INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Ashley Lugo (Hesperia, CA/Oak Hills), a senior softball player for the Saxons, has been selected as Alfred University's nomination for the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year award, joining 576 women across all three divisions of the NCAA including 201 other Division III student-athletes.
 
Lugo is a four-year member of the Alfred University softball team who has been essential in the program's success since her inaugural season as the starting shortstop. In her first year, she helped the Saxons reach the Empire 8 Championship Finals while playing in Hoboken, NJ in 2019. After a shortened 2020 season due to the COVID-19 global pandemic shutdown, Lugo returned to the diamond and made a name for herself on the national level, as she vaulted up the ranks of all-time stolen base runners, breaking not only the AU records but the Empire 8 records for stolen bases in a single season and career stolen bases (after only two complete seasons).
 
She had 52 stolen bases in the Saxons' Empire 8 Championship season and broke the Empire 8 career record with 69 stolen bases and counting as she ended her 2022 campaign with 137 total stolen bases. The NCAA record is 195 career stolen bases as she closed in with 48 steals during the Saxons 2022 Empire 8 Championship season, becoming one of only three teams in school history to repeat as E8 Champions.
 
Lugo has a career batting average of .354 from 438 at-bats and 155 hits including 25 doubles, 12 triples and seven home runs. She has crossed home plate 120 times while driving home runners 68 times. Defensively, she has a .904 fielding percentage with 231 assists and 221 putouts.
 
Lugo was selected as a 2021 National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division III All-American Second Team member. She is a back-to-back All-Empire 8 First Team selection in 2021 and 2022 and Honorable Mention in 2019.
 
Academically, Lugo has been a consistent Saxon Scholar Athlete and has made Dean's List three times and Empire 8 President's List once while earning 2021 Easton/NFCA All-America Scholar-Athlete. Lugo was a psychology major during her undergraduate studies and is now working towards her MBA at Alfred University.
 
Lugo is the second Saxon softball player in a row to be up for this award as Elena Ceja '20 was selected for the 2020-21 academic year.