Centerville, MA – The Sage Colleges' softball team was awarded a No. 6 seed in the 2013 Eastern College Athletic Conference Metro New York-New Jersey Softball Tournament on Monday afternoon. With a 20-18 record, the 2013 Sage Gators are making the team's second appearance in the tournament after first appearing in 2012 and finishing as the ECAC Division III Metro NY-NJ Runners-up. Sage will face the Scarlet Raptors of Rutgers University-Camden on Wednesday, May 8 at RUC with a 4 p.m. start.
Richard Stockton College (Pomona, NJ) earned the top seed and will serve as the host of the weekend's semifinal and final rounds on May 11 and 12. The tournament is a single-elimination tournament in the first round games that will take place on Wednesday, May 8 and will shift to RSC's campus with four teams competing in a double elimination formatted tournament.
Link to RUC's Field (GPS address, 110 Pearl Street, Camden, NJ 08102-1402)
SEEDED TEAMS
- Richard Stockton (30-11)
- Elmira (24-13)
- Rutgers University-Camden (21-18)
- FDU-Florham (20-19)
- Mt. St. Mary College (18-16)
- The Sage Colleges (20-18)
- Brooklyn College (23-16)
- SUNY-Old Westbury (19-17)
The Gators are led this spring by 2013 Skyline Conference Softball All-Star First Team honoree and Skyline Conference Softball Player of the Year, sophomore second baseman, Kristen Beikirch (Brockport, NY/Brockport). Named the Female Athlete of the Year at Sage at the annual athletic award banquet, leads both Sage and the entire Skyline Conference in batting with her blistering .451 average. She also has a team-leading 60 hits, 10 doubles, three triples, and six home runs. She had a .707 slugging percentage that matched her impressive .468 on-base percentage. Ranked among the national leaders in Division III in batting average, runs scored per game, and home runs, triples and on-base percentage, Beikirch had 15 multiple-hit games this season, while starting all 38 games for the Gators.
Beikirch is already making her own run for several of Sage's career marks in just two seasons on the softball diamond. She already has 122 career hits in 84 games played and started, while carrying a .442 career batting average and 12 home runs, while ranking 5th in career hits, third in career home runs and fourth in runs scored.
Joining Beikirch on the 2013 Skyline Conference First Team is junior short stop Hillary Faas (East Greenbush, NY/Columbia). A 2012 Skyline Conference All-Star Second Team pick as a sophomore, Faas is a 38-game starter and has a .342 batting average with a .550 slugging percentage on 10 doubles and five home runs and a team-best 25 RBIs this season. A two-time Skyline Conference Player of the Week this season, she is making a run at a number of Sage career marks in her three seasons of play as she already ranks No. 9 in career games played (111), No. 4 in at-bats (359), No. 4 in hits (129), and No. 3 in doubles (31). She is also tied for No. 2 in career home runs with 13 and No. 3 three in runs scored (84).
Senior pitcher and utility performer, Kelsey Newberg (New Britain, CT/New Britain) was named to the 2013 Skyline Conference Second Team at two positions as she was chosen as both a starting pitcher and a utility player. Newberg was also named Sage's Gator of the Year in softball as the team Most Valuable Player, marking her second selection after winning the award in 2011. Twice this spring she was named the Skyline Conference Pitcher of the Week as well as the ECAC Metro NY-NJ Pitcher of the Week once on another occasion. She has shattered several of Sage's career pitching marks, while also making quite a statement as a performer at the plate in her three seasons in a Sage uniform. She holds the career record for most strikeouts 261 and most wins 28, while ranking among the top performers as well in innings with 338.0 (No. 2), complete games (36, No. 5), and ERA with a 3.29, which is sixth. She also holds Sage single-season marks for most games (30), most wins (16), and most strikeouts (119). She ranks in the Top 10 in several categories as well having played in 106 games with 321 at-bats, 95 hits and 12 doubles.
Graduate player, Tiffany Bezio (Whitehall, NY/Whitehall) earned her first selection to the all-star team as she was placed on the second team in the outfield, while rookie pitcher Katie Kovage (Hoosick Falls, NY/Hoosick Falls Central) was also named to the second team as a designated player.
Bezio batted a cool .376 on the season to stand second on the squad with a 7-7 effort on stolen bases. A 38-game starter this season, she has played and started 111 career games at Sage and ranks ninth in the category, while sports a .311 career batting average with 15 doubles (No. 10), and five triples (No. 11). She has scored 54 career runs and is a perfect 11-11 on stolen bases in her three seasons in a Gator uniform.
Kovage earned three Skyline Conference Rookie of the Year selections this Spring. She has a team-best 8-3 record with a 2.32 ERA in her 21 appearances, while also batting .364, which is third highest on the team. She is making a run at a number of Sage single-season pitching marks as her 21 appearances in 13th, and her eight victories in also eighth. She has fanned 57 batters this season and ranks No. 7 for a season, while her 2.32 ERA is also ranked No. 7.
Head Coach Jamie Brown has directed the Gators to back to back 20-win seasons, while leading the team to a pair of Skyline Conference and ECAC Tournament appearances in her two seasons at Sage. She boasts a 49-35 career record, while producing the 2012 Skyline Conference and ECAC Rookie of the Year as well as the 2013 Skyline Conference Player of the Year.
