Christensen earns second straight Pitcher of the Year award, six named All-Midwest Conference
Release Date:  May, 2009

Senior Sarah Christensen (Galesburg, Ill./Galesburg) was named the Midwest Conference South Division Pitcher of the Year for the second consecutive year as a record six Fighting Scots were named to the all-conference softball team.

A pair of freshmen joined Christensen on the first team. Catcher Lauren Bergstresser (Peoria, Ill./Richwoods) and shortstop Morgan Seiler (Chillicothe, Ill./IVC) earned selections after stellar inaugural seasons. Another freshman and two seniors were tabbed for the second team. Freshman utility player Brittany Forney (Spring Valley, Ill./Hall) joined senior pitcher Amanda Murdock (Aledo, Ill./Aledo) and senior outfielder Ashley Parer (Rock Island ,Ill./Rock Island) in picking up their first all-league honors.

Christensen, who last year became the Scots’ first Pitcher of the Year, finished the 2009 season with a 9-4 record and a 3.43 ERA. She finished in the top five in the Midwest Conference in five categories. She held opponents to a .231 batting average while recording 101 strikeouts. Her 276 career Ks ranks her second on Monmouth’s all-time list. 

Bergstresser racked up a conference-leading 24 stolen bases, which also set the Scots’ season record. In her first year, she is already more than halfway to the career mark of 43 set by Drew Robinson from 2005-07. Her .391 average tied for third in the league and she also tied for second with 32 runs scored.

Seiler led the Scots with 25 RBIs while hitting at a .361 clip. She collected six doubles and posted a .505 slugging percentage. In coach John Goddard’s nomination of Seiler, he wrote, “She was out with an injury for seven straight games, and we lost all seven.”

Forney began the year as a utility player, logging most of her time in the outfield before taking a role as the designated player. She hit .307 with 14 RBIs and was 7-for-7 in stolen bases.

Murdock’s six wins this season was the most in her career. Her 78 innings pitched were second on the team to Christensen. The senior allowed just four hits and no earned runs in her last two regular season games. For the season, she had a nearly two-to-one strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Parer finished her career in style with a career-high .314 batting average. She was a perfect 6-for-6 in stolen base attempts and ended her career with a 93 percent success rate. Parer also scored a career-high 18 runs for the Fighting Scots.

Monmouth finished the season with a 17-19 record, marking the most wins for the program since the 2003 South Division Championship team won 22 games. This is the fourth straight year the Scots have posted double-digit wins. One of the Scots’ wins came over a nationally ranked team which had lost to only two other teams during the regular season. Monmouth’s six selections to the all-conference team are the most in Fighting Scots’ softball history.

Murdock earns first career Pitcher of the Week award
Release Date:  April 27, 2009

 A standout performance in the circle last week has earned Amanda Murdock (Aledo, Ill./Aledo) her first Midwest Conference Softball Pitcher of the Week award.

Murdock, a senior right-hander, threw the best game of her three-year career with the Fighting Scots last Thursday. She didn’t allow an earned run in six full innings of work in a 2-1 loss to Cornell. The Rams’ only runs came via two errors in the fifth inning. Murdock hadn’t allowed a runner past first in her three-strikeout, three-hit performance until the fatal fifth. The senior’s stellar outing came just two days after she worked 3.1 innings in a 10-2 loss to Augustana.

For the week, Murdock posted a 3.00 ERA, more than a full run below her season average.

Christensen named Pitcher of the Week, Seiler Position Player of the Week
Release Date:  April 13, 2009

Pitcher Sarah Christensen (Galesburg, Ill./Galesburg) picked up her second conference award this season. The senior was nearly untouchable in a pair of wins last week while posting a 2-0 record with a pair of five inning victories – a 10-2 win over Robert Morris-Springfield and a 12-0 league win over Knox College. Christensen rebounded from a shaky first inning against Robert Morris, allowing three hits in the inning as RMS scored both their runs. The only runners to reach after the first inning were by errors as Christensen faced just two batters over the minimum over the last four innings. Against Knox, Christensen nearly earned her first career no-hitter in a shutout over Knox. A sun-field fly ball that dropped for a base hit in the first inning was the only hit the senior allowed in a one hit, one walk, 10 strikeout day. She faced just two batters over the minimum, allowing the hit and walk in the first inning. For the week, Christensen held opponents to a .111 batting average and had a 1.40 ERA with 16 Ks, one walk, four hits and two runs.

Freshman shortstop Morgan Seiler (Chillicothe, Ill./IVC) did her best to help the Fighting Scots to a 3-1 week, splitting a double-header with Robert Morris-Springfield, winning the opener 10-2 and dropping nightcap 5-2, then sweeping Knox 12-0 and 13-7. The freshman slugged a two-run homer in the second inning of Game 1 against Robert Morris to give the Scots a 5-2 lead. She then picked up a pair of singles in the nightcap to go 3-for-7 in the twinbill. Seiler owned the pitchers in the conference matchup against Knox as she went 4-for-6 with three doubles and four RBIs in the two games. Her first double in the opener scored the first run in the five-run first. She then hit back-to-back doubles in her first two at-bats in Game 2, driving in three runs. For the week, the slugging shortstop hit .538 with a 1.000 slugging percentage, driving in seven runs while going 7-for13 with five runs scored, no strikeouts and a .600 on-base percentage.

Christensen named Pitcher of the Week
Release Date:  March 30, 2009

Pitcher Sarah Christensen (Galesburg, Ill./Galesburg) was named the Midwest Conference Pitcher of the Week after she moved to No. 2 on the all-time strikeout list at Monmouth and helped the Fighting Scots to their biggest win of the season.

Christensen struck out eight batters in a 5-4 win over MacMurray Wednesday to tie Kim Buckert’s 201 career Ks. She then took sole possession of second place with three strikeouts in a 3-2 win the next day against 18^th ranked Illinois Wesleyan. Christensen, who worked the first five innings against IWU Thursday, kept Monmouth within striking distance. The senior hurler allowed just one run before leaving the game trailing 1-0. Against MacMurray, Christensen worked out of a bases loaded, one out jam in the first inning before settling in to fan five of the next of the next six batters.

For the week, Christensen was 1-0 while recording 11 strikeouts with one walk and a 2.10 ERA. Opposing batters hit just .225 against Christensen.