5/5/2008
(St. Louis, Mo.) – Webster’s Kelsey Washam was named the 2008 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year this past Friday at the SLIAC Tournament. The Gorloks had six other players earn SLIAC honors as well.
Washam, a junior shortstop from Lincoln, Ill., led WU and the conference in almost every offensive category while rewriting the record book at Webster. She finished the season batting a league high .455 with a school records in home runs (15), doubles (16) and RBIs (53). Her slugging percentage of 1.064 was over 300 points higher than the second place finisher while her .551 on base percentage was sixty points higher than the individual in second place. In addition Washam was named to the SLIAC First Team as well.
Joining her on the first team were junior catcher Dana Vahey (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood West) and sophomore pitcher Megan Sperry (Clarkston, Mich./Mott Community College). Vahey ended the season leading WU in runs scored with 41 and stolen bases 26. She was second on the team with nine home runs, seven doubles and 24 RBIs. Sperry finished the season with a 12-8 record in 22 appearances with 18 starts and 13 complete games. She had 86 strikeouts in 123 innings while walking only 26 to go along with a pair of shutouts.
Senior outfielders Maria Hibbard (Rhinelander, Wisc./Three Lakes) and Nancy LaRose (St. Louis, Mo./Lindbergh) and juniors Gina Trapani (Herrin, Ill./John A. Logan C.C.) and Allie Park (Troy, Ala./Charles Henderson) were all named to the second team.
Hibbard and Park were second team selections in the outfield while LaRose was a utility selection and Trapani was selected as a pitcher. Hibbard finished the season second on the team with a .375 batting average and tied for second in hits with 45 and stolen bases with 18. LaRose led the team with seven sacrifice hits and had a triple with seven runs batted in.
Park finished the season hitting .274 with five home runs, seven doubles and drove in 23 runs. Trapani ended the season with a 10-4 record and led the team with 24 appearances. She started 17 games and had eight complete games with a shutout. In 108.2 innings she struck out 80 batters while walking 52.
Webster finished its season with a 22-17 record overall and shared the regular season SLIAC championship with Maryville University at 11-3 in league play. The Gorloks finished second at the conference tournament being defeated by the Saints twice.