Reese, Saint Xavier Headline 2024 Softball Postseason Honor Roll
CHICAGO, Ill. — Already toting regular-season co-champion and tournament champion plaques, Saint Xavier University added to its haul when it claimed a league-high 13 more awards, including sweeping the four top individual accolades, after the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference announced its 2024 postseason softball honor roll on Wednesday afternoon.
Regular-season co-champion University of St. Francis was the only other program to boast double-figure award winners, totaling ten, including a league-best seven all-conference selections. The Fighting Saints also produced the most second-team picks (four), while sharing the top distinction for the number of first-team and Gold Glove winners with three in each category.
Olivet Nazarene University was next in line on the awards stand with six honorees, followed by Roosevelt University with five and St. Ambrose University, Trinity Christian College and Calumet College of St. Joseph with four each.
Also represented were Indiana University South Bend and Judson University with a pair of selections each.
The first and second teams were made up of 18 players each.
Claiming the top award, CCAC Player of the Year honors, was Saint Xavier’s Alexus Reese (Schererville, Ind.). The senior first baseman is currently hitting .351 with a league-best 43 runs batted in.
Reese’s name can also be found in the No. 2 position for walks (22), the third slot in home runs (five), fourth in on-base average (.453) and sixth in slugging percentage (.553). She also claimed a spot on the nine-member Gold Glove Team as the best defensive first baseman.
Ranking in the Top Ten in the conference in no fewer than 11 categories, including the top billing in five areas, has earned SXU’s Laila Summers (Joliet, Ill.) CCAC Pitcher of the Year accord. The senior right-hander leads the league in wins (19, against only six losses), earned run average (1.38), complete games (20), shutouts (eight) and walks/hits per innings pitched (0.90). She also ranks second in games started (22), saves (two) and innings pitched (157).
Summers’ other top marks include the No. 3 spot in strikeouts (123), the No. 4 position in appearances (29) and the No. 7 slot in strikeouts per game (5.48).
At the national level, Summers’ 19 wins are the 19th-most in the NAIA.
Aubrey Wroble (Crown Point, Ind.), a teammate to Reese and Summers, also made quite the first impression in the league leading to her being selected as the CCAC Freshman of the Year. Topping the outfielder’s resume is her .489 batting average, which leads the conference and places her 14th in the NAIA. She is also first in the CCAC in on-base percentage (.534), second in hits (65) and third in runs scored (38).
Among other statistical categories, Wroble sits fifth in stolen bases (11), eighth in total bases (67) and ninth in slugging percentage (.504).
All three Cougar players also made up part of the all-conference first team, which featured six familiar names. Summers was one of five repeat selections as was St. Ambrose’s Shai Erdrich (Aurora, Ill.), Olivet Nazarene’s Mallory O’Connor (Bourbonnais, Ill.), Trinity Christian’s Charlie Sartoris (Pontiac, Ill.) and Calumet St. Joseph’s Adelina Staden (Romeoville, Ill.).
Named as a first-team selection for the third year in a row was St. Francis’ Brittany Osborne (Romeoville, Ill.).
On the Gold Glove Team, Roosevelt’s Emily Zuniga (Pasadena, Calif.) and Saint Xavier’s Kaitlyn Wright (Chicago, Ill.) earned their second straight spot on the squad.
Completing the Cougar sweep of the top individual awards was SXU head coach Erin Mollohan-Corrao, who was named the CCAC Coach of the Year after leading her squad to the two titles and being among others receiving votes in the final NAIA Coaches’ Poll. Saint Xavier takes a 26-12 record into next week’s NAIA National Championship Opening Round.
2024 SOFTBALL POSTSEASON AWARDS
Player of the Year
Alexus Reese – Saint Xavier
Pitcher of the Year
Laila Summers – Saint Xavier
Freshman of the Year
Aubrey Wroble – Saint Xavier
Coach of the Year
Erin Mollohan-Corrao – Saint Xavier
Champions of Character Team
Calumet College of St. Joseph
Gold Glove Team
1B Alexus Reese Sr. Saint Xavier Schererville, Ind.
2B Emily Zuniga Jr. Roosevelt Pasadena, Calif.
SS Brittany Osborne Gr. St. Francis (Ill.) Romeoville, Ill.
3B Kaitlyn Wright So. Saint Xavier Chicago, Ill.
LF Kaylie Sippel Sr. St. Francis (Ill.) Beecher, Ill.
CF Haley Matlock So. Saint Xavier Indianapolis, Ind.
RF Margaret Landis Sr. Olivet Nazarene Beecher, Ill.
P Allie Timm Jr. Olivet Nazarene Channahon, Ill.
C Isabella Landeros Jr. St. Francis (Ill.) Frankfort, Ill.
First Team All-Conference
OF Shai Erdrich Sr. St. Ambrose Aurora, Ill.
IF Becca Haag Fr. St. Ambrose Muscatine, Iowa
IF Alex Hofman Jr. Trinity Christian Monee, Ill.
C Isabella Landeros Jr. St. Francis (Ill.) Frankfort, Ill.
OF Margaret Landis Sr. Olivet Nazarene Beecher, Ill.
C Maddy Leisher Jr. Indiana South Bend Lizton, Ind.
P Kiersten Manning Jr. St. Francis (Ill.) Bloomington, Ill.
P Samantha Norman Sr. Roosevelt Shorewood, Ill.
IF Mallory O’Connor So. Olivet Nazarene Bourbonnais, Ill.
IF Brittany Osborne Gr. St. Francis (Ill.) Romeoville, Ill.
IF Alexus Reese Sr. Saint Xavier Schererville, Ind.
IF Charlie Sartoris Sr. Trinity Christian Pontiac, Ill.
IF Alyssa Schumacher Sr. St. Ambrose Whitewater, Wis.
IF Adelina Staden Jr. Calumet St. Joseph Romeoville, Ill.
P Laila Summers Sr. Saint Xavier Joliet, Ill.
OF Caitlin Williams So. Roosevelt Palatine, Ill.
IF Kaitlyn Wright So. Saint Xavier Chicago, Ill.
OF Aubrey Wroble Fr. Saint Xavier Crown Point, Ind.
Second Team All-Conference
C/IF Gwen Bender So. Olivet Nazarene Decatur, Ill.
OF Carissa Bombardiere Sr. Olivet Nazarene Geneva, Ill.
IF/P Emily Boyle Fr. St. Francis (Ill.) Union Grove, Wis.
C/3B Amaya Chavez Sr. Judson Lansing, Ill.
P Julianne Claas Jr. Saint Xavier Menomonee Falls, Wis.
1B Brynn Dvoracek Jr. Roosevelt Downers Grove, Ill.
P Emilee Erickson Sr. St. Ambrose Elburn, Ill.
P Savannah Hamilton Fr. Indiana South Bend South Bend, Ind.
OF Roxanne Ines Sr. Calumet St. Joseph Las Vegas, Nev.
IF Alexis Knowles So. Judson Canton, Ill.
OF Haley Matlock So. Saint Xavier Indianapolis, Ind.
OF/DP Maddy McIntyre Jr. Trinity Christian Bourbonnais, Ill.
OF Aubrie Morales Fr. Calumet St. Joseph Dyer, Ind.
OF Rose Mwaro Sr. St. Francis (Ill.) Almere, Netherlands
IF Athena Pomele-Pen Jr. Roosevelt San Jose, Calif.
IF/DP Jolie Robertson Sr. Trinity Christian Springfield, Ill.
OF Kaylie Sippel Sr. St. Francis (Ill.) Beecher, Ill.
IF Jaelynn Taylor So. St. Francis (Ill.) Bolingbrook, Ill.