Freshman Brittany Danilov picked up two major awards and senior Jamie Smrdel at long last netted first team accolades as the 2009 All-Ohio Athletic Conference Softball team was anounced following a vote of the league's ten head coaches.
Danilov becomes the first John Carroll softball player to earn a major conference award, and she was able to garner two of them in the same season. She was named OAC Rookie of the Year and the recipient of the John Wells Award for Pitcher of the Year.
The awards come on the heels of a season in which Danilov compiled a record of 20-7, an ERA of 1.55, and tallied 154 strikeouts against just 28 walks in 171.2 innings of work. The totals number of wins, strikeouts and innings pitched were all John Carroll single season records.
Smrdel, who was a second team All-OAC selection in 2006 and 2007 and an honorable mention in 2008, broke through onto the first team in 2009. Leading the team and the league in batting average with a mark of .516, Smrdel collected 47 hits (including 14 doubles) and 33 RBI. She was also walked a league-high 35 times including 15 times intentionally.
At the end of her four years, Smrdel leaves the JCU program as the all-time leader in several offensive categories, most notably hits (197), doubles (49), home runs (27) and RBI (150).
Earning second team All-OAC honors was junior Julie Marlowe. With her best season as a Blue Streak to date in the books, Marlowe ended 2009 with a .371 batting average, and a team-high 52 hits to go with a team-leading 30 runs scored.
Freshman Olivia Matthews was accorded honorable mention status on the All-OAc team for 2009. in her rookie campaign, matthews batted .365 with 42 hits and 21 runs scored.
John Carroll ended the year 28-11 overall and 13-5 (2nd place) in the OAC. The 28 total wins and 13 league wins were both program records as JCU advanced to its second consecutive OAC Tournament and third overall.