BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Six Bridgewater State University student-athletes have been selected to the 2019 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Softball All-Conference Team which was announced today by the league’s Director of Media Relations, Emily Loux.
Senior shortstop Jenny Heller, junior second baseman Samantha Mulcahy and freshman pitcher Kelley Reichert were voted to the All-MASCAC First Team, while junior first baseman Shannon Grindle, sophomore outfielder Alexandra Ruprecht and freshman catcher Alexandra Taylor were second team honorees.
Reichert was also voted as the MASCAC Rookie of the Year by the league’s eight head coaches. She is the Bears’ second straight rookie of the year award winner as Ruprecht garnered the accolade last season.
Grindle is making her third straight appearance on the All-MASCAC Team, while Heller, Mulcahy, and Ruprecht are making their second.
Heller, who was one of only two Bears to compete in all 41 games this season, batted.374 (49-132) overall with seven doubles, three home runs and 22 RBI. The Taunton, Massachusetts product is third in the conference in homeruns, fourth in hits (49), sixth in stolen bases (6), and eighth in batting average.
In 105 games over her first three seasons at BSU, Heller has posted a career batting average of .365 (114-312) with six home runs, 18 doubles, a triple and twelve stolen bases. She has also scored 58 runs and driven in 59.
In her second season at Bridgewater State, Mulcahy produced a .393 batting average (48-122) with six doubles, a triple, and 16 stolen bases to go along with 29 runs scored and 15 runs batted in. The Taunton, Massachusetts native currently leads the MASCAC in stolen bases and is third in batting average and on base percentage (.472), fifth in hits (48) and runs, and eighth in walks (15).
Mulcahy has a career batting average of .374 (91-243) in 73 games in a BSU uniform. She has also slugged eight doubles, three triples and two home runs with 55 runs, 35 RBI and 24 stolen bases.
In her first season at Bridgewater State, Reichert went 8-8 in 23 appearances in the circle with 13 complete games and a pair of shutouts. She also recorded a 2.70 earned run average and fanned 51 batters in 122 innings of work, while limiting opponents to a .273 batting average. The Milford, Mass. native currently ranks third in the MASCAC in complete games, fourth in wins and ERA, fifth in strikeouts, and seventh in batting average against.
A native of Halifax, Massachusetts, Grindle finished the 2019 campaign with a .352 batting average (31-88), five doubles, two home runs, ten runs and 20 RBI in 36 games. She also walked 19 times. Grindle ranks second in the MASCAC in both walks and on base percentage (.491) and eighth in home runs.
In 106 games over her first three seasons with the Bears, Grindle has produced a career batting average of .374 (116-310) with 13 home runs, 24 doubles, 55 walks, 51 runs and 88 RBI to go along with a .577 slugging percentage and a .476 on base percentage.
Ruprecht appeared in 39 games during her sophomore campaign with the Bears. The Kingston, Massachusetts resident batted .282 (33-117) with two homers, a triple, four doubles, 18 runs and 18 RBI. She ranks eighth in the MASCAC in homeruns.
In 76 games over her first two seasons at Bridgewater State, Ruprecht has notched 13 doubles, a triple and four homeruns, while batting .305 (74-243). She has also knocked in 51 runs and scored 42.
A Hebron, Connecticut native, Taylor put together an impressive rookie campaign behind the dish for the Bears. She batted .366 (24-93) with .410 on base percentage and a team leading nine doubles, while recording 17 runs and 11 RBI. She also threw out six runners on the base-paths. Taylor sits atop the MASCAC in runners caught stealing and tenth in doubles.
The BSU softball team wrapped up the 2019 campaign with an overall record of 20-21 included a 12-2 mark in conference play as the Bears captured a share of the program's 26th MASCAC regular season title. Seeded first in the MASCAC Tournament, the Bears won their first two tournament games before dropping a pair of decisions in the championship round to second-seeded and regular season co-champion Framingham State University.