Five Hawks Garner Atlantic 10 Softball Honors

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Finishing first in the Atlantic 10 regular season and earning a bye for this week's conference postseason tournament, the Saint Joseph's softball team was recognized for its stellar play as five Hawks earned A-10 honors, conference officials announced on Tuesday. The Hawks had four players named to All-Conference teams, highlighted by A-10 Pitcher of the Year Taryn Ashway (Waynesboro, Pa./Waynesboro Area), A-10 Rookie of the Year Sarah Yoos (Warrington, Pa./Archbishop Wood) and A-10 Coach of the Year Terri Adams.

Posting four players on A-10 All-Conference squads for the third straight year, Ashway and Yoos join senior Dana Parks (Vineland, N.J./Vineland) on the A-10 All-Conference First Team, while redshirt senior Monica Aguilar (Buena Park, Calif./John F. Kennedy) was selected to the A-10 All-Conference Second Team. Additionally, Parks was selected to the A-10 All-Academic Team for the third straight season, while Yoos becomes the sixth SJU player to be named to the A-10 All-Rookie Team.

Dominating in the circle, Ashway has turned in one of the best seasons in team history. Appearing in 37 games, Ashway set a new Saint Joseph's single season record for wins, going 26-3 with three saves and an A-10 leading 1.62 ERA. Amassing 172 strikeouts to just 35 walks, she finished conference play with a 12-2 record and added two saves in helping the Hawks to a 17-5 A-10 mark. The four-year letterwinner enters this week's tournament fifth all-time in program history for wins (48), fourth in strikeouts (426) and first in saves (10). Ashway joins Bonnie Gasior (1993) as the only players in team history to be named A-10 Pitcher of the Year.

Making an immediate impact in the field and at the plate, Yoos has proven to be one of the top players in the A-10 in her first season. Starting all 43 games at second base, she is tied for the team lead in RBIs (31) and runs scored (29), while batting .361. Boasting a team-best .537 slugging percentage and .514 on-base percentage, Yoos is just the second Hawk to be named A-10 Rookie of the Year, joining teammate, and 2009 recipient, Aguilar.

Leading Saint Joseph's to its first regular season A-10 title, Adams becomes the first manager in team history to be named A-10 Coach of the Year. Picked to finish fourth in the conference in the preseason poll, Adams has guided the Hawks to a 34-8-1 overall mark and a team-record 17 conference wins. Under her teaching, SJU's pitching staff has proven to be the top staff in the conference, boasting a 2.04 team ERA, while the offense ranks fifth in batting average (.276). Now in her seventh season, Adams has led the Hawks to six consecutive postseason appearances and holds a 178-132-2 career record.

Garnering All-Conference honors for the third straight year, Parks again has proven to be one of the best centerfielders in the A-10. Boasting a team-best .369 batting average and 1.000 fielding percentage, the SJU leadoff hitter has tallied a team-high 55 hits and broke the team's single-season record for stolen bases with 23, surpassing her own record (20) that she set in 2011. Just the third player in program history to collect over 200 hits, Parks currently ranks third all-time in hits (221), first in stolen bases (58), third in runs scored (118) and fourth in batting percentage (.358).

Returning from a season-ending Achilles injury in 2012, Aguilar anchored third base for the Hawks this season, starting 42 games. At the plate, Saint Joseph's cleanup hitter is hitting .286 with 21 RBIs, 18 runs scored and a team-high 18 walks. The five-year letterwinner currently ranks eighth all-time in career hits (174), fourth in RBIs (111) fifth in home runs (19) and second in walks (89).

Saint Joseph's opens play at the Atlantic 10 Championship this Thursday at noon at the University of Massachusetts' Sortino Field.