May 5, 2015

Shirey earns Player of Year; Aughton, Morris also honored

GROVE CITY, Pa. -- Grove City College senior shortstop Kelsey Shirey (Macedonia, Ohio/Nordonia) earned Presidents' Athletic Conference Player of the Year honors Tuesday from the conference's head softball coaches while sophomore pitcher Erika Aughton (Moon Township, Pa./Moon) earned Second Team All-PAC recognition. Senior catcher Sarah Morris (Allison Park, Pa./Hampton) received All-PAC Honorable Mention.

Shirey, who also earned First Team All-PAC recognition, led the conference with an .835 slugging percentage and a .525 on-base percentage this season. She hit .471, second-best in the league, and drove in a team-leading 27 runs. She shared the team lead with three home runs this year and also scored 23 runs. Nineteen of her 40 hits went for extra bases.

In conference games, Shirey led the PAC in batting average (.518), hits (29), total bases (51), on-base percentage (.591) and slugging percentage (.911).

This season, Shirey set a new single-season program record with her .835 slugging percentage. She is Grove City's career leader in batting average (.449), on-base percentage (.493) and slugging percentage (.735). Shirey also owns Grove City career records with 10 home runs, 283 total bases, 173 hits, 96 runs scored and 89 runs batted in.

She earned First Team All-PAC in both 2012 and 2013. Last year, Shirey earned Second Team All-PAC distinction. She is the first Grove City player to earn the conference's Player of the Year award in softball.

Aughton posted a 10-7 record, one save and a 1.93 earned run average this year in the pitcher's circle. She completed 16 of her 17 starts this year and made 21 total appearances. Aughton allowed just 120 hits in 123 1/3 innings this season. Opponents hit just .247 against her.

Offensively, Aughton hit .308 and scored a team-high 24 runs. She finished second on the team with a .411 on-base percentage after leading the team with 15 walks this year. Last year, Aughton earned Honorable Mention All-PAC.

Morris hit .330 this year for Grove City and shared the team lead with three home runs. She knocked in 23 runs and concluded her career second all-time at the College with 85 runs batted in. Her five career home runs also rank second in Grove City history.

Grove City went 16-13 overall this year and 8-10 in conference play under first-year head coach Kristen Hughes-Cramer.  

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