CORPUS CHRISTI - The Texas A&M-Corpus
Christi softball team made its mark on the Big South Conference
once again this season, landing four players on the all-conference
team, as well as pitcher, freshman and coach of the year
honors.
Islander head coach Missy Phillips-Dickerson was named the
league�??s Coach of the Year in a vote by conference coaches
and sports information directors. Junior Sarah Pauly was a
unanimous choice for Pitcher of the Year honors and Erica Armenta
was named the Freshman of the Year.
Phillips-Dickerson has led the Islanders to a 36-19 overall and
9-3 conference mark en route to winning the league�??s
regular season. For their efforts, the Islanders received the No. 1
seed in the conference tournament as well as a first-round bye. The
Islanders also received votes in the latest NFCA Coaches Poll, a
first in school history.
Pauly is one of the national leaders in nearly every pitching
category, including wins (24), ERA (0.70), strikeouts (390) and
saves with six. Last year, Pauly was named the league�??s
most valuable player.
Armenta has made her presence known in just her first season in
collegiate softball, leading the team in hitting with a .328
batting average. She has already shattered the school record in
stolen bases with 21. Armenta was named to the second team for her
efforts.
Named to the all-conference first team was Pauly as well as
freshman shortstop Megan Hansen who is leading the team with eight
homeruns and fourth on the team in batting with a .275 average.
Also on the second team was senior Katie Evans, who has started
and played in every Islander game from her freshman through her
senior season. Evans is second on the team in hitting with a .297
average as well as homeruns with six. Evans was also named the
league�??s Scholar Athlete of the Year, holding a 3.89 grade
point average in kinesiology. She was recently named the
school�??s Academic Athlete of the Year and was a second
team Academic All-American last season.
The Islanders will play their first game of the Big South
Conference Tournament at 4 p.m. against the winner of Radford and
Birmingham-Southern. The Islanders swept Birmingham-Southern and
split a pair of games with Radford during conference play.
