Teague Tabbed Coach of the Year, Columbia Lands 7 All-Ivy Selections
5/8/2019 5:09:00 PM | Softball
Lions set program record with four First Team honorees
PRINCETON, N.J. – Columbia softball head coach Jennifer Teague was named Ivy League Coach of the Year while seven Lions earned All-Ivy League honors. The league office announced its postseason honors and awards Wednesday afternoon, as voted on by the eight head coaches.
Third baseman Max Ortega, shortstop Maria Pagane, utility player Sommer Grzybek and first-year pitcher Alexa Pinarski all received First Team All-Ivy League recognition. The four first-team selections are the most in program history and were the first such honors for each Lion. Additionally, pitcher Madison Canby was named to the second team, as Columbia marked another program record with five combined first- and second-team honorees. Catcher Amanda Nishihira and rookie first baseman Abby Stuart were voted honorable mentions.
Teague coached the Lions to a historic 2019 season to earn her first collegiate Coach of the Year award. Columbia won a program-record 15 Ivy League games to earn their way into the postseason for the first time. The Lions finished the regular season 24-19 overall, winning their most games since 2005 and currently holding their highest winning percentage (.558) in the program's 20-year history. The 15-6 Ivy League record was good enough for second place in the standings, the highest in program history, while the Lions led the Ancient eight in runs (206), home runs (31), RBIs (180) and walks (123).
Ortega led the Ivy League in runs (35), hits (53), RBIs (40) and triples (4) on her way to First Team All-Ivy honors. She finished the year among the league's top-five in batting average (.396), slugging (.619), doubles (10) and total bases (83), all while starting each of the team's 43 games at third base. Her batting average, RBIs and triples per game ranked among the top 100 nationally. Meanwhile, her 40 RBIs currently tie for the program record and her 35 runs sit just two behind the single-season mark. Ortega had 23 RBIs, 19 runs and three home runs in league play, which all ranked among the top 10. Her RBI count was good for second most. The Highland, California native was a two-time Ivy League Player of the Week with three additional mentions on the weekly honor roll.
Pagane was Columbia's leading hitter against Ivy League competition to join her fellow classmate and infielder with first-team honors. She hit .431 in Columbia's 21 league contests, fifth-best in the Ancient Eight, and ranked fifth or better in Ivy play in runs (20), hits (31), homers (4), total bases (50) and slugging (.694). The Bishop Moore Catholic product out of Orlando, Florida put together two separate 13-game hitting streaks through the season, including one from April 13 – May 4 in which she hit .422 with 15 runs, eight RBIs, three doubles, two triples and three homers. On the season as a whole, Pagane, led the Ivy League in triples (4), ranked No. 2 in runs (32) behind only Ortega, No. 3 in hits (52), No. 3 in total bases, No. 7 in slugging (.566) and just outside the top 10 in both batting average (.359) and doubles (7). She was named Ivy League Player of the Week on April 29 and was a five-time weekly honor roll selection.
After earning second-team honors as both a first-year and sophomore, Grzybek broke through to the first team in the designated player/utility category. She started the first 16 games of the season in the outfield before battling back from injury and went on to start the last 19 as the DP. Despite missing eight games, she led the Ivy League in home runs (9), ranked No. 2 in slugging (.701), No. 6 in RBIs (27), No. 8 in on-base percentage (.462), No. 9 in total bases (68), No. 9 in batting average (.361) and No. 10 in walks (16). Her slugging percentage ranks among the top 100 in the NCAA. In Ivy play, the slugger hit .400 with a .667 slugging percentage and .481 OBP. She amassed 12 RBIs despite playing in just 15 of the 21 games, was a two-time Ivy League Player of the Week (Feb. 25, April 15), and named to the Ivy League honor roll on another occasion. A Cooper City, Florida native, the highlight of Grzybek's season came on opening weekend when she homered four times at the FIU Panther Invitational and was honored on the NFCA's Top Performances of the Week.
Alexa Pinarski had a rookie season in the circle that the softball program hadn't seen in a number of years. She went 13-9 with a 3.56 ERA, 10 complete games and three shutouts in 116 innings pitched, becoming the first Columbia rookie to earn first team honors since Hall of Fame pitcher Jackie Adelfio '06SEAS did so in 2003. Pinarski ranked No. 2 in the Ivy League in wins and shutouts, No. 3 in complete games, No. 5 in innings pitched, No. 9 in ERA and No. 10 in batting average against (.285). The Lake Central product out of Dyer, Indiana was even better against league competition, where she tossed all three of her shutouts en route to a 9-4 record, 2.48 ERA and eight complete games. Her three league shutouts were the most among any Ivy pitcher, while she ranked No. 2 in wins, ERA and complete games. She went on to be named Ivy League Pitcher of the Week once and Rookie of the Week twice after tallying the second-most wins by a first-year pitcher in program history.
