FREELAND, Mich. – The Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) has announced their 2022 end of year honors and the Trine University softball team is heavily represented, sweeping the awards and placing seven on All-MIAA first and second team.
Headlining the group of honorees are junior Ellie Trine (Kokomo, Ind. / Kokomo) and sophomore Adrienne Rosey (Schoolcraft, Mich. / Schoolcraft) who would be named MIAA Position Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year respectively. Both were also named All-MIAA first team.
Ellie Trine has started every game in centerfield for the Thunder and had a banner season while doing so. She really picked up the pace during the MIAA portion of the season where she led conference players in multiple offensive categories including hits (32), batting average (.571) and on-base percentage (.613) while tying for first in doubles (8). In the field she was one of the conference players to turn in a perfect fielding percentage over the season.
Rosey took over as the team's ace throughout the year, after serving in the role of first reliever a year ago, and proved herself more than up to the task. She was a dominant presence in the circle throughout the MIAA portion of the season. She led conference players with 9.45 strikeouts per seven innings pitched, was second with 63 strikeouts and six wins and top four with a 1.20 ERA. She also became just the third Trine pitcher to record multiple no-hitters in a single season. The first coming against St. Mary's missed out on a perfect game by just one walk, while she would record all 15 outs of the five-inning game on strikeouts. The second came during a crucial sweep of Alma College.
Senior Taylor Murdock (Lapel, Ind. / Lapel) and junior Amanda Prather (Indianapolis, Ind. / Roncalli) joined their teammates as first team All-MIAA selections.
This is the first time that Murdock has been named to an All-MIAA team. She had the best season of her career offensively while continuing to post superb play in the outfield. This is the third season of her career that she has posted a perfect fielding percentage. She would really show her talent with multiple important and spectacular catches during the final week of the season. During conference play she finished second in batting average (.500) and slugging percentage (.978) and third in on-base percentage (.579). She led the conference with six home runs and was eighth with 17 RBIs.
Prather makes her second appearance on an All-MIAA team after another solid season. Prather made splash play after splash play in her defensive position at short stop, including a pair of diving catches on line drives during the MIAA title clinching sweep of Hope College. During MIAA play she made her mark offensively as well finishing first with 29 RBIs, a full nine more than the next highest MIAA player's total, and tying for first with eight doubles. She would also finish fourth in slugging percentage (.755), fifth in on-base percentage (.518) and sixth in batting average (.469).
Three Thunder would round out the honorees by being named second team All-MIAA. They included Senior Ashley Swartout (Westfield, Ind. / Westfield), junior Anna Koeppl (Perrysburg, Ohio / Perrysburg) and sophomore Lauren Clausen (Elk Grove, Ill. / Elk Grove).
Swartout was the lone position player to finish as a second team selection, this is the second time she has earned All-MIAA honors during her career. A four-year starter at first base, Swartout was once again a solid and dependable infielder for the Thunder while also bringing power to the offense. She would finish the MIAA portion of the season second with 20 RBIs and three home runs while posting the seventh best slugging percentage (.702).
During the MIAA portion of the season Koeppl and Clausen would split the second game of doubleheaders, combining to give fits to opponents. Koeppl would lead the MIAA with a low ERA of 0.62 while also finishing a perfect 4-0. Clausen would finish third with 8.61 strikeouts per seven innings pitch in the conference. The pair combined for a crucial 4-1 win over Hope to finish off the sweep and secure the MIAA regular season title.