WASHINGTON -- Loyola Chicago senior Sydney Barnett earned recognition as the Atlantic 10 Softball Player of the Year while junior teammate Peyton Pepkowski locked down Pitcher the Year accolades. Additionally, Saint Louis freshman Isabel Royle garnered the league’s Rookie of the Year distinction while Dayton junior Emma Schutter was selected as the first ever Defensive Player of the Year. Schutter's coach Clara Clark was named the Coach of the Year.
The Atlantic 10 released the five superlative awards along with the All-Conference, All-Rookie and All-Academic teams Tuesday prior to the Opening Round of 2024 A-10 Softball Championship. The major honors, All-Conference teams and All-Rookie team were voted on by the A-10 softball head coaches while the All-Academic team was selected by the softball communications directors.
Barnett has been a force at the plate all season long leading the Ramblers. In conference play only, Barnett is second in the league in batting average (.400), first in slugging percentage (.857), tied fifth in RBI (24), second in home runs (8), and tied third in walks (20). In the last game of the regular season, Barnett hit her 13th home run of the season to walk-off Loyola in the ninth against Fordham. She tied the single-season record and needs just one more to be in sole possession of the record. The Pontiac, Ill. native was a two-time Player of the Week this year. Barnett is the first ever Loyola Chicago Player of the Year.
Pepkowski was a four-time Pitcher of the Week honoree ahead of her Pitcher of the Year honor. The St. John, Ind. native is the first Rambler since 2014 to collect the honor in any conference. In A-10 play, Pepkowski is fifth in ERA (2.23), second in opponent batting average (.183), first in innings pitched (97.1), first in strikeouts (114), and tied second in wins (9). Against Rhode Island, the junior pitched retired a conference single-game high 17 batters this season. It was one of five games this year with at least 10 strikeouts for the Indiana native. Pepkowski is the first ever Loyola Chicago Pitcher of the Week.
A four-time Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week, Royle concluded the regular season with 13 wins (13-5) and a team-best 2.51 ERA, ranking tied for third and fourth, respectively, in the A-10. She also ranks sixth in complete games (11), seventh in innings (128 1/3), tied for eighth in appearances (30) and tied for 10th in starts (19). The Sun Prairie, Wis. native has 104 strikeouts and just 49 walks for a 2.12 strikeout-to-walk ratio. In her last 20 appearances, she registered a sparkling 2.02 ERA. Royle led the Billiken staff with a 9-3 record and a 1.76 ERA in conference play, tying for second in wins and finishing second in ERA.
Schutter has started in 150 consecutive games as Dayton's everyday center fielder. This season, the hometown Dayton player has 78 putouts and four outfield assists to zero errors to lead the Flyers' defense. On offense, Schutter leads the team with 53 hits and 33 runs scored and is second with 25 stolen bases and 20 walks. A two-time NFCA Mid-Atlantic Region First Team honoree, her .397 career batting average and 77 stolen bases both rank second all-time in the Dayton record book. Schutter becomes the first ever Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year and it marks Schutter's third-consecutive major year-end conference award after being named the 2022 Rookie of the Year and 2023 Player of the Year.
In her 17th season as head coach of the Flyer softball program, Clark led the team to its second-consecutive and fifth overall 30-win season with a 30-19 record. This is Dayton's second A-10 regular season title and No. 1 seed at the A-10 Championship (2015), when she also won Coach of the Year. She surpassed the 400-win mark at UD earlier this year and has a total of 541 wins over her 23-year career as a head coach.
Joining Barnett (third base) and Pepkowski (pitcher) on the All-Conference First Team are their teammate Liz Sedakis (shortstop), Dayton’s Kirnan Bailey (shortstop), Haven Dwyer (pitcher) and Maddie Kapsimalis (second base), Fordham's Bailey Enoch (outfield), Neleh Nogay (outfield), Nicki Sudall (designated player) and Sydney Wells (catcher), George Washington's Rose Cano (utility), and Saint Louis' Jane Kaniecki (first base) and Natalie Sullivan (outfield).
The All-Conference Second Team features Royle (pitcher), Schutter (outfield) as well as Dayton's Molly Grace (first base), Izzy Kemp (pitcher) and Chloe Wong (third base), George Washington's Allison Heffley (catcher) and Alexa Williams (outfield), Massachusetts Sarah Keagy (designated player) and Chloe Whittier (outfield), Rhode Island's Elena Gonzalez (utility) and Saint Joseph's Sarah Cancila (second base) and Kayla Tauber (shortstop)
The All-Rookie team stars All-Conference selections Bailey, Sedakis and Royle in addition to GW's Paige Hayward, Mandy Lauth, Cece Smith and Sophia Torreso, Saint Joseph's Haley McMenamin and Gianna Muhaw and Saint Louis' Abby Ulsas.
The All-Academic team includes Kapsimalis, Schutter, Williams, Barnett, Pepkowski and Sullivan as well as Dayton’s Sarah Bailitz, George Mason's Rachel Warrens, Saint Joseph's Riley York and Saint Louis' Taylor Hochman.
The 2024 Atlantic 10 Softball Championship opens with first round contests Wednesday between fourth-seeded Fordham and No. 5 UMass at noon ET and No. 3 overall Loyola Chicago and sixth-seeded Saint Joseph's at 2:30 p.m. ET. The Wednesday tripleheader concludes with the tournament’s first elimination game between the losing squads of the first two matchups in the nightcap, first pitch slated for 5 p.m. ET.
The entirety of the A-10 Softball Championship will be streamed live via ESPN+.