Junior Madison Canby earned her third straight All-Ivy honors and made her first appearance on the second team after picking up honorable mentions as a first-year and sophomore. Canby was the other half of Columbia's two-headed monster in the circle, going 10-7 with a team-leading 3.03 ERA, 12 complete games, 58 strikeouts and 118 innings pitched on top of two shutouts. She led the Ivy League in complete games, ranked No. 3 in wins, saves and innings pitched, No. 7 in ERA and was also top-10 in strikeouts and batting average against (.281). Against Ivy competition, the Pembroke Pines, Florida native went 5-2 with a 2.69 ERA and five complete games, including one shutout. Again, she was among the top-10 in wins, ERA, shutouts, saves and innings pitched. She earned her 30th career win on April 21 against Yale, becoming just the fourth pitcher in program history to reach the milestone, and was named to the Ivy League honor roll five times through the season.
Amanda Nishihira and Abby Stuart both received All-Ivy votes from the league's coaches and subsequently earned honorable mention status. Nishihira made it two straight years with postseason honors after landing on the second team a season ago. The catcher ranked top-10 in the league in walks (19) and home runs (6), 11th in RBIs (24) and top 25 in slugging (.456). She hit .283 against Ivy competition with 10 runs, four homers and 15 RBIs in 21 starts behind the plate. Nishihira threw out 11 runners caught stealing, second-most in the Ancient Eight. Stuart impressed at first base with a .266 average, six doubles, two triples, six homers, 19 runs and 27 RBIs, ranking top-five in the league in homers and RBIs, top-10 in triples and among the top-20 in slugging and doubles. Three of her home runs and 15 of her RBIs came in Ivy League play, good enough to rank among the top 15. She was named Rookie of the Week on April 15.
The complete 2019 Ivy League postseason honors and awards are listed below. Columbia travels to Harvard this weekend for its first Ivy League Playoff Series in team history. Friday's opening game is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Micah Schroder, Dartmouth (Jr. – Houston)
PITCHER OF THE YEAR
*Katie Duncan, Harvard (Sr. – Allendale, N.J.)
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Emma Nedley, Penn (Fr. – Monroeville, Pa.)
COACH OF THE YEAR
Jennifer Teague, Columbia
FIRST-TEAM ALL-IVY
SP – Jennifer Brann, Penn (Jr. – Houston)
SP – *Katie Duncan, Harvard (Sr. – Allendale, N.J.)
SP – Alexa Pinarski, Columbia (Fr. – Dyer, Ind.)
C – Keeley Walsh, Princeton (Sr. – Stevenson Ranch, Calif.)
1B – Kaylee Grant, Princeton (Sr. – Keller, Texas)
2B – *Micah Schroder, Dartmouth (Jr. – Houston)
3B – Max Ortega, Columbia (So. – Highland, Calif.)
SS – Maria Pagane, Columbia (So. – Orlando, Fla.)
OF – Megan Donahey, Princeton (Jr. – Phoenix)
OF – Kayla Ketring, Penn (So. – Moorpark, Calif.)
OF – *Emma Nedley, Penn (Fr. – Monroeville, Pa.)
P/UTL – Terra Jerpbak, Yale (Sr. – Rescue, Calif.)
DP/UTL – Sommer Grzybek, Columbia (Jr. – Cooper City, Fla.)
SECOND-TEAM ALL-IVY^
SP – Madison Canby, Columbia (Jr. – Pembroke Pines, Fla.)
SP – Allie Reynolds, Princeton (So. – Littleton, Colo.)
C – Sydney Grobman, Yale (So. – Coral Springs, Fla.)
1B – Bridgette Rooney, Cornell (Jr. – Hopewell Junction, N.Y.)
2B – Meagan Lantz, Harvard (Sr. – Parkland, Fla.)
3B – Lucy Yang, Penn (So. – West Hills, Calif.)
SS – Rhianna Rich, Harvard (Sr. – El Segundo, Calif.)
OF – Shelby Kennedy, Yale (Sr. – Vail, Ariz.)
OF – Katilyn Shiffhauer, Harvard (Sr. – Los Altos, Calif.)
OF – Taylor Ward, Dartmouth (Sr. – Toms River, N.J.)
OF – Kaitlyn Waslawski, Princeton (Sr. – South Elgin, Ill.)
P/UTL – Ali Blanchard, Princeton (Fr. – Lincoln, R.I.)
DP/UTL – Sarah Cwiertnia, Penn (Sr. – Villa Park, Calif.)
HONORABLE MENTION
SP – Lauren Innerst, Brown (Fr. – San Jose, Calif.)
C – Amanda Nishihira, Columbia (Jr. – Los Alamitos, Calif.)
C – Elizabeth Shively, Harvard (Sr. – Dallas, Ga.)
1B – Morgan Melito, Harvard (So. – Westlake Village, Calif.)
1B – Abby Stuart, Columbia (Fr. – Southlake, Texas)
2B – Allison Kerce, Cornell (Fr. – Coral Springs, Fla.)
SS – Calista Almer, Dartmouth (Jr. – Pollock Pines, Calif.)
SS – Allison Harvey, Princeton (Jr. – Foothill Ranch, Calif.)
OF – Trina Hoang, Harvard (Fr. – Irvine, Calif.)
OF – Olivia Vinyard, Yale (Jr. – Valparaiso, Ind.)
P/UTL – Ashley Delany, Cornell (Fr. – Lumberton, N.J.)
DP/UTL – Erin Lockhart, Harvard (Sr. – Lincoln, Neb.)
DP/UTL – Cat Seitz, Brown (Sr. – Poway, Calif.)
*-unanimous selection
^-first- and second-teams expanded due to ties in the voting
