May 7, 2008

SOFTBALL: Lutes Bid Adieu to Head Coach Rick Noren

BEST WISHES, RICK: As announced earlier, head coach Rick Noren will leave Pacific Lutheran after 14 years to become athletic director at Life Christian Academy in Tacoma. He leaves PLU with an overall record of 404-145-1, eight Northwest Conference championships and eight national tournament appearances. Noren leaves PLU as the all-time leader in softball coaching wins.

WAY TO GO, CAITLIN: Freshman Caitlin Brown joined the PLU team six games into its 2008 season, and it was fortuitous for the squad that the bug to play bit her. Brown was a standout summer ball player in her home state of Oregon, but decided to focus on academics when she first came to PLU. After hearing about a broken arm suffered by Shelby Johnston during the fifth game of the season at Saint Martin’s, Brown asked Coach Noren for a tryout. Within a couple of weeks she was the starter at third base, and she ended up leading the Lutes with a .393 batting average. Even more remarkably, Caitlin handled 92 chances this season without an error. She received National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-West Region First Team honors and was the only PLU player selected to any of the region’s three teams. In addition, Brown was a second team All-Northwest Conference selection.

ALL-CONFERENCE PICKS: Seven Pacific Lutheran softball players were listed when the Northwest Conference named the all-conference teams on May 5. Sophomore catcher Vanessa Bryant and sophomore utility Rachel Wheeler-Hoyt were selected to the first team, freshman third baseman Caitlin Brown, senior outfielder Heather Walling and senior utility Lisa Gilbert were named to the second team, and sophomore infielder Carly Starke and sophomore pitcher Hadley Schmitt earned honorable mention.

A WINNING RECORD: Pacific Lutheran’s softball team received some good news when the Northwest Conference executive committee elected to award Pacific Lutheran a pair of forfeit wins against George Fox dating back to April 19. As a result, PLU finishes the 2008 season with a 21-19 record, giving departing head coach Rick Noren his 13th winning season in 14 years. The Lutes and Bruins were scheduled to play a Northwest Conference doubleheader on April 19, but a rash of injuries to an already small Bruins roster forced George Fox to end its season prematurely. Initially, the games were considered “no contests” under NCAA rules until this new decision by the conference executive board.

AN APPROPRIATE GIFT: Carly Starke gave departing head coach Rick Noren a present on the final Sunday of the week, belting an eighth-inning home run over the leftfield fence to give the Lutes a Northwest Conference sweep of the visiting Puget Sound Loggers. The Lutes sent Noren out with a sweep of the four-game series against the Loggers. PLU won the opening doubleheader at UPS by 3-2 and 4-2 scores, and then swept aside the rivals from Tacoma by 6-2 and 3-2 margins on the PLU diamond. Hadley Schmitt and Rachel Wheeler-Hoyt both picked up a pair of pitching victories during the weekend. Wheeler-Hoyt clubbed a pinch-hit two-run homer for the deciding runs in the first game. Schmitt allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits while striking out nine and walking four. Heather Walling had two of Pacific Lutheran's six hits in the game. In the second contest, the Lutes collected 13 hits in support of Rachel Wheeler-Hoyt, who won her 10th game of the season. Wheeler-Hoyt threw her second consecutive complete game three-hitter, allowing no earned runs while fanning three and walking two. On the concluding Sunday, Starke's home run, her second of the season, led off the eighth inning of the finale and gave Noren his 404th win in his final game as the Lutes' head coach. Wheeler-Hoyt improved her pitching record to 11-5 in that game, allowing two runs on six hits while walking three and striking out four. In the opener, the Lutes exploded for five runs on six hits and a Puget Sound error in the first inning. Schmitt improved her record to 8-13, allowing the two runs in eight hits in a complete-game effort. Seniors Heather Walling and Lisa Gilbert played their final games for the Lutes, Walling collecting three hits and Gilbert getting one in the doubleheader. Brown and Beth Haahr also had three hits during the twinbill.

WHEELER-HOYT NAMED PITCHER OF WEEK: It's a little after the fact, but it should be noted that Rachel Wheeler-Hoyt earned Northwest Conference Pitcher of the Week honors as announced on April 29 following her two victories over Puget Sound. She is the second PLU player to win either Pitcher of the Week of Player of the Week honors this season, joining Hadley Schmitt, named Pitcher of the Week on March 3.

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