Softball | 6/9/2009 4:44:39 PM

Young Wolves' squad finishes season at .500

[Complete release]

Final Record: 23-23 (20-15 GNAC, third place)
Head Coach: Pam Knox, seventh season at WOU (158-176), 15th season overall (357-331)
Stats: http://www.wouwolves.com/custompages/Softball/Stats/2009 stats/teamstat.htm

Western Oregon finishes third: The Western Oregon softball team finished the season at 23-23 and in third place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with a 20-15 mark.  The team posted a 13-8 record at home and a 9-10 record on the road but they were unable to put together any sustained winning streaks as they never won more than three consecutive games.

2009 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Final Standings
Team    GNAC    Overall
MSU Billings    30-10    39-17
Central Washington    29-11    33-20
Western Oregon    20-15    23-23   
Western Washington    16-20    20-26
Saint Martin's    14-25    16-37
Northwest Nazarene      5-33      9-44

Keeping pace: The Wolves' 23-23 record marked the third consecutive season that WOU has had a .500 record or better. It started in 2007 when WOU went 27-26 and continued in 2008 as the Wolves' posted a record of 33-18. This marks just the second time since the establishment of the softball program in 1985 that the team has recorded three consecutive seasons with a .500 or better winning percentage.

Sutherland completes storybook season: Tyler Sutherland was named as a Daktronics All-American honorable mention after finishing second in NCAA Division II with .48 doubles per game and making just five errors in 146 chances at shortstop for a .967 fielding percentage. She was also named to the National Fastpitch Coaches' Association All-Region second team and to the Daktronics All-Region first team.

The junior was also voted as Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year by the league's coaches after pacing the league in batting average (.420), runs (47), doubles (22), stolen bases (17), extra base hits (32), on-base percentage (.503) and slugging (.760). Sutherland also recorded nine home runs and 30 RBI out of the leadoff spot to go along with a 20:8 walk-to-strikeout ratio.

Sutherland/Hallmark NFCA all-region choices: Jessica Hallmark and Tyler Sutherland were both voted to the National Fast Pitch Coaches' Association All-Region second team, becoming the only student-athletes in the GNAC to earn those honors. This was the second consecutive season Sutherland has been voted to the team while this is a first for Hallmark.

Wood's academic accomplishment: Jessica Wood was named a Great Northwest Athletic Conference Academic All-Star with a 3.79 GPA as an Education major. The sophomore from The Dalles, Ore. (The Dalles-Wahtonka) had the third-best GPA on the GNAC academic team to earn the honor in her first season of eligibility.

Five Wolves earn All-GNAC honors: Five members of the Western Oregon softball team earned all-conference honors for the 2009 season, including Tyler Sutherland claiming player of the year. Here is the breakdown:
    GNAC Player of the Year: Tyler Sutherland
    All-GNAC first team: Tyler Sutherland (SS), Amanda Fleer (2B), Jessica Hallmark (OF)
    All-GNAC second team: Bailey Rueck (3B), Jessica Wood (P)

Homering Hallmark: In just her second season with the program, Jessica Hallmark has already rewritten the Western Oregon history books for home runs in a career and in a single-season. After hitting eight home runs as a freshman, Hallmark followed it up with 10 home runs as a sophomore to jump Trina Dorn (13) into a tie for the WOU school-record with 18 home runs, which has since been equalled by Tyler Sutherland. The 10 home runs this year also gave Hallmark the Western Oregon single-season record for homers, as she pasted Lydia Foster's mark of nine, set during the 2006 season.

RBI records fall: The single-game and single-season RBI records at Western Oregon both fell this season at the hands of sophomore outfielder Jessica Hallmark. She had eight RBI in a game against Northwest Nazarene Feb. 28, to break the school-record of six which she and Shana Hilyard held. She recorded the eight RBI by going 3-for-5 with two three-run homers, an RBI-single and an RBI ground out. Those eight RBI helped propel Hallmark to a 38-RBI campaign during her sophomore season, breaking the previous school-record of 36 RBI in a single-season which she set as a sophomore. The 74 RBI Hallmark has accumulated in just two seasons, moved her into a tie for sixth place in the WOU history books with Tyler Sutherland, just 29 short of the school-record.

Sutherland in the record books: As a junior, Sutherland put together one of the finest offensive seasons in Western Oregon softball history. She broke four single-season school-records and placed her name on six other top 10 lists. Her 47 runs scored scattered the previous record of 40 held by Dacia Hawkins and her 22 doubles were seven more Lydia Foster's 15 in 2005. Sutherland also posted a .503 on-base percentage and a .760 slugging mark to place her name atop both lists. Sutherland also placed herself second in home runs (9), fourth in batting average (.420), sixth in hits (63), tied for sixth in RBI (30) and stolen bases (17).

Record re-writes: The Wolves had a number of re-writes into the Western Oregon record books this season. They include:
    •  Most doubles in a season (74)
    •  Most home runs in a season (38)
    •  Most walks in a season (127)

Going deep, twice: Jessica Hallmark, Tyler Sutherland and Amanda Fleer each went deep twice in the same game this season, with Fleer accomplishing that feat twice during the year. Western Oregon entered the season with just six multi-home run games in the previous 24 years of the program.

Wolves lead the GNAC: Western Oregon's defense led the GNAC with a .976 fielding percentage while its offense paced the conference with a .376 on-base percentage and 74 doubles. Tyler Sutherland led the league in batting average (.420), runs (47), doubles (22), stolen bases (17), extra base hits (32), on-base percentage (.503) and slugging (.760).

Knox gets 150 as a Wolf: Western Oregon head coach Pam Knox earned her 150th victory as the leader of the Wolves as her team upset Cal State Stanislaus 4-3 in the first round of the Mizuno Tournament of Champions. She now has 371 wins in her 15-year coaching career after earning 158 with WOU, 146  at Northwest Missouri State and another 53 at Park College.

Looking forward: The 2009 Western Oregon softball team did not feature a senior on the roster so the 2010 version of the Wolves is expected to be a senior laden group led by Tyler Sutherland, Amanda Fleer, Stephanie Albrecht and Jessie Lessard.