ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University softball team (22-19, 8-6 Empire 8) placed five members on the Empire 8 All-Conference Team after falling just short of the championship game at the Empire 8 Championship Tournament.
 
Senior Haley Powers (Newark, DE/St. Georges Tech) and sophomore Jessica Wilcox (Forestville, NY/Pine Valley) were named to the Empire 8 All-Conference First Team while junior Becca Alexander (Middletown, DE/Middletown) and sophomore Jillian Murray (Eden, NY/Eden) earned Second Team honors. Junior Lu Krawczyk (West Seneca, NY/West Seneca West) was named Empire 8 All-Conference Honorable Mention.
 
"All of these players are very deserving of all conference recognition, Head Coach Luke Wesneski said. "Jessica [Wilcox] had a breakout season and was solid on the mound for us all season and kept us in every game. Haley [Powers] capped off her career with a great season, after settling into her natural position at 3B and looked comfortable there all year. Jill did everything we asked of her and is a true utility player. She had a very good offensive year and became a mainstay at the top of the lineup and always seemed to find a way to get on base. Becca [Alexander] anchored the outfield. She made terrific play after terrific play and was the vocal leader out there. This was a breakout season for her and she will head into the off season with a lot of confidence. Lu Krawczyk had a great year behind the plate and offensively had a solid year, no matter where she was placed in the lineup. Other veteran starters like Kelley Staub, Lea Georgatos, Shannon Schaefer and Elena Ceja all had great years as well. They may not have received all conference recognition but were integral parts of the teams overall success."
 
Powers, a 2018 captain, is enjoying her second stint on the Empire 8 First Team after a one season hiatus in 2017. She was the offensive catalyst for the Saxons throughout the year, recording a .379 batting average, 44 hits, 26 runs and 25 RBIs. In Empire 8 Conference play, she batted .489 including five doubles, one triple and two homeruns. Compared to her Empire 8 counterparts, she finished third in hits (44), fourth in doubles (11), fourth in home runs (4), seventh in slugging percentage (.595), seventh in runs scored (26), seventh in RBIs (25), and seventh in walks (12). Powers also recorded 11 multi-hit games, including five three-hit games and two four-hit games. She completed her career with 125 hits (11^th all-time in AU history) and 83 RBIs (ninth in AU history).
 
Wilcox is celebrating her inaugural year on the Empire 8 First Team following a season she spent rewriting the Alfred University pitching record book. She set new single game (14) and single season (150) strikeout records en route to an 11-win season, falling only three wins short of making her way onto the top-five list for wins in a season in AU history. On top of finishing second in the Empire 8 in strikeouts, she ranked second in innings pitched (126.1) and batters struck out looking (50), third in opposing batting average (.215), fourth in wins and fifth in earned run average (1.83). After only two years, she has 186 career strikeouts, only 24 short of fifth-place on the all-time career strikeouts list at AU.
 
Alexander is also making her first appearance on the Empire 8 All-Conference team after leading the Saxons and Empire 8 in RBIs (31). She completed the year with a .311 batting average and .368 on-base percentage, racking up 38 hits. She also scored 22 runs while crushing seven doubles, one triple and two home runs. Alexander was virtually impossible to strikeout in 2018, finishing second in the Empire 8 with only three strikeouts in 122 at bats and racking up 12 multi-hit games. She also served as a leader in the outfield, earning 51 putouts and two assists on a .964 fielding percentage.
 
Murray earned Empire 8 All-Conference honors for the first time in her career, filling in at the utility position. She played second, outfield and pitcher throughout the year while providing the Saxons with both contact and power in the middle of the lineup. She wrapped up 2018 tied for first on the team in batting average (.379), first in triples (4) second in home runs (3), third in hits (36), third in RBIs (19) and fourth in runs scored (18). She also topped the Empire 8 with four triples while ranking sixth in slugging percentage (.600). Murray led AU with 13 multi-hit games, including two three-hit games. She pitched 31.2 innings in the circle, racking up 11 strikeouts while earning one win and one save.
 
Krawczyk is another Empire 8 All-Conference first-timer as an Honorable Mention. She finished 2018 with a .330 batting average (third on the team), 32 hits, five doubles, one home run and 15 RBIs as a catcher. She finished seventh in the Empire 8 with eight stolen bases. Behind the plate, she caught four runners stealing. Among her accolades, she earned HERO Sports Division III Softball HERO of the Week and Empire 8 Softball Player of the Week honors.
 
The Saxons advanced to their 10^th Empire 8 Championship Tournament in 2018, finishing third after eliminating Stevens in round two and falling to Utica in the conference semifinal game. As a team, AU posted 236 strikeouts (third all-time in school history), a .303 batting average (10^th all-time), 2.79 ERA (eighth all-time), .267 opposing batting average (10^th all-time), and 3.48 runs allowed per game (eighth all-time).
 
Each season, the Empire 8 honors students-athletes from each conference school, who play on teams sponsored by the conference, with Sportsperson of the Year awards. Honorees, chosen by their coaches, exhibited outstanding sportsmanship in keeping with the conference's mission of "competing with honor and integrity." Powers was the Saxons' representative for 2018.