Big South Announces 2019 Softball Annual Award Winners
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – USC Upstate junior Alyssa Oakes (Winter Park, Fla.) and teammate Christina Biggerstaff (Houston Texas) have been voted Big South softball Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year, respectively, by the league’s head coaches, it was announced this afternoon. In addition, Longwood head coach Kathy Riley was voted Big South Coach of the Year, while Gardner-Webb’s Autumn Owen (Mill Spring, N.C.) earned Freshman of the Year honors. Winthrop’s Blake Wallert (Clover, S.C.) was voted Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the Big South’s sports information directors.
Oakes finished the regular-season as the Big South’s triple crown leader with a .402 batting average, 22 home runs and 73 RBI -- the only player this season with a slash of .400/20/70. She also led the league with 38 walks and 0.72 per game, total bases (129 and 2.43 per game), on-base percentage (.531) and slugging percentage (.977). A two-time Big South Player of the Week, the catcher broke the school single-season RBI record, and enters the Big South Softball Championship one home run shy of tying the program mark. Oakes leads the nation in RBI and ranks in the Top 10 in home runs, home runs per game, OBA, RBI per game, slugging and total bases. She was named the NFCA Division I National Player of the Week on April 9 after batting .500 with four homers, 15 RBI, seven runs, two doubles and a triple in five games against Western Carolina and Campbell. In 24 Big South contests this season, Oakes was tops in the league with a .509 hitting clip (29-57) as well as 13 home runs, 45 RBI, 73 total bases, 26 walks, a .659 on-base average and 1.281 slugging mark. She concluded the regular-season having reached base in 20 consecutive games. Oakes collected six first-place votes and 22 points in the Player of the Year voting, ahead of Radford’s Sydney Fisher (two first-place votes and 10 points) and Owen (10 points).
Biggerstaff went a Big South-best 25-4 with a 1.13 ERA and 249 strikeouts in 197.2 innings pitched in 2019. A seven-time Big South Pitcher of the Week honoree, Biggerstaff tossed three no-hitters -- including a perfect game against East Tennessee State on March 6, and completed 24 of her 31 starts. The national leader with 13 shutouts, she struck out at least 10 batters in a game eight times -- including a career-high 16 in the season opener against Youngstown State -- allowed just one hit in an additional five starts, limited opponents to a .155 batting average, and did not allow an earned run in 17 appearances. Biggerstaff was tops in conference games with a 1.48 earned run average, 12 wins, 117 strikeouts, five shutouts, and a .172 opponents’ batting average in 109.0 innings. She received eight first-place votes and 24 points in the voting, ahead of Longwood’s Sydney Backstrom (13 points).
Riley earns her third Big South Coach of the Year honor in five seasons after leading Longwood to its first outright Big South regular-season championship since 2016 with a 20-4 conference record -- tied for the program’s most conference wins. She guided the Lancers to a 34-19 overall mark, which included a win over Virginia on April 9, and won every Big South series for the second consecutive season -- four of which were three game sweeps. Longwood is second in the Big South in overall pitching with a 3.12 earned run average, and swiped the third-most bases with 90. In league action, the Lancers batted .283 (fourth) with a league-high seven triples and 11 sacrifice flies, in addition to the second-most doubles (35) and steals (56). Longwood held Big South foes to a league-best .201 batting average while pitching the most innings in conference play (172.0). Riley received eight first-place votes and 24 points, ahead of USC Upstate head coach Chris Hawkins (one first-place vote and 16 points).
Owen is the second consecutive Runnin’ Bulldog to be voted Freshman of the Year. A four-time Big South Freshman of the Week honoree, Owen was named to the NFCA Freshman of the Year Top 25 Watch List during the campaign. She ranked fourth in the conference with a .384 batting average, tied for third with 13 home runs, and was second in RBI (50), total bases (113), on-base percentage (.469) and slugging percentage (.774). Owen started all 52 games, was Gardner-Webb’s leading hitter, and also ranked fifth in the Big South in runs scored (41) and doubles (12). She batted .369 in 24 Big South games and was second in walks and fourth in OBA, as well as fifth in RBI and slugging against league foes. Owen received seven first-place votes and 23 points in the Freshman of the Year voting, ahead of USC Upstate’s Sarah Price (nine points).
