ECAC Awards: Hit and Miss

Jocelyn Dearborn

The ECAC is rather irrelevant in softball and that is a fact compounded every year by its awards that are announced in mid-July. Maybe they are understaffed or something else...regardless maybe they should focus their efforts on hockey.

They did get one thing right: Jocelyn Dearborn was named ECAC Player of the Year for her outstanding senior season. Dearborn will go down as one of the best players in Fordham and A10 history and she will be missed dearly.

Now to move on to the first of two headscratchers: Jen Mineau and Sara Plourde were named to the ECAC 2nd Team, while Olivia Galati and Jenna Caira were named to the 1st Team, with Caira being named ECAC Pitcher of the Year. Caira and Galati are very good, but Plourde and Mineau are every bit as good if not better.

Here's a look at the numbers
Mineau 1.22 ERA 24-9 224.2 IP 300 SO
Galati 1.24 ERA 29-8 242.2 IP 348 SO
Plourde 1.37 ERA 27-15 295.1 IP 498 SO
Caira 1.51 ERA 35-11 283.1 IP 321 SO

Caira's numbers were worse than the other three pitchers, yet she got the honor. The one category that she led, W-L is largely irrelevant when looking at a pitcher because those numbers are dependent on how good the rest of the team is. Clearly, the ECAC has different evaluating standards than the NFCA. Some may play the SOS card in defense of Caira's numbers, but Mineau and Plourde played schedules that were every bit as tough if not tougher. Galati on the other hand played a much weaker schedule. I would love to hear the rational for putting the best ERA of these 4 pitchers and the nation's leader in SO on the 2nd team.

But the worst decision from the ECAC awards has to be the decision to name Bill Edwards Coach of the Year. Edwards led Hofstra to the regular season title in the CAA, but they didn't win the conference tournament or advance to regionals. Coach Bridget Orchard of Fordham would have been a logical selection, considering her squad won the regular season and tournament titles in the A10 and the Rams played in regionals. Since the ECAC waited so long to produce these awards, they need to take the postseason into account when determining these awards, which they clearly did not do. It also makes you wonder who selected the honorees

Step it up ECAC

The A10 Softball Blog will always stick up for the players and coaches of the A10 no matter what.