May 5, 2008 - Geneva College
Geneva College Logo
View More Stories

May 5, 2008

Picture of May 5, 2008

Van Zanic

Director of Sports Information

(724) 847-6886

vgzanic@geneva.edu

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 5, 2008

PEARCE NAMED ALL-AMERICAN FOR ANOTHER YEAR,

GENEVASOFTBALL KEEPS REWRITING HISTORY

Beaver Falls, PA - Geneva′s softball program continues to grow into one of the most successful programs in the region. Even with the change to NCAA Division III and the Presidents′ Athletic Conference, the Golden Tornadoes once again put together a memorable season. Playing on a true home field for the first time in ten years, Geneva opened its new facility with a record of 10-2 on home turf. Even more impressive was the 29-13 overall record put together by the Golden Tornadoes. Within those 29 victories, 14 came against PAC competition. The Golden Tornadoes were 14-4 against PAC teams and out scored its new conference foes by the count of 117-24.

There were many impressive performances throughout the season, but perhaps the most impressive was the offensive showcase that was put together by junior Amy Pearce (Hackettstown, NJ). Pearce, who tied the single season records for hits and home runs in 2007, set out to rewrite the Geneva record book in 2008. Pearce hit a team best .444 with a record 12 home runs and record 51 RBI′s. She also broke the career mark for RBI′s with 111 through just three years. For her efforts, Pearce was once again named a first-team NCCAA All-American. Within the conference, a total of five players received Coaches All-Conference consideration. In addition to Pearce, Michawn Rich (Reno, NV), Ashley Archer (Sanger, CA), Rebekah Wahl (Evansville, IN) and Jackie Anthony (Rochester, PA) were all named to the All-Conference team. Pearce was also recognized as the NCCAA Eastern Regional player of the year and joined teammates Rich, Archer, Wahl, Anthony and Adriane Blake (Glen Burnie, MD) on the East Regional first team. Pearce also joined Bridget Beachy on the NCCAA Scholar-Athlete team as juniors or seniors with at least a 3.4 cumulative GPA. As a team, Geneva put together a team GPA of over 3.4 in the fall, which was the highest single semester team GPA in the past ten years.

The records continued to fall up until the final day of the season. In the final game of the season, Jackie Anthony swiped three bases to put her atop the list of all-time base stealers in school history. In just three years, Anthony stole a total of 79 bases, including 28 thefts this past season. Anthony finished the 2008 season with a batting average of .406, which was good for second on Geneva′s team. The Golden Tornadoes finished the season with a team batting average of .321, which included seven players hitting at least .300 for the season.

Geneva′s softball team has completed the winningest three year period in school history. From 2006-2008, the Golden Tornadoes have won 93 games, which is more than in any other three year stretch.

May 5, 2008