Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell's Lauren Wible Named Patriot League Softball Player of the Year
4/28/2005 8:00:00 AM | Softball
April 28, 2005
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Record-setting Bucknell first baseman Patriot\ League\ Player\ of\ the\ Yearon Thursday when the annual softball postseason awards were announced by the league office. Wible was also named to the All-Patriot League First Team, the only Bucknell player to appear on either of the two All-Patriot League squads.
The Dover, Pa., native earned second team All-Patriot League citations her first two seasons, but has had a breakout junior campaign. Her .516 batting average ranks second in the country to Arizona's Caitlin Lowe's .519. If Wible keeps her average above the .500 plateau the rest of the season she will break the Bucknell single-season mark. The Patriot League record is .506 by Lafayette's Abby Bomba in 1996.
Wible, who owns a career-long 13-game hitting streak and has recorded hits in 24 of her last 25 games, and 31 of her last 33, has also hit for power. With a solo home run in the third inning of the second game of Wednesday's doubleheader against Delaware, she broke both the Bucknell single season and career home run records. She has hit seven round trippers this year, which leads the Patriot League, and 13 in her career, which stands eighth on the Patriot League's all-time list. The Bison season standard had been in place since 1990, while the career mark had stood since 1993.
A two-time Patriot League Player of the Week selection this year, Wible is closing in on a number of other Bucknell and Patriot League records. Her 14 doubles equals Jenny Snyder's Bucknell single-season record, and is just one away from tying for fifth place on the Patriot League list. Wible has also driven in a career-high 29 runs this year, which is just six shy of tying the Bucknell single-season mark of 35 set by current assistant coach Angie Stackhouse last year. She has 68 runs batted in during her three-year career, placing her just 35 shy of tying Heather Hoehn for the top spot on the Bucknell career list. That mark has stood since the 1994 campaign.
A starter in all 115 games during her career, Wible will easily eclipse the Bucknell single-season record for slugging percentage. She currently has a robust .884 slugging percentage, a full .182 above Lynne Walshaw's Bison standard of .702 that has been in place for 17 years.
Wible, who has 12 multiple-hit games this season, is closing in on the Bucknell record for total bases in a season. With 28 singles, 14 doubles and seven home runs she has accumulated 84 total bases. With 12 more she would tie Snyder's mark of 96.
Wible is the third Bison to be honored with the Patriot League Player of the Year award, following Lisa Fink in 1993 and Snyder in 1999. Only Army, with six winners, has garnered more Player of the Year awards. Colgate and Bucknell have each earned three, while Lafayette and Lehigh have each had two players win the award. Holy Cross has never grabbed the award for top player in the league.
First-place Lehigh and second-place Army dominated this year's All-Patriot League teams. The Mountain Hawks had seven total players chosen, including three on the first team. The Black Knights had a league-most four players selected on the first team and the same number on the second. Third-place Colgate saw six total players cited, including two on the first team. Holy Cross placed three players on the first team to round out the list of first-team players as Lafayette did not have a single player chosen to either squad. Lehigh swept three of the four individual awards. Emily Ling was Pitcher of the Year for the second time in three years, while Kate Marvel was the Rookie of the Year. Their coach, Fran Troyan, earned his second Coach of the Year honor.
Bucknell, which posted a 15-20 mark during the regular season, its most wins since 2001, qualified for the Patriot League Tournament for the second consecutive season. The Bison, who placed fourth in the Patriot League standings with an 8-10 conference record, will take on host and top-seeded Lehigh at 11 a.m. Saturday in their first game of the two-day double-elimination tournament.
