WEST BABYLON, N.Y. – Following game three of the East Coast Conference softball championship, the league announced its 2019 all-conference selections and major award winners, garnering LIU Post with nine all-ECC selections and three major award winners.
Head coach
Jamie Apicella earned his 12th Coach of the Year award, while senior
Julia Seader took home her second ECC Player of the Year honor and third major award of her career and classmate
Hannah Olshevski was tabbed as the Pitcher of the Year for the second time in her career.
Along with the major award recipients, LIU Post grabbed three other first team selections and three second team honors. Sophomore
Hanna Finkelstein and juniors
Katie Humhej and
Megan Sneeden earned first-team recognition, while senior
Leah Mele and juniors
Abbey Fortin and
Allie Laird took home second-team accolades.
Apicella led LIU Post to a 44-8 regular season record, matching a program record for most regular season wins in the program's 44-year history. LIU Post captured the regular season championship and entered the postseason as the No. 1 ranked team in the East Region.
Olshevski entered the ECC Championship with a 21-4 overall record with a 1.75 earned run average inside the circle. Over 164.1 innings, she tallied 73 strikeouts and posted three shutouts while holding opponents to a .262 average. Her earned run average led the ECC while her 21 wins ranked second behind Humhej.
Nearly capturing the ECC triple crown, Seader led the ECC with 18 home runs and 56 runs batted in. Her .451 batting average ranked second, just .005 behind conference leader Hannah Mueller of Mercy College. In addition to the home runs and RBIs, Seader led the ECC with 78 hits, 54 runs scored, 146 total bases, a .500 on-base percentage, and an .830 slugging percentage. In addition to the ECC rankings, Seader led Division II in total bases while also ranking third in home runs and 15th in RBIs.