Quartet of Badgers Earn All-Big Ten Honors
May 12, 2005 | Softball
Seniors Boo Gillette (Southwest Ranches, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas), Kris Zacher (Milwaukee, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran) and Anastasia Miller (Elburn, Ill./Kaneland) and freshman Katie Hnatyk (London, Ontario/Woodbury (Minn.)) have each been named third-team All-Big Ten by the league's coaches the Conference office announced Thursday.
The four players selected ranks as a tie for the most UW players named All-Big Ten in a single season. Wisconsin also had four third-team selections in 2003.
For Gillette, it is the third consecutive year she has been named the third-team catcher. She ranked second on the team in Big Ten play this season with a .338 batting average and four home runs, while her 12 RBI were fourth-best on the squad. Gillette tied for the team lead with seven multi-hit games, including three in a win over Purdue April 22. She was also stellar behind the plate, gunning down six of 14 baserunners attempting to steal while committing just one error.
Miller, who was also a third-team pick in 2003 as a sophomore, was selected as an outfielder. She started all 20 Big Ten contests in left field, ranking third on the Badgers with a .311 average while tying for second with four home runs and 13 RBI. She also led all UW outfielders with three assists. Perhaps her highlight of the conference season came on April 3 in the first game of a doubleheader against Penn State when she connected for a two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the seventh inning to give Wisconsin a 6-5 victory.
Zacher earned her first all-conference honor as a shortstop. She batted a team-high .383 in Big Ten play with two triples, four homers, eight walks, seven stolen bases and a .646 slugging percentage. Her 25 hits tied for third in the league while her 18 runs scored ranked fourth. Zacher tied Gillette with seven multi-hit games, including a team-high three three-hit performances. She homered in both wins over Minnesota last weekend and also had one in the bottom of the sixth inning that gave UW a league-opening 2-1 win over Ohio State April 1.
Hnatyk burst on to the scene as a freshman to earn honors as a utility player. Her seven home runs in conference play tied fellow frosh Samantha Findlay of Michigan for the league high. She also drove in a team-high 18 RBI, a total that ranked third in the Big Ten. Hnatyk's .323 batting average ranked third on the team, while her .646 slugging percentage tied Zacher for the team lead and ranked 10th in the conference. She had a pair of dramatic late-game home runs, ripping a three-run shot in the ninth inning to help UW defeat Purdue April 22 and a two-out grand slam in the top of the seventh with the Badgers down one in a victory over Minnesota May 7.
Wisconsin (30-21, 11-9 Big Ten) returns to play at 1:30 p.m. Friday when it takes on Ohio State in the quarterfinal round of the Big Ten tournament in Ann Arbor, Mich.
To view the complete All-Big Ten teams, click on the PDF link below.
