Polito, Hnatyk Earn All-Region Honors
May 16, 2007 | Softball
Wisconsin senior outfielder Samantha Polito (Stevens Point, Wis.) and junior outfielder Katie Hnatyk (London, Ontario) have been named to the Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-Mideast Region team announced Wednesday.
Polito is just the second UW softball player to earn first-team honors, joining pitcher Andrea Kirchberg's selection in 2000. Hnatyk, Wisconsin's all-time home run leader, was a second-team selection.
Hnatyk and Polito are earning All-Region honors for the first time. Both will appear on the ballot for selection to the All-America team.
Polito became Wisconsin's all-time leading scorer and tied the school record for career hits this season. She scored 139 runs and had 203 hits in her career.
A school-record 16-game hitting streak aided Polito to a .377 average in 2007, the third-highest mark in program history. Her 39 runs scored tied a UW single-season record. Polito also set school records for runs per game (0.83) and hits per game (1.21) this season.
Hnatyk drove in a school-record 38 runs this season and slugged a program-record .660. She hit eight home runs in her first 13 games of 2007 and finished with 11, tying a UW record and extending her career mark to 30.
Hnatyk's .333 average was second only to Polito for the team lead and her eight stolen bases led the Badgers. She was one of three Wisconsin players to top 30 runs scored and was the only Badger with three triples.
In addition, Hnatyk played 68 consecutive games without committing an error dating back to last season and had seven consecutive hits back in February. Both of those feats tied for program bests.
