May 11, 2006
Five Loyola University Chicago softball players have earned Horizon League honors, it was announced this evening at the annual tournament banquet. Junior outfielder Tara Miller (Mokena, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) was selected First Team All-Horizon League for the second time in three seasons. Voting for the all-league teams was conducted by the head coaches from each school.
Miller, a First Team All-Horizon League selection as a freshman in 2004, is having a monster season for the Ramblers, batting .344 with school records of 43 runs and 31 stolen bases. The fleet-footed outfielder has also recorded career highs with seven home runs and 23 RBI, while also playing errorless defense. In league play, Miller batted .373 with four homers, 11 RBI and nine stolen bases. She has reach base safely in 12 of the last 13 games, batting .472 (17 for 36) with three home runs, 12 RBI, eight steals and 16 runs scored, during that stretch.
Outfielder Nora Schober (Palos Park, Ill./Stagg) and shortstop Katerina Krause (Arlington Heights, Ill./Hersey) each earned Second Team All-Horizon League recognition. Schober, a junior, has bounced back after missing all but one game of her freshman season due to injury, to become one of the top hitters in the circuit. In Horizon League action, Schober batted .352 with six doubles, a pair of roundtrippers, 13 RBI and nine stolen bases. Her 33 total RBI for the season rank as the third-highest single-season total in Loyola history.
Krause has matured into one of the most feared power hitters in the league as she belted a Loyola single-season record 10 dingers this year to move into a tie for the career lead (14) in that category. The right-handed slugger batted .273 with a half-dozen homers, 12 RBI, two doubles and a .727 slugging percentage in conference competition.
Garnering All-Newcomer Team status were freshmen pitcher Laura DeLeon (Chesterton, Ind./Chesterton) and utility player Kaycee Tharp (Louisville, Ky./New Albany). DeLeon went 5-3 with a 2.74 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 58.2 innings of work in Horizon League action this spring, and also was the winning pitcher in the Ramblers' first victory over Notre Dame since 1999. Tharp hit .286 with a homer and four RBI and six stolen bases in league play.
Kaleigh Rafter of Detroit was named the Horizon League Player of the Year, while Grace Luginbuhl of Cleveland State repeated as Pitcher of the Year. UIC pitcher Sarah Clynes was hailed as the Newcomer of the Year and Bob Wilkerson of Detroit was tabbed Coach of the Year.
Loyola begins play at the Horizon League Championship tomorrow at 1 p.m. Eastern when it faces UW-Green Bay.
