Conference Lands Trio on All-American List
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Cascade Collegiate Conference had three student-athletes named softball NAIA All-Americans Thursday.
For the first time in program history, Corban University had a pair of players named All-Americans. Stephanie Nippert earned the third NAIA All-American award of her career, as she became the program's first-ever two-time first team recipient. Meanwhile, fellow Rachel Conard earned her first All-American award when she was named as part of the 2nd team.
Nippert was the lone Cascade Collegiate Conference player to be named as part of the 1st team, while Conard and Oregon Tech's Taylor Schmidt were part of the 2nd team.
Schmidt had a record year for the Owls in the circle, leading the team to back-to-back Cascade Collegiate Conference and CCC Tournament Titles, along with a return trip to the NAIA National Softball Tournament. Schmidt set a school-record for wins in a season, tallying 27 on the year, to go with a 2.11 ERA. In 40 appearances and 198.2 innings Schmidt struck out 119 batters, allowed opponents to hit just .224 and picked up three saves along the way.
With the bat Schmidt hit .322 with five doubles, three homeruns and a triple while driving in 25 runs on the year. The junior was recently named to the CCC first-team and NFCA All-Region Team, along with garnering the CCC Pitcher of the Year award in 2012.
Nippert became the first Warrior in program history to be named CCC Player of the Year two years in a row, led the team and conference in homers (23), total hits (66), runs batted in (61), total bases (151), walks (25), triples (2) and slugging percentage (1.056).
Nippert also led all NAIA players in four statistical categories that included home runs per game (0.511), total bases per game (3.356), slugging percentage (1.056), and fielding percentage (1.000). The third-year Warrior also ranked in the Top 20 in seven other statistical categories, including second in runs batted in per game (1.356), third in homers (23), 11th in runs batted in per game (1.1156), 13th in total bases (151), 13th in batting average (0.462), 17th in runs batted in (61), and 20th in hits per game (1.467).
Conard, a 5-foot-10 catcher/first baseman, led the Warriors in four statistical categories that included batting average (0.481), doubles (12), hit-by-pitch (14), and on-base percentage (0.600). The second-year Warrior was also second on the team in putouts with 210, while registering a fielding percentage of 0.995 in 219 chances.
Among the national leaders, Conard was ranked in the Top 15 among all NAIA players in batting average (7th - 0.481) and slugging percentage (12th - 0.827).
Oregon Tech wrapped up the 2012 season with a 41-8 overall mark, reaching the final game in pool play at the NAIA National Tournament, before bowing out to eventual NAIA National Champion, Shorter University. Corban finished this season ranked No. 19 in the final NAIA Coaches' Poll, while also setting a school-record for wins with 31.