 42 RBIs ... tied for third in the conference in doubles with 14 and 7th in total bases with 90 ... 5th in the PSAC in opponent batting average (.224) ... struck out 61 batters on the season . (2011) NFCA All-Academic award ... picked up PSAC Central Pitcher of the Week and Player of the Week honors during the season ... earned PSAC Central 2nd Team honors ... named 2011 Mansfield Spring Athlete of the Year ... second on the team in batting average with a .333 clip ... recorded 31 hits to lead the team and was second on the team in runs with 14 ... led the team in RBI's with 23 ... led the team in doubles with eight and tied for the team lead in home runs with five ... led the team in strikeouts with 43 ... threw four complete games to lead the team and recorded one shutout ... threw a no-hitter and hit a home run in her first collegiate game against St. Rose.

Stephanie Simmeth (2011-2014)
Simmeth is among the top 10 Mansfield career records holders in seven categories. She is currently eighth all-time in at-bats (419), fifth in runs (98) and hits (150), ninth in extra base hits (42), third in doubles (35) and sixth in batting average (.358).

 (2014) 2nd Team Division II Eastern College Athletic Conference honors … 1st Team All-PSAC outfielder … led the team in both batting average (.376) and on-base percentage (.438) … despite missing 11 games, she finished third on the team in runs with 24 and fourth in hits with 38 … totaled 11 multi-hit games including a 3-hit performance against West Chester … had the longest hitting streak (11) and on-base streak (15) among Mounties … also totaled 8 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run, 12 RBIs, 49 total bases, 8 walks, and a .485 slugging percentage. (2013) Selected to All-PSAC Central Outfield honors … earned NFCA 2nd team All-Region Outfield distinction ... posted the second-highest batting average on the team at .339 with 41 hits in 121 at bats … scored 36 runs with 18 RBIs … had 11 multi-hit games including four games with three hits … posted a .427 on base percentage and a .479 slugging percentage … ranked seventh in the PSAC in hit by pitch with seven … did not allow a single error in 60 chances for a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage. (2012) Named PSAC Central Player of the Week for the week ending 3/18 ... earned 1st Team All-PSAC Central honors ... ranked 10th in the conference and second on the team in batting average with a .374 clip ... third in the conference and tied for first on the team in doubles with 14 ... seventh in on base percentage at .446 ... second on the team in runs (26) and RBIs (20) ... led the team in walks drawn with 12 ... tallied 11 multi-hit games ... went a perfect five-for-five with two runs and four RBIs in a win against East Stroudsburg on 3/31. (2011) Led the team in batting average as a freshman at .341 ... second on the team in hits with 28 and third on the team in runs with 12 ... tied for third on the team in RBIs with nine.

Nicole Yost (2008-2011)
Nine years removed from her last game as a Mountie, Yost is still currently second all-time in home runs (23) and slugging percentage (.740), fifth in walks (53), fifth all-time in extra base hits (44), ninth in RBI (78) and 10^th in batting average (.358).

(2011) Hit for a .262 average totaling 21 hits including nine extra-base hits ... led the team in home runs with five and in walks drawn with 17 ... previously held the school home run record with 23 ... notched a .500 slugging percentage and .392 on base percentage ... tallied 21 hits and 14 RBI. (2010) Tied the school record for career homeruns at 18 ... named All-PSAC Central division ... earned 1st team NFCA Division II All-Atlantic Region honors ... Yost had an exceptional season at the plate ranking fifth in the conference in batting with a .416 average. Fourteen of her team-best 32 hits were for extra- bases including a team-high seven home runs ... She also ranked second in the PSAC with a .779 slugging percentage and was fifth in the conference in on-base percentage (.489) ... tallied an impressive 60 total bases with seven doubles and 27 RBI ... Went 3-3 from the plate against Lock Haven University with two runs, four RBI's and a homerun ... MU Presidential Scholar Athlete. (2009) Received first recognition as a PSAC All-Conference player ... recorded 31 hits with 23 RBI's ... second on the team with a .316 batting average … led the team with 31 hits, 23 RBI, 63 total bases, .643 slugging percentage and nine home runs … was 4-of-4 on stolen base attempts ... set her college career record with nine homeruns and tied her college career record of five doubles. (2008) Recorded 28 hits at 82 at bats ... Fourth on the team with a .270 batting average as a freshman … led the team with 11 RBI … tied for the team lead with 13 runs … second on the team with a .444 slugging percentage … belted three home runs … led the team with 63 at bats and 28 total bases … 2-of-2 on stolen base attempts ... hit a homerun against both East Stroudsburg and Shippensburg University.

Moment of the Decade

Mansfield Softball Goes Dancing – Mounties Earn First NCAA Playoff Berth – Play West Virginia Wesleyan Friday at Shippensburg

MANSFIELD – It was a moment that was 34-years in the making.

At 10:03 a.m. the NCAA Division II Selection Show announced that Mansfield had earned the program's first-ever NCAA postseason bid and would play West Virginia Wesleyan in the opening game of the Atlantic Region Championship Tournament held in Shippensburg on Friday, May 9.

You could hear the screams all over Decker Gymnasium, especially out of the ground floor softball office where the team had gathered to watch the show.

Mansfield, the No. 6 ranked team in last week's Atlantic Region ranks, was ranked No. 7 in the region and will compete with No. 2 West Virginia Wesleyan, No. 3 Shippensburg and No. 6 Indiana (PA).

California, the No. 1 seed, will also serve as a regional site hosting No. 8 Winston-Salem, No. 4 West Chester and No. 5 Bloomsburg. The winners of the two will meet in the Super Regional.

Mansfield will take on West Virginia Wesleyan in the opening game starting at noon on Friday, May 9 at Robb Field in Shippensburg with Shippensburg and Indiana (PA) playing at 2:30 pm.

The winners of the first-round games will meet at 11 am on Saturday May 10 with the loser's game set for 1:30 pm. The winner of game four will play the loser of game 3 at 4 pm with the Championship Game set for noon on Sunday or at 2:30 pm if needed.