Buckeyes Hand Out Awards at Postseason Banquet – Ohio State Buckeyes
6/4/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball
June 4, 2006
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Junior Jamee Juarez was named the Ohio State softball team’s Most Valuable Player for the second-consecutive year at the 2006 softball postseason banquet held Sunday evening in the OSU football recruiting room. Head coach Linda Kalafatis and her staff handed out 11 awards and recognized four seniors who helped lead the Buckeyes to 39 wins this season, which tied for the fourth-best win total in OSU history.
Seniors Chelsea Baker (Gahanna, Ohio/DeSales), Billie Carder (Celina, Ohio/Celina), Stacy Hibma (Buena Park, Calif./Valley Christian) and Nicole Lancaster (Magnolia, Ohio/Sandy Valley) helped lead the Buckeyes to 132 wins in their four years and NCAA tournament appearances in 2004 and 2006.
Juarez (La Puente, Calif./Wilson) took home her second MVP award after earning the honor last year as a sophomore. She earned second-team All-Big Ten honors, started 61 of 62 games, hit .290, led the team in multiple RBI games (10) and finished second in doubles (11). Juarez also was the recipient of the Buckeye Power Club Award.
Freshman Kim Reeder (Salinas, Calif./Notre Dame H.S.) took home the most awards with three. She was awarded Pitcher of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Reeder ranks as one of OSU’s best freshman pitchers of all time. She tied the record for wins by a freshman (16), led the pitching staff in ERA (1.91) and finished second on the team in strikeouts (158), which are the second most by an OSU freshman.
The Offensive Player of the Year was sophomore Brittany Vanderink (Hiram, Ohio/Crestwood), who also took home the Most Improved Player Award, while Carder took the honor of Defensive Player of the Year. Vanderink led the Buckeyes with a .359 batting average and was second in the league with a .459 average in Big Ten games. Carder had 109 fielding assists, which ranked ninth in the Big Ten, and she started all 62 games for the Buckeyes. Sophomore Stephanie Hill (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) earned the Most Improved Scholar-Athlete Award and freshman Cortney Cannon (Hilliard, Ohio/Darby) took home the Buckeye Spirit Award.
Kalafatis handed out two Coaches’ Awards, one to junior Nycole Koyano (Walnut, Calif./Walnut) and the other to junior Lauren Daykin (Melbourne, Australia/Manatee C.C., Fla.). Koyano was elected a co-captain before the season and earned second-team all-region honors, while Daykin started all 18 Big Ten games, and 47 total, at catcher in her first year with the Buckeyes.
### GO BUCKS! ###
