RIDGE EARNS ALL-CACC ACCOLADES
New Haven, Conn. (4/29/24) Georgian Court University standout Kaitlyn Stufft on Monday was named the 2024 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Softball Player of the Year as announced by Commissioner Dan Mara. Stufft, who was also named to the All-CACC as a first baseman, earned the awards as voted on by the league's 12 head coaches in the sport.
In addition to Stufft, two other standouts earned major awards including Wilmington University's Kylee Gunkel (CACC Pitcher of the Year) and Caldwell University's Taylor Quinn (CACC Rookie of the Year). WilmU's Mike Shehorn was named the CACC Coach of the Year and Chestnut Hill College was tabbed as the CACC Team Sportsmanship Award winner.
Dominican University New York's Haylee Ridge (Bellflower, Calif.) was named to the All-CACC Second Team. Ridge is sixth in the conference in batting average (.397), slugging percentage (.628) and home runs (7), ninth in runs batted in (34) and total bases (76) and 11th in on-base percentage (.438). She led the team in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, hits and runs batted in.
Stufft batted .486 this season with 16 home runs and 52 runs driven in. She led the conference in doubles (18), home runs, total bases (136) and slugging percentage (.944), while ranking second in batting average and on-base percentage (.526), and posting third in RBI. Stufft logged at least one hit in all but seven games and logged 21 multi-hit games.
Gunkel has been dominant in the pitching circle this season for the Wildcats. She is 19-4 with a 1.54 earned run average with 88 strikeouts. Gunkel leads the league in wins and ranks second with five shutouts. Her ERA is also tops in the league and her WHIP of 1.06 is second best in the CACC. Gunkel was named to the All-CACC First Team as a pitcher.
Quinn quickly established herself as a stalwart behind the plate for Caldwell in her debut season at the collegiate level. She batted .396 with one home run and 37 runs batted in. She came around to score 28 runs and stole 12 bases. Her batting average was seventh best in the conference and she committed just three errors in 43 games played this season. Quinn was also named to the All-CACC First Team as a backstop.
Shehorn was tabbed the CACC Coach of the Year after leading WilmU to a 20-2 conference record, the league regular season title and currently No. 1 in the latest NCAA Division II East Region rankings.
Kaitlyn Stufft (Georgian Court University)
Kylee Gunkel (Wilmington University)
Taylor Quinn (Caldwell University)
Mike Shehorn (Wilmington University)
Chestnut Hill College
1B - Kaitlyn Stufft (Georgian Court University)
2B - Sam Freeland (Wilmington University)
3B - Angela Oros (University of Bridgeport)
SS - Ashley Tavaska (Caldwell University)
C - Taylor Quinn (Caldwell University)
OF - Taylor Gillis (Wilmington University)
OF - Meg McFarland (University of Bridgeport)
OF - Tristyn Stewart (Wilmington University)
P - Kaite Burawski (University of Bridgeport)
P - Kylee Gunkel (Wilmington University)
P - Abigail O'Shields (Goldey-Beacom College)
DP - Gabriella Saucedo (Wilmington University)
UT-PLAYER - Sara Miller (Wilmington University)
UT-PITCHER - Delani Sheehan (Wilmington University)
2024 CACC SOFTBALL ALL-CONFERENCE SECOND TEAM
1B - Bryn Bohmann (Goldey-Beacom College)
2B - Grace Vondracek (Caldwell University)
3B - Haylee Ridge (Dominican University)
SS - Lexi Moore (Wilmington University)
C - Adriana Mungo (Georgian Court University)
OF - Sierra Albritton (Bloomfield College)
OF - Hannah Davis (Goldey-Beacom College)
OF - Jessica Klein (Caldwell University)
P - Gianna DeLorenzo (Thomas Jefferson University)
P - Kinsley Hall (Holy Family University)
P - Riley Williams (Felician University)
DP - Mya Jones (University of Bridgeport)
UT-PLAYER - Alexis Letizia (Holy Family University)
UT-PLAYER - Alex Lowry (Goldey-Beacom College)
UT-PITCHER - Danielle Walters (Bloomfield College)