Bradley Named to All-WIAC First Team; Four Other Players Honored

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, May 7, 2008

La Crosse, Wis. – University of Wisconsin-La Crosse senior third baseman Liz Bradley of Platteville (H.S.) has been named to the 2008 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Softball First Team in a vote by league coaches. She has also earned recognition to the 2008 Louisville Slugger/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division III All-Great Lakes Region Second Team.

Three players, sophomore outfielder Rachel Croak of Greendale (H.S.), senior second baseman Sarah Pfeifer of Watertown (H.S.) and freshman outfielder Rachel Weyer of Loyal (H.S.), were selected to the 2008 All-WIAC Honorable Mention Team.

UW-L senior pitcher Jess Iwanski of Grafton (H.S.) was named to the inaugural All-WIAC Sportsmanship Team.

It is the second all-conference first team selection for Bradley. She earned All-WIAC accolades in 2006. Bradley started all 41 games this year for UW-L, hitting .390 (53-of-136). She led the Eagles in home runs (11) and runs batted in (45) in 2008 while ranking second in at-bats (136), doubles (11) and total bases (99). Bradley was tied for second in hits (53) while finishing third in runs scored (32).
Bradley’s 11 home runs and 45 RBI this year set single-season school records. Kay Kueppers hit eight home runs in 2002 while Rochell Vandenlangenberg finished with 36 RBI in 1997.

A four-year letter winner, Bradley ranks first in school history in career home runs (17), tied for third in RBI (89) and tied for fifth in doubles (23). A career .351 hitter, which is tied for eighth in UW-L history, Bradley is ninth in career runs scored (83) and 11th in career hits (132). She played in 138 games in her career. Bradley is third in the WIAC in home runs, total bases and RBI while ranking fourth in hits.

Croak and Weyer each earned their first career all-league recognitions this season while Pfeifer picked up her second after being named to the 2007 All-WIAC First Team. Croak and Weyer both started all 41 contests in 2008. Croak was second on the team in hitting at .396 (53-of-134) while recording a single-season school record 20 steals. She also led the Eagles with 17 sacrifice hits in 2008 and finished second on the squad in runs (37).

A two-year letter winner at UW-L, Croak tied for second on the team in hits (53) this year. She has played in 78 games for the Eagles and is tied for fifth in career batting average at .355 with 81 hits in 228 at-bats. Croak is third in career steals (27). She is second in the conference in sacrifice hits and stolen bases while being fourth in hits.

Weyer led the Eagles with a .411 batting average (62-of-151) as a freshman in 2008. Her 62 hits and 151 at-bats were both first on the squad. The 62 hits set a single-season school record while the 151 at-bats ranks as the second-most in school history. Weyer also set a UW-L record with 38 runs scored while her 12 doubles this season tied the school record set by Vandenlangenberg in 1997, Kueppers in 2000 and Andrea Tsilis in 2003.

Along with leading the team in total bases (101) and triples (3), Weyer finished second in RBI (32) and third in home runs (7). She is second in the WIAC in hits and total bases.

Pfeifer started 32 games in 2008 and missed the final nine games of the season due to injury. She hit .313 (30-of-96) with eight home runs and 28 RBI. The eight home runs were second on the team in 2008 while the 28 runs batted in ranked third. She leads the conference in hit-by-pitches (4).

Pfeifer appeared in 130 games in her four-year career and ranks second in career home runs (14) at UW-L. She is also 10th in career RBI (64). Pfeifer finished with a career batting average of .310 while scoring 62 runs.

Iwanski pitched in 17 games for UW-L in 2008, finishing with a 4-2 record. She led the Eagles with a 3.08 earned run average and three saves. Iwanski was second in innings (59.0) and strikeouts (49). She leads the WIAC in saves and fewest home runs allowed (3) while ranking ninth in ERA.

UW-L finished 22-19 overall and 8-8 in the WIAC this season under third-year head coach Chris Helixon. The Eagles set single-season school records for runs (241), batting average (.321) and home runs (37) this season while tying the school record for RBI (193). UW-L also recorded the second-most single-season marks for hits (37), doubles (60) and stolen bases (64). On the pitching side, UW-L set a school record with five saves while recording its second-most strikeouts in a year with 214.