Kalafatis Named Big Ten Coach of the Year; Seven Buckeyes Honored – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/10/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 10, 2007
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State’s Linda Kalafatis was named the Big Ten Softball Coach of the Year and seven members of the Big Ten champion Buckeyes received all-conference honors as the All-Big Ten teams were announced Thursday prior to the start of the Big Ten tournament at Buckeye Field. 25th-ranked Ohio State, the host and No. 1 seed in the tournament, takes on No. 8 seed Penn State at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
For the third time in program history, Ohio State received three first-team selections, while the coach of the year honor for Kalafatis is her second (2002) and the third overall for Ohio State (Gail Davenport, 1990).
The three first-team selections included senior Jamee Juarez (La Puente, Calif./Wilson) at the utility position, freshman catcher Sam Marder (Calabasas, Calif./Calabasas) and sophomore outfielder Courtney Pruner (Akron, Ohio/Ellet). Juarez, who was named third-team All-Big Ten as a freshman and second-team the last two years, is the fourth Buckeye in program history to earn all-conference honors all four years, joining Krinon Clark (1991-94), Anna Smith (1999-2002) and Jennifer Link (2000-03).
Buckeyes on the second team included junior second baseman Brittany Vanderink (Hiram, Ohio/Crestwood), while earning third-team honors were senior first baseman Christina Douglas (Mesa, Ariz./Dobson), senior outfielder Megan Schwab (Glendale, Ariz./Sunrise Mountain) and senior designated player Lauren Daykin (Melbourne, Australia/Manatee C.C.) earned third-team honors.
In the circle, Juarez went 9-1 in Big Ten games this season with a 1.46 earned run average. She notched 85 strikeouts against only eight walks in 62.1 innings against Big Ten opponents, while going 18-8 overall. Juarez, who was named the Big Ten pitcher of the week the last three weeks of the season and led the conference in strikeout to walk ratio (8.2-to-1) and fewest walks (25) overall, also started seven league games at third base and batted .298. Marder batted .367 in league games this season with team-highs in home runs (3) and RBI (15). Pruner led the Buckeyes with a .415 average in league games that ranked fifth in the Big Ten, while her .529 on base percentage was second in the league.
Vanderink batted .373 in Big Ten games, while Douglas, the team captain, batted .395, second on the team only to Pruner. Schwab hit .333 in Big Ten games and Daykin hit .282. Daykin was also the recipient of the 2007 Sportsmanship Award, given to one player on each team.
### GO BUCKS! ###
