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Softball con awards

alabamagrizzly

Well-known member
Cami gets newcomer and 2nd team. Maddy gets unanimous 1st team for pitcher/utility. McAlister, Driscoll, and Becker get honorable mention

https://bigskyconf.com/news/2019/5/5/softball-wsus-saltern-tabbed-bigskysb-mvp-all-conference-team-announced.aspx
 
You tell me who deserved 1st team.

1st Team
Krystal Aubert Sr-Sac St 4th in the con
.347ba 37rbi 29r 13hr 23 extra base hits 6er .974f%

2nd Team
Cami Sellers So-UM 3rd in the con
.375ba 38rbi 34r 8hr 30 extra base hits 7er .980f%

I’m guessing Aubert gets it cus she’s a Sr.
 
https://gogriz.com/news/2019/5/7/softball-stensby-first-team-all-big-sky-sellers-top-newcomer.aspx

Sellers ranks first in the Big Sky in hits (66), doubles (21) and total bases (113), and ranks in the top four in average (.375), runs scored (34), RBIs (38) and home runs (8). No one has more extra-base hits than her 30.

She batted a Big Sky-leading .484 during league games, which is when she hit seven of her eight home runs, but she was edged out of a first-team spot by Sacramento State's Krystal Aubert, who is batting .347 and leads the league in home runs with 13.

And leads Cami in nothing else except age.
 
Sellers was absolutely robbed of first team. She hit .484 in conference and led the conference in total hits and total bases. Not to mention what she did down the stretch to lead her team to a hot streak. No one is close to what she did in conference and this is a comferemce award. Robbed. Tyrone Holmes robbed. Dante Olson robbed.
 
Aubert's and Sellers' stats are comparable. The Big Sky all-conf. article didn't cite defensive stats, so I took a look on the Big Sky Site.

Fielding Percentage: Aubert --.974; Sellers--.980. Ratio of chances to put out: Aubert--228 chances to 224 putouts; Sellers--351 chances to 333 put outs (yes, she plays @ 1b). Assists: Aubert--18; Sellers--11 (very high for a 1b). Double Plays: Aubert--6; Sellers--11. ALSO... There's a baseball stat that's not included in the Big Sky Conf. softball stats: unassisted double plays. I'm going by memory, but think Sellers had 5-6 unassisted plays, where (with a runner on 1st) she snagged a hot grounder, tagged first and then tagged the runner diving back to first. She had a gem in the second game vs. SUU where she dove on a squibbler, scrambled up & tagged 1st, then threw to 2b to get the runner (on a tag by ss). I cite these, because they are plays that involve first basemen more than other players.

Statistically, then, Sellers has clearly superior stats on offense and defense. What's not considered are factors like leadership, style, attitude etc. My thoughts are that most coaches will opt for the senior in situations that are very comparable.

There have been, however, some odd votes over the past two years. In 2017 Delene Colburn was snubbed for both first team and MVP when she was the clear league MVP (she finished 2nd in mvp voting). What no one will ever know is the existence of bias. It has happened a lot in men's BB, and in football, where some unknown (Big Sky) coach will never vote for players from a certain team. I've wondered that regarding softball... but that boils down to sour grapes on my part. I actually think that awards this season (POW) and SIX Big Sky All-conference awards, put Montana into good company. I personally believe that Jessica McAlister is the best catcher in the Big Sky (she has by far the best "caught stealing" stats), but Rachel Menlove of PSU and Emma Brockman (UNC) are both very good, so hon. mention for Jessica puts her into good company. I also think it's awesome that the Big Sky honored Montana's two seniors, Maddy Stenby (1st team All-Conf utility pitcher) and Colleen Driscoll (hon.mention starting pitcher).

I guess that all conference awards are meant to be argued & contested. But when statistics so clearly indicate Sellers as the league's all-around best player, it's something that's worthy of challenge.
 
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