Photo credits: Alex DiVitto (Latess); Allegheny Athletics (Belardinelli); Waynesburg Athletics (Edge); Westminster Athletics (Reddinger)

TRAFFORD, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - The All-Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Softball teams and annual award winners, determined through voting by the league's 11 head coaches, were announced Tuesday night. The teams were first revealed during an announcement show through the PAC Sports Network.

After capturing their first PAC championship since 2005 on Saturday, Westminster College collected two of the four major awards. Fifth-year first base Mackenzie Latess (New Castle, Pa./Laurel) was chosen as the PAC Player of the Year, while Titan head coach Jan Reddinger, now in her 28th year guiding the Westminster program, was named the conference's Coach of the Year.

Collecting the PAC Pitcher of the Year honor was Allegheny College junior Aleya Belardinelli (Melbourne, Fla./West Shore), while the conference's Newcomer of the Year accolade went to Waynesburg freshman third base/pitcher Trinity Edge (Franklin, Pa./Franklin).

Now a three-time First Team All-PAC selection, Latess had a huge year while helping the Titans finish first in the PAC regular season standings and win the conference tournament. She ranked in the top three in the league in eight different offensive categories, including first in batting average (.469), slugging (.898) and on-base percentage (.555), as well as OPS (1.453) and RBIs (40). Latess also ranked second with eight home runs and tied for second with 14 doubles and 20 walks.

Much of Latess' damage came in conference action, as the two-time PAC Hitter of the Week this season hit .491 (26-for-53) against PAC foes with seven homers and 24 RBIs, as well as six doubles and 14 walks. During the PAC Tournament this past weekend, she collected four hits, including a double, drove in two and scored twice in the Titans' four games.

Belardinelli is now a two-time First Team All-PAC pick and the first Gator hurler to win PAC Pitcher of the Year. She logged 110 innings in the circle and went 12-5 this season to tie for second in the league in wins, while her 124 strikeouts was third and ERA of 1.91 placed fourth in the conference. Belardinelli had nine games with eight or more Ks and teams batted just .217 against during the year.

The three-time PAC Pitcher of the Week during the year, Belardinelli racked up eight of her wins in conference games, as well as 80 strikeouts and a 1.49 ERA. She threw her first career no-hitter on April 14th in a 15-0, five-inning win over Thiel, as she struck out nine and walked just one in the gem.

Edge's selection as Newcomer of the Year marks the third consecutive year a Yellow Jacket has earned the honor. Also a Second Team All-PAC selection at third base, Edge batted .396 this season to rank sixth in the PAC, while also ranking eighth in slugging (.559), 10th in on-base (.443) and sixth in OPS (1.002). She hit two homers, 10 doubles, drove in a team-leading 28 and scored 22 runs to rank second on the team. 

Edge also pitched 57 innings this season for Waynesburg. She earned four wins and finished with a 1.89 ERA and .209 batting average against. Edgeearned a pair of wins on the final day of the PAC Tournament, throwing 5.1 innings of relief in the Jackets' win over Allegheny to send her team to the title round and then allowed just one run in eight innings of work in the first championship game against Westminster, a 5-2 triumph in 11 innings. 

This is the third PAC Coach of the Year award Reddinger has earned in her career and comes after leading the Titans to their second PAC title in program history. This season had another milestone for Reddinger, who won her 700th career game April 25th against Chatham. Reddinger is the 16th active NCAA Division III coach to reach 700 career wins and is just the 40th coach in Division III history to secure 700 career victories. Of her 700 wins, 644 of them have been during her 28 seasons at Westminster. She won 56 games during a five-year run as the head coach at La Roche University (1992-96).

As the winner of this year's championship tournament title, Westminster has secured the league's automatic qualifying bid to the Division III Softball Championship, with teams and regional site selections announced on Monday, May 13. Regional round play is scheduled for Friday-Sunday, May 17-19 and the Super Regionals will be played Friday-Saturday, May 24-25. 

