Norman, Williams Highlight Roosevelt's All-CCAC Honors
CHICAGO – Five Roosevelt players earned honors from the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference on Wednesday when the league announced its all-conference honors.
For the second year in a row, Emily Zuniga was named the conference's Gold Glove recipient at second base. Samantha Norman earned an upgrade from a second-team selection last year to being a first-team choice this season. Caitlin Williams earned first-team honors in her first season with the Lakers while Brynn Dvoracek and Athena Pomele-Pen returned to the list of honorees with second-team distinction after being honored two seasons ago as freshmen.
Norman was an easy choice for first-team honors due to her dominance in the circle for the Lakers. She tied for the CCAC lead with eight wins in conference play and finished second in the league in strikeouts in CCAC action with 60. The senior from Shorewood also collected the second-best WHIP in the league in conference play, a statistic that measures walks and hits per inning pitched.
This season, Norman threw a career-high 131 1/3 innings and finished with 128 strikeouts, two shy of the single-season record. Her 2.08 ERA was the third-best in the conference and none of the other eight pitchers with at least 100 innings pitched allowed fewer hits than Norman.
"Sammy truly is the epitome of what we stand for as a program," Roosevelt head coach Michele Alexander said. "She has put in so much time and effort to be the very best pitcher and teammate she can be, and it really showed the past two years for our program. Not only were her numbers phenomenal, but her presence on the mound gave our team the confidence we needed to believe that we could beat any team that we played."
Williams made an underrated impact on the Lakers this season from her spot in right field. In addition to being a reliable outfielder defensively, Williams made her at-bats count for Roosevelt. She led the team with a .337 batting average and .427 on-base percentage even though the ball rarely left the infield off her bat.
"Caitlin's numbers showed how much potential she has a player and leader for this program," Alexander said. "She is a born leader, and I am so proud of how she has stepped up as a mid-year transfer to help our program grow during this period."
Both Dvoracek and Pomele-Pen were all-conference players as freshmen in 2022, but were not honored last season. The duo both hit over .300 to return to the conference honors as junior leaders on the team ranking in the top-three in almost every offensive category.
Pomele-Pen led the team with 26 RBIs while batting .308 and scoring 17 runs. Dvoracek was right behind her with a .304 batting average with a team-best 35 hits and .461 slugging percentage while also contributing 18 RBIs. Both infielders also hit two home runs this season for Roosevelt to boost their totals.
"Athena is the spark plug of our team. Her grit, tenacity, and fire drive others to be better every single day," Alexander said. "Brynn has come such a long way in the last three years I have known her. She has quickly grown into a leader on this team and is someone that we have complete confidence in her when she steps up to the plate in high pressure situations."
Zuniga improved her fielding percentage to .986 this season with just two errors on 138 total chances in the field. The junior had 102 putouts and 34 assists this season, and helped turn five double plays this year. In conference play, Zuniga had just one error in 58 opportunities.
"Emily is a true defensive talent," Alexander said. "Her glove work is unmatched in the conference and there is no doubt that when the ball is in her vicinity that she will successfully make the play. I am so proud of how hard she has worked to become the player and leader she is today."