Albany, NY — The Sage Colleges' department of athletics announced the recipients of the department's annual awards. The department selected freshman softball player, Katelyn Rice (Albany, NY/Colonie Central) as the 2019-2020 Co-Rookie Female Athlete of the Year.

Head Softball Coach Erica Li noted, "Katelyn stepped into two massive roles for us this season- starting shortstop and leadoff batter." Li added, "As a first-year, she handled the pressure with grace and seemed to only grow as a player the more she was called upon. Even though our season was cut short, she led the team in multiple hitting categories. Shortstop was a new position for her but she took ownership of the position and quickly became unstoppable. This is a well-deserved award and I know that only great things were to come for her if our season hadn't been cut short. I can't wait to see what she can accomplish over the remainder of your career!"

Rice, who helped the Sage softball team open their season in Florida on the team's spring training trip, was a 12-game starter. She batted .357 leading the team with 15 hits. She scored 13 runs with 9 RBI's and had two doubles and a home run for the Gators as they went 7-5 on the abbreviated season. Rice was 1-1 on stolen bases and had a .476 slugging percentage with a .413 on-base percentage. She also led the team with her 42 at-bats and helped to turn two double plays defensively along the way.