GEORGETOWN, Texas – After posting a perfect conference record for the third time in four years and tying the league record for consecutive conference victories with a 49th consecutive win this past Saturday, second-ranked Texas Lutheran University was awarded three of the league’s four major awards in exclusive 2018 all-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) voting by the league’s head coaches. Complete Release

The Bulldogs’ Cassie Roche was selected as the conference Player-of-the-Year, and teammate Maitlin Raycroft earned Pitcher-of-the-Year honors for the second consecutive season. TLU head coach Wade Wilson was named the SCAC Coach-of-the-Year for the fifth straight year.

In that same balloting, Grace Phelps of Southwestern University was selected SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year.

Roche, a sophomore shortstop from Corpus Christi, Texas, is currently ranked in the top 10 in several statistical categories heading into this weekend’s conference tournament. She is fourth in the SCAC in batting average (.405) and hit a league-best .510 in conference games. She is also seventh in on-base percentage (.457), fifth in slugging percentage (.631), third in doubles (10), fourth in runs scored (29) and fifth in stolen bases (20). The sophomore made just two errors at shortstop during conference play and both were throwing errors. Roche was the SCAC Offensive Player-of-the-Week in Week 9 of the regular season when she hit .727 with a home run, two doubles, five runs scored and four RBI in a four-game road sweep of Schreiner. She is the fifth consecutive Texas Lutheran softball student-athlete to earn SCAC Player-of-the-Year honors.

Roche received four votes in the SCAC Player-of-the-Year balloting, while senior outfielder Anna Dunn of Centenary College received the remaining two first-place votes.

Raycroft, a senior right-hander from Spring, Texas and reigning SCAC Pitcher-of-the-Year, remained the dominant force in the circle in the league after taking the conference by storm a year ago. After tossing eight no-hitters and earning Second Team NFCA All-America status in 2017, Raycroft is 16-0 in 22 appearances with a league-leading 1.04 ERA heading into this weekend’s conference tournament. She also leads the conference in strikeouts (120), strikeouts per game (8.87) and shutouts (five), is second in batting average against (.150), and third in both complete games (10) and games started (18). She earned SCAC Pitcher-of-the-Week four times during the 2018 season and an incredible 12 times for her career. Her selection marks the fifth consecutive year that a TLU player has earned the league’s Pitcher-of-the-Year award, and she is the sixth pitcher in league history to earn multiple Pitcher-of-the-Year honors.

Raycroft received five votes for SCAC Pitcher-of-the-Year, while sophomore right-hander Hannah Ortiz of Schreiner University received the remaining vote.

Phelps, a first-year outfielder from China, Texas, batted .371 during the regular season with 39 hits (eighth in the SCAC), 10 doubles (third in the SCAC), 31 RBI (fourth in the SCAC) and 60 total bases (sixth in the SCAC). She was even better in conference competition. hitting .400 (seventh in the SCAC and second among first-year players) with a .471 on-base percentage (sixth in the SCAC) and .650 slugging percentage (sixth in the SCAC). Her 27 runs driven in during conference play were tops in the league. Phelps is the third Pirate in program history to earn SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year honors and the first since Kelsey Kingston won the award in 2013.

Phelps received four votes in the balloting for SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year. First-year designated player Haley Padilla of Texas Lutheran picked up the remaining two votes.

Wilson, who is in his seventh season at Texas Lutheran, guided the program to another SCAC regular season crown this season after successfully leading the Bulldogs to SCAC regular season and tournament championships each of the team’s four previous years in the conference. This year’s squad earned its fifth regular season title with a perfect 19-0 conference mark and is currently ranked second in the nation with a 34-1 overall record heading into this weekend’s SCAC tournament. With three victories last weekend against Centenary, the Bulldogs tied both the school and SCAC record for consecutive conference victories with their 49th consecutive win. Wilson has amassed an overall record of 237-56 in his tenure at TLU, which includes a stellar 108-2 mark (.982) in SCAC regular season play. This is the sixth consecutive conference Coach-of-the-Year honor for Wilson as he was honored as ASC Coach-of-the-Year in 2013 before earning the award the last five seasons in the SCAC.

2018 SCAC Player-of-the-Year
Cassie Roche, Texas Lutheran University, Sophomore, Shortstop, Corpus Christi, Texas

2018 SCAC Pitcher-of-the-Year
Maitlin Raycroft, Texas Lutheran University, Senior, Pitcher, Spring, Texas

2018 SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year
Grace Phelps, Southwestern University, Freshman, Outfielder, China, Texas

2018 SCAC Coach-of-the-Year
Wade Wilson, Texas Lutheran University, 34-1 Overall Record (19-0 SCAC) / #2 NFCA Ranking

To view the entire 2018 SCAC All-Conference Team, click here.