NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — George Washington graduate student Sierra Lange was named the Atlantic 10 Softball Pitcher of the Year, while her sophomore teammate Alexa Williams was selected as A-10 Player of the Year in the league's annual softball awards, which were released Tuesday. Freshman Emma Schutter of Dayton was named the A-10 Rookie of the Year and GW's first-year coach Chrissy Schoonmaker was selected as Coach of the Year.

The Atlantic 10 announced the four major awards along with the All-Conference, All-Rookie and All-Academic teams ahead of the start of the 2022 A-10 Softball Championship, which begins Wednesday at George Mason Softball Complex in Fairfax, Va. The major awards, All-Conference Teams and All-Rookie Team were voted on by the A-10’s head softball coaches. The All-Academic team was selected by the softball media relations directors.

Lange, a right-hander from Plano, Texas, ranks 39^th nationally and led the A-10 with 185 strikeouts and she leads the A-10 with 24 wins. She pitched 187.1 innings, posting an ERA of 2.28 with a 24-7 record and a 1.25 ERA in league play. She had 22 complete games, 13 of which came in league play. Lange also was named to the All-Conference First Team and the All-Academic Team. She is the first Pitcher of the Year repeat winner since UMass' Sara Plourde won the award from 2010-2012.
 
Williams, an outfielder from El Cajon, Calif., ranked 25^th nationally in RBI per game (1.07). She led the A-10 in slugging percentage (.652) and RBI (46) and was second in home runs with 10. Williams was also the seventh hardest player to strikeout nationally, striking out just four times all season.
 
An outfielder from Dayton, Ohio, Schutter led the A-10 in batting average with .419, which ranked 29^th nationally. In league-only games, that average climbs to .547. She was second in the league in on-base percentage (.464) and stolen bases and stolen bases per game  (.512), successfully stealing 21 bases on 23 attempts.
 
Schoonmaker guided GW to a 33-13 overall record, a 21-3 league record and its second straight A-10 regular season title. The Sebastian, Fla., native is in her first year as the Colonials head coach. The Colonials enter the A-10 Championship as winners of 11 of the last 12 games. GW is the first school to have a repeat Coach of the year since Fordham in 2010-22, and it’s the first time in league history two different coaches have won the award for the same school in back-to-back years (Shane Winkler won in 2021).
 
Joining Williams (OF), Lange (P) and Schutter (OF) on the All-Conference First Team are Dayton's Ali Weekley (2B), Grace Gressly (C) and Kelsey Gumm (P); Bailey Enoch (DP) of Fordham; Alessandra Ponce (1B), Hannah Eslick (SS), and Maddie Spell (DP) from George Washington and Gabbie Kowalik (OF) and Kristi Stevenson (3B) of Saint Louis.
 
The All-Conference Second Team consists of Dayton's Alyssa Cacini (DP); Fordham's Brianna Pinto (OF); Marlaina Bozek (2B), Haley Taormina (3B) and Taylor Dadig (OF) from George Mason; Ari Castillo (SS) of Rhode Island; Madison Fife (C), Sarah Cancila (OF) and Emily Siler (P) of Saint Joseph's; and Saint Louis' Sadie Wise (1B) and Chloe Wendling (P).
 
Schutter, Spell, and Cancila are all part of the All-Rookie Team, as are Allie Clary and Sydney Well of Fordham, George Mason's Jordan Anderson, Julianne Bolton of UMass, Kaelin Cash and Kayla Tauber of Saint Joseph's and Saint Louis' Taylor Hochman, Jane Kaniecki and Natalie Sullivan.
 
The All-Academic team is made up of Rachel Hubertus for Fordham, Maddy Dwyer of GW, Rhody's Liz Lynchard, plus Gumm, Weekley, Dadig, Lange, Ponce, Kowalik, Stevenson and Wise.
 
The 2022 Atlantic 10 Softball Championship begins Wednesday with the first round at noon ET/11:00 am CT. The double-elimination championship will conclude on Saturday with the A-10 Championship Final. Every game of the A-10 championship will be streamed live on ESPN+.

2022 Atlantic 10 Softball Awards