Souter Named Player of the Year; Seven Fords earn All-CC Accolades

Souter Named Player of the Year; Seven Fords earn All-CC Accolades

Centennial Conference release

HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College softball team was well-represented on the All-Centennial Conference teams which were announced this week. The Fords set a program record with four players earning first-team All-Centennial Conference honors while a total of seven players were named All-Centennial Conference. Highlighting that list was Emma Souter who was announced as the unanimous choice of the conference's head coaches for Centennial Conference Player of the Year.

Souter becomes the first Ford since Nora Spriggs '06 won that honor as a senior during the only other year in which Haverford has finished first in the Centennial Conference's regular season standings. The Fords previously had three first-team All-CC honorees in 2009, but eclipsed that mark in 2019 as Temma Levis, Julia Blake, and Nicole Swisher joined Souter on the first-team. Ashley Sisto, Marybeth Stone, and Rachel Wolfson also garnered second-team recognition to tie for the program's most all-conference performers as the Fords also had seven honorees during the 2006 and 2009 seasons.

Emma Souter was named conference's player of the year after she led the Centennial Conference in batting average (.463), runs (19), hits (25), doubles (8), total bases (39), and sacrifice flies (3) during the conference slate while also ranking second with a .722 slugging percentage during those contests. Through her sophomore season, Souter already leads the program in career batting average (.402) and slugging percentage (.670). During her 2019 season, she broke the College's single-season record for doubles (18) and total bases (85) as the team's everyday third baseman while racking up a conference-leading 52 hits and a .397 batting average overall. Souter earned Centennial Conference honors for the first time in her career as she was also named player of the week once during the regular season.

Julia Blake capped her career as a four-time All-Centennial Conference selection. Blake is just the third player in program history to accomplish that feat, joining Jen DiCandilo '14 and Sara Tauriello '16. Blake also earned first-team honors in 2017 in addition to second-team accolades in 2018 and honorable mention status in 2016. She caps her Haverford career as the program's all-time leader in on-base percentage (.458) and total bases (255), while ranking second in runs (124) and stolen bases (43), and third in batting average (.375), hits (172), doubles (38), and triples (6). As a senior, Blake batted .359, ranked second in the conference in on-base percentage (.463), and was third in slugging percentage (.603). Blake's six home runs were second-most in the conference while she also swiped 16 bases. The senior was also third among her conference peers in hits (47) and runs scored (38). Twice this season she was selected as the conference's player of the week.

Temma Levis earned first-team All-CC honors after honorable mention accolades a year ago. The junior dominated in the circle with a perfect 10-0 record and one save during the Centennial Conference regular season. She led the Centennial with a 1.15 ERA in those conference clashes, finishing the year with a 1.38 ERA as opponents batted just .173 in conference against the Fords' junior. Levis finished her season 18-3 overall on her way to setting the program's record for wins in a season. She pitched three shutouts, locking down Dickinson and Gettysburg in addition to her no-hitter against the University of New England. For good measure, Levis batted .316 on the year in the middle of the Haverford lineup.

Nicole Swisher was a steady producer all year for the Fords in left field, but really hit her stride in Centennial Conference play as she batted .393 in those conference contests to rank fifth in the conference and earn the first All-CC recognition of her career. Swisher got on base at a .452 clip during the conference slate and ranked third in the Centennial with 31 total bases during those 16 contests. Swisher finished her sophomore season with a .322 batting average, three triples, two home runs, 22 runs scored, and 17 runs driven out of the second spot in the lineup.

Ashley Sisto earned All-CC recognition for the second time in her career with second-team honors. Sisto, the everyday centerfielder, was previously an honorable mention pick during her rookie campaign. She earned Centennial Conference Player of the Week honors during the final week of the regular season to help the Fords clinch the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. That hot finish helped her finish the conference season with a .354 batting average. Sisto scored 11 runs during the 16 game conference slate and was 12-of-13 on stolen base attempts. She recorded six of her eight doubles against conference foes and drove in nine of her 14 runs during that same time.

Marybeth Stone earned second-team All-Centennial Conference accolades for the first time in her career. Stone's 16 RBI in conference contests led all Centennial players as she finished her junior campaign with a .328 batting average as the team's first baseman. She drove in a team-high 30 runs for the year with two home runs and eight doubles. Stone's most dramatic home run was a two-run blast against Swarthmore to give Haverford the lead in the opening game of the conference tournament. Her 45 total hits ranked fourth in conference while her 59 total bases were also a top 10 mark in the Centennial Conference.

Rachel Wolfson earned All-Centennial Conference recognition for the first time in her standout career with second-team accolades. A four-year starter at shortstop, Wolfson finished with a career-best .341 batting average this spring. She ranks in the top 10 in school history in numerous categories for her career; including at-bats, assists, games played, games started, triples, hits, runs scored, total bases, doubles, and home runs. Wolfson finished her senior campaign with eight doubles, four triples, and two home runs. Her four triples were the third-highest total in the conference. All those extra-base hits accounted for 64 total bases, the sixth-highest total in the Centennial Conference. Her .520 slugging percentage this season was also a top-10 mark.

In addition to the Fords' All-Centennial Conference representatives, catcher Phoebe May was named to the conference's all-sportsmanship team. May started 39 games for the Fords as the everyday catcher. Serving in the flex position for most of the year, May collected three hits in limited at-bats but did drive in three runs during the regular season.

Softball finished its 2019 campaign with a 28-12 record to come within one victory of breaking the program record which was set in 2014. Haverford went 13-3 in Centennial Conference play during the regular season and advanced to the championship game against Dickinson before falling in 1-0 battles during both contests against the Red Devils. The future continues to look bright for the Fords as five of the team's seven All-CC performers will return to the squad for the 2020 season.