PAC Award Winners
Player of the Year: Westminster fifth-year first base Mackenzie Latess (New Castle, Pa./Laurel)
Pitcher of the Year: Allegheny junior Aleya Belardinelli (Melbourne, Fla./West Shore)
Newcomer of the Year: Waynesburg freshman third base Trinity Edge (Franklin, Pa./Franklin)
Coach of the Year: Westminster head coach Jan Reddinger
 

All-PAC First Team
Position	Name	Class	School	Hometown | High School
C	Lauren Harris	Sr.	Grove City	Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny
1B	Julia Hart	Sr.	Geneva	Prospect, Pa./Slippery Rock
1B	Mackenzie Latess	5th	Westminster	New Castle, Pa./Laurel
2B	Maci Linhart	Jr.	Grove City	Columbiana, Ohio/Columbiana
SS	Irene Martin	So.	Chatham	Banning, Calif./Beaumont
SS	Kylie Heid	So.	Thiel	Monaca, Pa./Central Valley
3B	Olivia Devries	Jr.	Allegheny	Kent, Ohio/Field
OF	Samantha Phillips	So.	Allegheny	Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon
OF	Evelyn Montone	Fr.	Grove City	Allentown, Pa./Parkland
OF	Kyra Blauth	So.	W&J	Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills
DP	Sophia Godzak	Jr.	Allegheny	Belle Vernon, Pa./Belle Vernon
UTIL	Liz Malczak	Sr.	Westminster	Grove City, Pa./Grove City
P	Aleya Belardinelli	Jr.	Allegheny	Melbourne, Fla./West Shore
P	Abigail Meadors	Fr.	Grove City	Warren, Ohio/Champion
P	Sydney Wilson	Jr.	Waynesburg	Pentress, W.Va./Clay-Battelle

 

All-PAC Second Team
Position	Name	Class	School	Hometown | High School
C	Morgan Huey	Grad.	Bethany	Hermitage, Pa./Hickory
1B	Sofia Genareo	Jr.	Allegheny	Lakewood, N.Y./Southwestern Central
2B	Mackenzie Favero	Fr.	Saint Vincent	Apollo, Pa./Kiski Area
2B	Grace Higgins	Jr.	Waynesburg	Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan
SS	Hannah Allen	So.	W&J	Harrison City, Pa./Penn Trafford
SS	Ava Karpa	Fr.	Westminster	Coraopolis, Pa./Moon
3B	Trinity Edge	Fr.	Waynesburg	Franklin, Pa./Franklin
OF	Destiny Goodnight	Sr.	Bethany	Youngstown, Ohio/Ursuline
OF	Justine Robbins	So.	Geneva	Fort Myers, Fla./Cypress Lake
OF	Molly Shelley	Fr.	Geneva	Baltimore, Md./Sparrows Point
OF	Sydney Lokay	Jr.	Westminster	North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin
DP	Mia Meholick	Jr	Westminster	DuBois, Pa./DuBois Central Catholic
UTIL	Sydney Petrowski	Sr.	W&J	Lemont Furnace, Pa./Connellsville
P	Madison Hulse	Fr.	Allegheny	San Diego, Calif./Rancho Bernardo
P	Madison Brown	Grad.	Westminster	Lisbon, Ohio/East Liverpool

 

Honorable Mention All-PAC
Position	Name	Class	School	Hometown | High School
C	Aliya Schraeder	Jr.	W&J	McDonald, Pa./South Fayette
1B	Mary Marshall	Jr.	Bethany	Steubenville, Ohio/Steubenville
2B	Emma Davis	Fr.	Franciscan	Tipp City, Ohio/Tippecanoe
2B	Kayla Roddy	Sr.	Thiel	Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills
SS	Lexi Zanic	So.	Geneva	Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver Falls
SS	Olivia Persin	Sr.	Saint Vincent	Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield
SS	Kayla Gratton	Sr.	Waynesburg	Monroeville, Pa./Gateway
3B	Shayna Perigo	Fr.	Saint Vincent	Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills
3B	Abby Rottman	Jr.	Thiel	Hilliards, Pa./Moniteau
OF	Hadley Horensky	Sr.	Allegheny	Jefferson Hills, Pa./Seton LaSalle
OF	Laila Rackley	So.	Franciscan	Mobile, Ala./McGill-Toolen
DP	Jessica LaPorte	Sr.	Saint Vincent	Pittsburgh, Pa./Keystone Oaks
UTIL	Katelyn Ziems	So.	Bethany	Bowling Green, Ohio/Bowling Green
UTIL	Brooke Brodie	Jr.	Grove City	Mogadore, Ohio/Mogadore
P	Josie Wise	Sr.	Bethany	Canton, Ohio/Perry
P	Victoria Murren	So.	Chatham	New Oxford, Pa./Bermudian Springs
P	McKenzie Rapp	So.	Geneva	Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford
P	Becca Landis	Jr.	Thiel	Kinsman, Ohio/Mathews