Five Defiance Softball Members Placed on All-HCAC Teams

GREENWOOD, Ind. – The Yellow Jacket softball program had five of its players recognized by the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference for their strong performances during the 2012 season. Junior Katie Miller, senior Aubrie Ridinger, sophomore Jordan Sawmiller, sophomore Macy Ferrall and sophomore Stephanie Esquibel were all voted onto the teams by the HCAC coaches.  [All-HCAC Teams]

Miller was honored with First-Team All-HCAC recognition for the second consecutive year on Wednesday. The junior led the Jackets in homeruns, runs batted in and slugging percentage. Miller did the majority of her damage in conference play, as the junior batted .429 with a slugging percentage of .837. Miller also recorded four homeruns and 17 RBIs in 16 HCAC games.

Ridinger and Sawmiller were named Second-Team All-HCAC. Ridinger consistently led the team in batting average, hits, runs and on-base percentage. The senior recorded 11 runs and a .357 batting average. To go along with a strong season at the plate, Ridinger sported a fielding percentage of .971 in league action.

One of DC's main power sources throughout the season was Sawmiller, who led the team in slugging percentage and was second in homeruns. The sophomore's season slugging percentage was .484, which helped lead to 17 runs batted in. Sawmiller posted a season fielding percentage of .985.

Ferrall earned Honorable Mention All-HCAC status for her sophomore season. Ferrall batted .284 in HCAC play and had the second highest slugging percentage in league action with a mark of .526. The sophomore also drove in seven runners and scored five times over the 16 HCAC contests.

Another Yellow Jacket who received recognition was sophomore Stephanie Esquibel, who was honored with being placed on the All-Sportsmanship Team. Esquibel was the only Yellow Jacket to start all 39 games of the season and had a fielding percentage of .986 at the first base position.

The Purple and Gold finished the HCAC season with a 7-9 record, narrowly missing the conference tournament.