Menting Leads Titans' Five All-WIAC First Team Selections
UW-Oshkosh freshman catcher Abby Menting was named the WIAC Softball Co-Offensive Player of the Year to lead the Titans' league-high five selections to the conference's 20-member first team.
Menting becomes the first freshman to be named the league's Offensive Player of the Year since the award debuted in 2002. She is also the second UW-Oshkosh position player to secure a top conference award and the first since catcher Robin Schmidt received WIAC East Division Player of the Year honors in 1998.
Joining Menting on the All-WIAC First Team were UW-Oshkosh senior shortstop Haley Bayreuther, sophomore third baseman Erika Berry, junior pitcher Sara Brunlieb and junior outfielder Lauren Torborg. Bayreuther picked up her third consecutive All-WIAC award while Brunlieb earned her second straight citation. Berry and Torborg received their initial first-team award.
Menting, who shares Player of the Year honors with UW-Eau Claire junior shortstop Evie Schaller, leads the WIAC with a .417 batting average, six home runs and .481 on-base and .678 slugging percentages. Her 37 runs batted in and 78 total bases rank second in the league while her 48 hits list third and her eight doubles seventh. Menting also scored 23 runs and sported a .984 fielding percentage as a starter in 38 of UW-Oshkosh's 39 games this season.
Menting had 15 multiple-hit games and compiled a 10-game hitting streak this season. She drove in multiple runs during eight contests, including five against Marian University on April 26 and four against Fontbonne University (Mo.) on March 24.
Bayreuther, who started each of the Titans' 151 games over the past four seasons, concluded her final collegiate campaign with a WIAC-leading five triples. She tied for the team lead with 30 runs while finishing second on the squad with nine stolen bases. Bayreuther hit .294 with three home runs and a .948 fielding percentage. She ranked fourth in the league in runs and ninth in stolen bases.
Bayreuther, a two-time All-Great Lakes Region selection, had a pair of four-hit games this season, including a 4-for-4 performance with one triple and three runs batted in against UW-Stevens Point on April 13. She also hit two home runs and registered a season-best four RBIs against Marian University on April 26.
Bayreuther's career totals include a .303 batting average with 132 runs, 130 hits, 13 home runs, 60 RBIs and a school-record 48 stolen bases.
Berry, the lone third baseman on the All-WIAC First Team, tied for second on the UW-Oshkosh team with 45 hits. She finished third on the squad with a .360 batting average, 26 runs, 45 hits, six doubles and six stolen bases. Berry also hit one home run, drove in 19 runs and committed just six errors for a .947 fielding percentage. Berry's run total ranks seventh in the WIAC while her hit count lists eighth.
Berry amassed 12 multiple-hits games this season, had a 10-game hitting streak and reached base in 13 consecutive contests from April 9-21.
Brunlieb paced the Titans in nearly every pitching category this season, owning a 13-7 record with the first two saves of her career, a 1.61 earned run average and 78 strikeouts in 126 innings pitched across 26 appearances, including 20 as a starter. She tossed four shutouts among her 12 complete games.
This season, Brunlieb had string of 31.1 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run. The streak started with her two-hit performance against Concordia University Wisconsin on Feb. 27 and lasted seven appearances until finally yielding an earned run to Fontbonne University (Mo.) on March 24. Brunlieb is tied for the league lead in shutouts and ranks second in earned run average and saves, third in wins, and fourth in both strikeouts and innings pitched.
Brunlieb was named the WIAC Pitcher of the Year as well as an All-Great Lakes Region Third Team selection last season.
Torborg, in her debut season after transferring to UW-Oshkosh from Augsburg College (Minn.), led the Titans with 30 runs, 11 doubles and 12 stolen bases. She also finished second on the team with a .391 batting average, 45 hits and .548 slugging and .432 on-base percentages.
Torborg, who added two triples, one home run and 14 RBIs this year, ranks third in the WIAC in batting average; fourth in runs, doubles and batting average; fifth in slugging percentage; and eighth in hits and on-base percentage.
Torborg produced 14 multiple-hit games, including a season-best four hits with two runs, two RBIs and two stolen bases against Lakeland College on Feb. 28.
UW-Whitewater placed four players on the All-WIAC First Team while UW-Eau Claire and UW-La Crosse had three apiece, UW-River Falls and UW-Stevens Point two, and UW-Stout one.
Rounding out the All-WIAC First Team were pitchers Lauren Blasczyk from UW-Eau Claire, Julia Camardo from UW-Whitewater, Caitlin Hughes from UW-La Crosse, and Tori Workman from UW-Stout; first basemen Amy Ricci from UW-Whitewater and Abby Veloske from UW-River Falls; second baseman Leah Wolff from UW-Eau Claire; shortstops Emily Rux from UW-Whitewater and Schaller; infielder Bailie Sheahan from UW-Stevens Point; and outfielders Brittany Baldwin and Megan Nelson from UW-La Crosse, Shannon Borchardt from UW-River Falls, Caitlin Catino from UW-Whitewater and Alyssa Cooper from UW-Stevens Point.
UW-La Crosse's Hughes was named the WIAC Pitcher of the Year while Leslie Huntington from UW-Eau Claire was chosen as the league's Coach of the Year.
UW-Oshkosh compiled a 26-13 overall record this season, including a 10-4 conference mark that placed the Titans second in the WIAC standings with UW-La Crosse.
UW-Eau Claire captured the WIAC's regular season title with an 11-2-1 record while UW-Whitewater won the league's postseason tournament to earn the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Championship.