Wallert is a senior infielder with a 4.00 GPA in Exercise Science and has started 37 of the 38 games she played. She is hitting .296 with a team-high 13 two-out RBI, as well as a career-high 27 runs scored. A 2018 Softball All-Academic Team member, Wallert received the President’s Award for Academic Excellence for having the Top GPA at Winthrop.
The conference also announced the 2019 All-Conference, All-Freshman and All-Academic teams, which are listed below. The All-Conference and All-Freshman teams are voted on by the head coaches, while the All-Academic Team consists of one student-athlete from each institution that meets the criteria and is nominated and selected by the league’s sports information directors.
2019 BIG SOUTH CONFERENCE SOFTBALL AWARD WINNERS
First-Team All-Conference
OF - Brittany Case, Sr., USC Upstate
OF - Bri Bryant, Soph., Campbell
OF - Andria Booth, Sr., Gardner-Webb
1B - Kayla Fredendall, Soph., Campbell
2B - Sydney Fisher, Soph., Radford
SS - Sarah Price, Fr., USC Upstate
3B - Kynadi Tipler, Jr., Campbell
C - Alyssa Oakes, Jr., USC Upstate
P - Christina Biggerstaff, Gr., USC Upstate
P - Sydney Backstrom, Soph., Longwood
DP - Abby Perryman, Sr., Campbell
UTL - Autumn Owen, Fr., Gardner-Webb
Second-Team All-Conference
OF - Jordan Clark, Sr., Longwood
OF - Makenna Helton, Soph., USC Upstate
OF - Destiny Freeman, Fr., Radford
1B - Karleigh Donovan, R-Sr., Longwood
2B - Jonnie Petree, Sr., Presbyterian
SS - Megan Mozingo, Sr., Campbell
3B - Ashley Westbrooks, Jr., Winthrop
C - Kaylynn “Bug” Batten, Sr., Longwood
P - Brooke Perry, Soph., Gardner-Webb
P - Madyson Watson, Jr., Winthrop
DP - Jenna Dunn, Soph., Longwood
UTL - Talia Douglas, Soph., Radford
Honorable Mention All-Conference
Annie Bakenhus, OF, Sr., Charleston Southern
Taylor Warrick, 1B, Sr., Hampton
Morgan Lowers, OF, Sr., Winthrop
Sydney Gay, P, Sr., Longwood
Jenna Wacaster, 2B, Soph., Gardner-Webb
All-Freshman Team
Autumn Owen, UTL, Gardner-Webb
Sarah Price, SS, USC Upstate
Destiny Freeman, OF, Radford
Alexis Wayland, 3B, Longwood
Sydney Jacobsen, DP/OF, Longwood
Kiley Kross, SS, Presbyterian
Rhiana Hubbard, OF, Charleston Southern
Claudia Ware, OF, Campbell
Brooklynn Brewington, INF/OF, Charleston Southern
Reah Barger, P, Gardner-Webb
Janae Lyles, DP, Hampton
Ellie Rowe, UTL, Radford
All-Academic Team
Abby Perryman, DP/INF, Sr., Campbell
Holly Clark, P, Sr., Charleston Southern
Brooke Perry, P, Soph., Gardner-Webb
Sarah Kollas, C, Sr., Hampton
Jessica Smith, RF/2B, Sr., Longwood
Jonnie Petree, 2B, Sr., Presbyterian
Hunter Mundy, INF, Jr., Radford
Christina Biggerstaff, P, Gr., USC Upstate
Blake Wallert, INF, Sr., Winthrop
Player of the Year
Alyssa Oakes, C, Jr., USC Upstate
Pitcher of the Year
Christina Biggerstaff, Gr., USC Upstate
Freshman of the Year
Autumn Owen, UTL, Gardner-Webb
Coach of the Year
Kathy Riley, Longwood
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Blake Wallert, INF, Sr., Winthrop