All-Conference Team
Westfield State placed five players on the 2009 Massachusetts State College Athletics Conference (MASCAC) all-conference softball squad.
First-team selections were senior pitcher Chelsea Sylvia (South Dartmouth), who also was named the MASCAC player of the year for the second consecutive season, senior center fielder Jackie Mason (Florida, Mass.), senior first baseman Katie Gorman (Feeding Hills), and sophomore designated hitter Alicia Gardner (Athol). Freshman pitcher Madeline Tomich (Alford) was selected the MASCAC rookie of the year.
Sylvia pitched the Owls to their second straight 23-win season and their first conference regular season championship in 24 years. The hard-throwing righthander posted a 15-6 record and 1.53 earned run average and set a school single-season record with 181 strikeouts.
Sylvia, who transferred from Emmanuel College (she did not play softball there) following her freshman year, was a three-time first-team all-conference selection and the rookie of the year in 2007. In only three seasons she shattered the school record for strikeouts, whiffing 475 batters in 371 innings pitched.
Sylvia also ranks first on the Owls' all-time charts with 41victories and a 1.49 earned run average. She is second in complete games (51) and third in games (66) and innings pitched.
Mason, a three-time all-conference first-team selection, also had a record-setting career at Westfield State. A four-year starter, the Drury High School product established new school career records for games played (131), at bats (449), runs scored (133), hits (157), triples (18), and walks (62).
Mason set a school record this season with eight triples. She scored 44 runs and rapped 53 hits, the second base single-season marks in school history.
The fleet center fielder led the Owls with a .465 batting average and 23 stolen bases. Possessing a rare combination of speed and power, Mason leads the MASCAC in both slugging percentage (.693) and on base percentage (.526).
Both Gorman and Gardner were all-conference first-team selections for the second straight year. Gorman had a .352 on base percentage and led the Owls with four home runs. Gardner batted .349 with four doubles and five triples. She led the MASCAC with 23 walks and had an on base percentage of .487.
Tomich emerged as the Owls' No. 2 pitcher and finished with a 5-4 record, striking out 72 in 63 innings pitched. She ranked second in the conference behind Sylvia with a 1.55 earned run average.