2016 CSUN Softball Year in Review

Photo by: Braden Villanueva

2016 CSUN Softball Year in Review

6/24/2016 8:13:00 AM | Softball

Matadors Post Third-Straight 30-Win Season in 2016

By: by Geoffrey Herberg

Final 2016 Stats

NORTHRIDGE, CA ---

The CSUN softball team enjoyed a solid season on the diamond in 2016 and set the stage for a big 2017 season. The Matadors finished the year 34-22 and 14-7 in the Big West Conference to place second in the league. CSUN won at least 30 games for the third-straight season, the first time in program history since the 1997-99 seasons.

Among the many highlights, from a win-loss perspective, were several victories against prominent opponents. The Matadors defeated Stanford to post their fourth-straight season with a win against the Pac-12 Conference and the win over the Cardinal gave CSUN two-straight wins in the series for the first time since 1997.

In all, the Matadors totaled eight wins against the RPI Top 75 and seven wins against teams that participated in the 2016 NCAA Tournament: Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, Wichita State, Illinois and three against CSU Bakersfield. CSUN posted its first win over San Diego State since 2010 and hosted Women's College World Series participant Florida State at Matador Diamond. CSUN also defeated Syracuse at home to post their first win over the Atlantic Coast Conference since 2007.

In conference, the Matadors posted a sweep of UC Riverside to give them 12-straight wins in the series. CSUN also swept its Senior Weekend Big West series with UC Davis and the Matadors won their second-straight conference series in Honolulu against the Rainbow Wahine.

Individually, the Matadors were recognized throughout the season for their work on the field.

First and foremost, the team said goodbye to four seniors on the 2016 roster: Madalyne Handy, Maylynn Mitchell, Allison Lacey and Ariana Wassmer. All four were instrumental members of the 2015 Big West Champions and each brought a unique set of skills to CSUN over their Matador careers.

Mitchell was a two-time All-Big West honoree and was CSUN's 2016 Big West Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She batted .262 with 10 runs, 27 hits, one double, one home run, six RBis and two stolen bases for the season and played outstanding defense, sporting a .981 fielding percentage with only three errors in over 150 chances.

Wassmer batted .260 with 13 runs, 40 hits, three doubles, six home runs, 25 RBIs, 12 walks and three sacrifice flies. She set new career highs in home runs and RBIs and continued her stellar defensive play at first base, sporting a season fielding percentage of .989 in over 400 chances with just five errors. She concluded her time at CSUN with a .989 fielding percentage in over 1,100 career chances.

Handy was a four-year letterwinner who helped change the culture of CSUN softball from the instant she stepped on campus. As a freshman, she won the inaugural Dr. Dianne Harrison Freshman Leadership Award, which is bestowed the recipient by its namesake who is the CSUN president. She stole a career-high two bases in the win over

Lacey was a two-year letterwinner who was the team's bullpen catcher, an important position on any successful softball squad. She worked with three NFCA All-West Region and First Team All-Big West pitchers in her tenure with the club.

Taylor Glover became the first Matador since 2004 to earn National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-American honors and earned Third Team, at-large outfield. Glover had a sensational junior campaign and against the RPI top 75, Glover batted .522 (35-67) and totaled 12 multi-hit performances in 21 games.

For the season, Glover batted .429 with 78 hits to lead the Matadors and posted CSUN's best figures in each respective category in 20 years. She added 39 runs, 11 doubles, three triples, four home runs, 31 RBIs and 22 stolen bases in 56 games.

Glover ranked among the Big West Conference's top 10 in 10 major offensive categories and earned her third-straight First Team All-Big West award. She also earned 2016 First Team NFCA All-West Region honors for the second time in her career, becoming the first Matador to achieve the feat in over a decade. She has been named to the NFCA All-West Region team following each of her three seasons.

