WICHITA, Kan. – The Drake University softball team, which claimed the 2015 Missouri Valley Conference regular season title, collected several MVC honors on Wednesday night at the 2015 MVC softball awards banquet in Wichita.
A pair of Drake pitchers collected multiple honors as freshman Nicole Newman (Madison, Wis.) and senior Rebekah Schmidt (Cottage Grove, Minn.) were each selected to the All-MVC First Team while Newman was named the MVC Freshman of the Year and Schmidt the MVC Pitcher of the Year.
Three Bulldog outfielders earned honors as well with senior Hayley Nybo (Minnetonka, Minn.) and sophomore Megan Sowa (Gurnee, Ill.) each being tabbed to the All-MVC Second Team while senior Sarah Ryan (Mount Vernon, Iowa) was picked to the MVC All-Defensive Team.
The Drake coaching staff led by head coach Rich Calvert, and his assistant coaches Tina DeAngelo and Kasey Griffith and volunteer assistant coach Cortney Wood, were named the MVC Coaching Staff of the Year to round out the awards.
Newman and Schmidt are a tough duo in the circle for the Bulldogs' opponents this season. Newman is 13-4 with a league-low 1.89 ERA and .187 opponent batting average along with 172 strikeouts, which ranks third in the league. She struck out eight or more batters in nine games, including punching out a career-high 17 against Creighton, where she struck out the first 11 Bluejays in the game.
Schmidt is 19-14 with a 2.52 ERA while holding opponents to a .228 batting average and striking out 194 in 197 innings pitched. The Cottage Grove, Minn., native is No. 1 all-time in career appearances with 173, No. 3 in career innings pitched with 717.0 and tied for third in career wins with 56 and No. 5 in career strikeouts with 640. At the plate this year, she is batting .317 with seven home runs, 11 doubles and 30 runs batted in. Schmidt is a two-time All-MVC Second Team selection. Former standout Jenna DeLong (2011) is the only other Bulldog to be named MVC Pitcher of the Year.
Nybo, who suffered a serious knee injury in the fall prior to her junior season, is having an outstanding senior season leading the squad in home runs with 11 and runs batted in with 37 and is second in batting average at .333. She is the school's all-time home runs (34) and RBI leader (134) and is sixth all-time in career hits with 186. Nybo was selected to the All-MVC Second Team as a freshman and to the All-MVC First Team has a sophomore.
Sowa, who earned All-MVC First Team and NFCA All-Region Third Team honors her freshman season, is batting a team-high .344 in 2015 behind a team-high 54 hits along with having eight home runs and doubles and 26 runs batted in. Sowa has scored a team-high 34 times.
Ryan, the Bulldogs' defensive anchor in centerfield, is producing at the plate as well in her final season. A career .153 hitter coming into 2015, she is batting .267 with one home run (first in her career), five doubles, 11 runs batted in and 10 stolen bases and has drawn 20 walks. Ryan has started every game in centerfield this year and has not committed an error and maintaining a 1.000 fielding percentage. This is the first season for the MVC All-Defensive team, which is completed by the league coaches who nominate one player each.
The Drake coaching staff helped the program claim its first MVC regular season title since the 1993 season. Calvert, who is in his 13th season as head coach, is the winningest coach in program history with 355 career wins. His 2008 team captured the MVC Tournament to claim a berth in the NCAA Tournament. DeAngelo, a former standout pitcher at Drake, along with Griffith are in their first seasons as assistant coaches after each were volunteer assistants. Wood is in her first season after playing the past two seasons for the Bulldogs.
Drake is the No. 1 seed for the 2015 MVC Softball Championship this week at Wilkins Stadium in Wichita, Kan. The Bulldogs received a double bye for winning the regular season title and will play their first game in the tournament semifinals on Friday, May 8 at 12 p.m. Drake will play the winner of No. 4 Wichita State versus No. 5 Southern Illinois or No. 8 Indiana State, which will be played Thursday at 4 p.m.
