Three Draw NEAC All-Conference Recognition
GANSEVOORT, N.Y. – Three players from the Wells College softball team were named to North Eastern Athletic Conference North Division All-Conference teams in recognition of their performance during the 2013 season, the conference office announced Thursday afternoon. Senior Lorelei Meier (Caledonia, N.Y.) drew First Team All-Conference merits while her co-captain Paige Stone (Madison, N.Y.) and freshman Lindsay Achzet (Johnstown, N.Y.) earned placement on the Second Team All-Conference.
Meier earns First Team All-Conference placement for the first time in her career – for the previous two seasons, the senior pitcher collected Second Team merits. Stone has never earned All-Conference placement in softball – she earned First Team All-Conference in women's soccer in 2011. As a program, the Express have not had three players qualify for an All-Conference team in the same year since Sandra Jones '04, Kate McLaren '05 and Jhan Hall '06 all earned First Team All-Atlantic Women's Collegiate Conference merits in 2004.
Meier, the 2012-13 winner of the Kathryn S. Maloney Senior Scholar-Athlete award winner at the Wells College Athletics Awards Ceremony this past Monday, led the Express in innings pitched in 2013, hurling 117.2 innings for Wells as a senior. In 20 appearances for the Express, Meier earned all eight of her team's victories in the circle while fanning 79 batters – her 17 complete games ranked her fourth overall in the conference. At the plate, Meier served primarily as the Express' leadoff hitter, scoring a team-best 15 runs while batting .265 (18-for-68). Meier also drew a team-best six walks
A Henry Wells Scholarship recipient, Meier currently sports a cumulative grade-point average of 3.71. Having earned Dean's List honors on six separate occasions, she was named to the North Eastern Athletic Conference All-Scholar-Athlete teams for the 2010, 2011 and 2012 seasons. Meier is also active on campus, serving as a member of the Whirligigs acapella group. She will graduate this spring with degrees in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
Across her career, Meier ranks near or at the top of several statistical categories for the Express. She will graduate as the program's all-time leader in career pitching victories (21), innings pitched (349.2), earned run average (5.91), strikeouts pitched (270), shutouts (4), pitching appearances (61), complete games (51), and batters faced (1,758). Additionally, her .293 batting average (78-for-266) ranks her ninth all-time in program history while her 90 career games played places her 10th all-time.
In 2012, Meier set the all-time single season record for lowest earned run average (3.93) while limiting opposing batters to a .274 batting average to place her third all-time in that statistic. Her 8.16 strikeouts per game was also a single season program record in 2012. In 2013, Meier's eight pitching victories in one season tied her with Kate Littlejohn '01 who accomplished that feat in 2001.
Stone, who earned the John D. Wilson–Ralph H. Poole, Jr. Award for her notable contributions to the athletic program at the Wells College Athletic Awards Ceremony on Monday, led the Express with a .377 batting average (26-for-69) while driving in 10 runs for Wells. She stole a team-best five bases and reached base at a .386 clip to lead the team in that category. Within the conference, Stone ranked eighth overall in batting average while her .381 batting average against NEAC foes ranks her 12th in conference play.
Across her softball career that began as a freshman in 2010, Stone exits Wells ranking fifth all-time with a batting average of .307 (83-for-270) while recording a .393 slugging percentage in 270 at-bats, ranking eighth all-time. Her 92 career games played also rank her eighth all-time and her 83 career hits place her second all-time, trailing the all-time record holder by only nine hits. Her three career home runs place her in a four-way tie for first place as she slugged three long balls in 2012, tying for first in single-season program history.
Achzet, a freshman, slugged a team-high three home runs to tie both the single-season program record alongside the program's career record for long balls. With a .328 batting average (20-for-16), Achzet also slugged a team-high .541 after seeing seven of her 20 total base hits go for extra bases. Her 18 runs batted in not only placed her first on the squad, but Achzet also ranked within the top-25 in the conference in RBI's. Her slugging percentage was the eighth-highest total in single season program history.
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