Junior Daphne Pofek became the third Matador to earn NFCA All-West region honors since 2001 and gave CSUN an all-region pitcher in three-straight seasons. Pofek finished the year with a 19-8 record and set new career highs with a 2.78 ERA, 102 strikeouts and a .237 opponent batting average in 173.2 innings of work. She was especially dominant against Big West opposition, posting a 12-3 record with a 1.87 ERA, 52 Ks and a .216 opponent batting average in 104.2 innings of work.

Pofek was one of only two Big West pitchers to defeat every league opponent and she and teammate Karlie Habitz combined to throw out nearly 50 percent of would-be base stealers for the season. She also earned First Team All-Big West honors and helped her own cause at the plate with a .231 batting average, two doubles, a home run and six RBIs on the year.

Habitz became the first Matador ever to win Big West Defensive Player of the Year honors. She led the Big West Conference with 15 runners caught stealing and threw out nearly 40 percent of runners attempting to steal for the season, a rate that climbed to over 55 percent against Big West opponents. She and Pofek combined to throw out nearly 50 percent of runners attempting to steal for the season. She committed only five errors all season and was charged with four passed balls. She helped anchor the CSUN pitching staff to a cumulative ERA of 3.26. At the plate, she blasted seven home runs and finished with a .286 batting average, seven doubles, 30 RBIs and 11 walks for the year.

Savannah Horvath also enjoyed a stellar campaign in her sophomore season. She was the only Big West Conference player to finish the regular season with double-digit home runs (13) and stolen bases (23). She scored a team-best 47 runs and added 11 doubles, three triples and 11 walks to her final stat line. Horvath finished the year ranked among the Big West top 10 in 10 major offensive categories and in the top five in six categories. She finished second in the Big West Conference in extra-base hits (27) for the second-straight year and posted a .952 fielding percentage while patrolling three infield positions on the season. Through two seasons, she already ranks among the school's all-time leaders with 37 career stolen bases and 22 home runs.

Junior Katie Hooper overcame a sluggish start to the season to thrive in Big West Conference play. She posted a .327 batting average, five doubles, two triples, a home run, six RBIs, four sacrifice bunts and 10 walks against Big West opposition. She finished the year with a .263 batting average, a team-high 13 doubles, two triples, five home runs, 31 RBIs and a team-high 18 walks. She finished the year ranked among the league leaders in doubles and home runs and will enter her senior season ranked among the school's all-time leaders in RBIs, home runs and doubles. In fact, she needs 10 more doubles to set a new program all-time record. She has earned All-Big West honors after all three of her years at CSUN.

Rookies Mackenzie Babbitt and Taylor Troost earned Big West All-Freshman Team honors.

Babbitt also over came a slow start to the season to finish with a bang against Big West play. She hit .302 with 13 runs, 19 hits, two doubles, a triple, two RBIs and seven stolen bases against league opponents. She finished the year with a .242 batting average, 23 runs, 30 hits, four doubles, a triple and four RBIs. Her 15 stolen bases finished third on the team and tied for the ninth in the Big West Conference at the end of the regular season.

Troost was a reliable pitcher for CSUN all year, her first season with the club. She posted an 8-8 record with a 3.05 ERA, 76 strikeouts and a .247 opponent batting average in 119.1 innings of work. Against Big West opposition, she finished 2-2 with a 1.75 ERA, 17 strikeouts and a .240 opponent batting average in 32 innings of work. She tossed a six-inning no-hitter against Idaho State on Mar. 18 and posted impressive victories over Illinois and San Diego State in non-conference play.

Among other individuals, junior Taylor Nate set a new career high with 13 stolen bases and became just the 11^th player in program history to amass 30 career stolen bases. With 32 in three years, she enters her senior season ranked ninth in program history.

Fellow junior Rebecca Bell returned to the squad after missing all of 2015 to go 3-4 with a 3.73 ERA in the circle. She tossed her first career shutout with a two-hit performance against San Diego. Before injuries cut her season short, Aliyah Ricks batted .296 with six runs, eight hits, a double, six RBIs and five stolen bases.

The team is positioned well for 2017 with 10 seniors on the roster. A large portion of the offense returns and the Matadors also return every pitcher from the staff.