PURCHASE, N.Y. – After raising the Skyline Conference Championship title this past weekend, the Manhattanville College softball team raked in the All-Conference accolades, as announced by the Skyline Conference office earlier today. In total, 11 Valiants earned All-Conference honors in addition to three of the four yearly accolades.
Sarah Harker (Irvine, Calif./Irvine) was selected as the Skyline Conference Player of the Year, while her classmate
Charli Shinstine (Encinitas, Calif./San Dieguito Academy) took home Pitcher of the Year accolades. Head coach
Dale Martin was tabbed as the conference's Coach of the Year for a remarkable sixth time.
In addition to their yearly accolades, Harker and Shinstine were two of ten Valiants that stacked the All-Conference First Team. Joining the pair of seniors on the Skyline First Team are freshmen
Sydni Brooks (Anaheim, Calif./Cypress),
Samantha Reyer (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside) and
Juliana Parkes (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada/Belmont Secondary), sophomores
Samantha Walsh (Spring City, Pa./Owen J Roberts),
Olivia Fasce (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Yorktown), and
Emily Mottoshiski (Craryville, N.Y./Taconic Hills), junior
Amaya Esparza (Descanso, Calif./Granite Hills), and senior
Jayleen Torres (Bellflower, Calif./Downey).
Isabella Tansey (San Diego, Calif./University City) would also earn All-Conference accolades in her first season at Manhattanville as the lone Valiant on the Skyline Second Team.
After missing the second half of last season due to injury, Harker came back for her senior season stronger than ever as she hit .452 while playing in all 43 games on the year. Manhattanville's starting center fielder led the conference in batting average, slugging (.756), OPS (1.256), runs (49), hits (61), and triples (seven) in one of the best seasons at the plate by a Valiant in recent memory. Harker reached base in half of her plate appearances and was just as strong in setting the table as she was at clearing the bases, driving in 35 runs, the second-most on the team. She also showed off her wheels, nabbing 11 bases on the year.
Shinstine put together one of the best seasons in the nation in the circle this season as she rewrote the program record books seemingly after each start. The senior will enter the NCAA Tournament with a 20-1 overall record and a 0.71 ERA. Her ERA is the fifth lowest in all of NCAA DIII and currently stands as the lowest single-season mark in program history. Shinstine ranks second in the nation in hits allowed per seven innings, allowing just 3.12 hits on average per game. The senior threw three no-hitters and a perfect game over the course of the season as she continued to befuddle batters with her putaway pitches. Shinstine struck out 195 batters, ranking tenth in the country and seventh in strikeouts per seven innings. She is second to only herself for most strikeouts in a year, while she overtook first place for most career strikeouts as a Valiant earlier in the year, currently having retired 550 batters via punchout.
Going around the horn, Brooks makes the First Team in her first collegiate season after finishing second on the team with a .391 batting average. Brooks played in 40 of the team's 43 games, starting in 35 as a rookie. The Valiants' primary first baseman scored 27 runs while driving in 22. Of Brooks' 36 total hits, 11 went for extra bases as she hit nine doubles alongside a triple and a home run. She was a one-time Skyline Rookie of the Week during the year.
At second base, Walsh started in 41 of 43 games as she earned appointment on the All-Conference First Team for the second time in her two year collegiate career. Walsh batted .345 on the season and made a number of key defensive plays in the Valiants' postseason run in the Skyline Conference Championship with her glove. The sophomore scored 30 runs and drove in 24 while hitting 10 doubles and going 12-of-14 on stolen base attempts.
Reyer served as the Valiants' primary shortstop as she played in 38 games over the course of the year, starting in 36. The freshman hit .340 in her first collegiate season and carries an OPS of 1.000 into the NCAA Tournament. A two-time Conference Rookie of the Week during the regular season, Reyer finished third on the team with four home runs. Reyer delivered with runners on throughout the season as she matched Harker's RBI total of 35 while scoring 26 of her own.
Torres occupied the hot corner as the only Valiant to start in all 43 games over the course of the year. Beyond playing third base, the senior served as the team's leadoff hitter where she batted .378. Collecting 54 hits and drawing nine walks, Torres was one of the top base stealing threats in the country, finishing fifth in all of Division III with 44 steals. That set a new single-season program record while also catapulting her atop the program's career steals with 72 and counting to enter NCAA Tournament action. This is Torres' third All-Conference selection of her career and her second time making the First Team alongside 2021.
Behind the plate, Esparza caught and started in 41 games. The team's biggest power threat, the junior hit 11 home runs to lead the conference in deep flies. She would also finish as the team's leader in RBI with 36. Esparza hit .352 across the season, scoring 33 runs and hitting 10 doubles alongside her homers. She is now a two-time First Team appointee, having previously earned the distinction in 2021.
Joining Shinstine in the circle and on the First Team is Mottoshiski, the sophomore's first All-Conference accolade. Mottoshiski went 17-4 across her 21 pitching appearances as she pitched to a 2.40 ERA. Mottoshiski threw 14 complete games, eight of which were shutouts. She would allow just three earned runs in conference action, a 0.41 ERA against the Skyline. Mottoshiski only got better as the season went on, culminating with a pair of complete game wins in elimination contests during the Conference Championship. For her efforts in the postseason tournament, Mottoshiski was named tournament Most Outstanding Player.
Moving to the outfield, Harker was joined by Parkes and Fasce on the First Team. The rookie Parkes spent most of her time in left field and sported the third-highest batting average on the team of .384. Parkes played in 42 of the team's 43 games, driving in 28 runs while scoring 29 of her own. Parkes legged out eight doubles and a triple over the course of the season and was a one-time Rookie of the Week selection. Fasce, meanwhile, patrolled right field for a majority of the year. The sophomore played in 40 games and hit .353 in her second season as a Valiant. Fasce drove in 24 runs while scoring 19 while going 10-for-11 on stolen base attempts.
Tansey played a majority of her 32 games as the designated player, earning All-Conference accolades in her first season of collegiate softball with the Second Team honor. The rookie hit .339, collecting six doubles and a triple. She drove in ten runs and scored 14.
Led by the efforts of their 11 All-Conference players, the Valiants went 38-5 through the Skyline Conference Championship, including a program-record 31 game win streak that spanned more than two months. The team looks to continue building upon their historic season when NCAA Regional action begins on Thursday, with Manhattanville taking on The College of New Jersey in the first game of the double elimination bracket.
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