Find out what Knox softball player and which ones from Monmouth nabbed MWC honors
GRINNELL, Iowa — The Midwest Conference recently announced its end of the season softball award winners.
Knox College's Britney Salinas earned second team All-MWC honors. Monmouth's Abby Leber was named to the first team while the Fighting Scots' Calista Warmowski and MyKenzie Kloess joined Salinas on the second team.
Salinas turned it on in league play
Salinas batted .375 with six doubles, a triple, a home run, 21 RBIs, 20 runs scored, and a .430 on base percentage this spring. The senior turned it on in league play with a .400/.445/.520 triple slash with 10 runs scored and 10 RBIs. Salinas was among the MWC leaders in fielding percentage and outfield putouts. She also had five outfield assists while roaming center for the Prairie Fire.
Leber dominated in chalked circle
Leber led Monmouth in the circle this season going 6-10 with a 3.38 ERA in 21 games, 19 starts with eight complete games. The sophomore had eight complete games and struck out 120 batters in 112 innings of work while holding opponents to a .291 average. Leber led the MWC in strikeouts and also led the league with 37 strikeouts looking. She also had a home run and four RBIs while batting .216 on the season.
Leber set the Monmouth single-game strikeout record with 16 in 11 innings at Knox on April 29. Her 120 strikeouts on the season ranks as the fourth-best strikeout season in school history and her 181 strikeouts ranks seventh on the career list.
Kloess led Scots in nine categories
Kloess led the Scots with a .322 average this spring and also led Monmouth in hits (38), runs scored (21), OBP (.372), OPS (.787), slugging (.415), total bases (49), stolen bases (11), and doubles (9).
Kloss started 36 of the 37 games, primarily playing first base for the Scots. The junior had a fielding percentage of .985, tops for those with more than 20 chances on the season.
Warmowski repeats as All-MWC winner
Warmowski, who was all-conference in 2021, played in 32 of the 37 games, staring in center field and batting in either the leadoff spot or second spot of the order. The junior hit .297 with four doubles, seven RBIs and 14 runs scored. She ranked second to Kloess in average, hits (33) and total bases (37) while stealing four bases and posting a .640 OPS. Warmowski had a .984 fielding percentage with one error on the season and seven outfield assists.
Monmouth qualified for the MWC tourney for the first time since 2016 with a 10-5-1 conference mark. With two losses in the event last Saturday, the season concluded for the Scots (13-23-1).
Other honorees...
The MWC champion Foresters of Lake Forest College captured all three individual athlete awards, as freshman pitcher Hannah Smith was named Newcomer of the Year and Pitcher of the Year and senior outfielder Josie Klein was selected as the Position Player of the Year.
Smith went 6-1 in league play with a 2.23 ERA. This marks the first time an athlete has won both Newcomer of the Year and Pitcher of the Year softball honors in the same season.
Klein started all 16 conference games for the Foresters with a .536 batting average and led the league in on-base percentage (.594) and slugging percentage (.946). She picked up 30 base hits in league play, and Klein scored 28 runs, including four home runs and 22 RBIs.
The Cornell College Rams were recognized with the Sportsmanship Award as the team that best exemplifies the MWC sportsmanship ideals.
The Coaching Staff of the Year award went to Grinnell College. Led by first-year head coach Lexy Determan and assistant coach Dalton Meredith, the Pioneers finished MWC play with a 12-4 record and the third seed in tournament field.
As a team, Grinnell batted an average of .373 through 16 games, with a .523 slugging percentage and .428 on-base percentage, all good for second-best in the league. The Pioneers scored 123 runs, including six home runs and 110 runs batted in.
This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: NCAA Softball: MWC honors one from Knox, Monmouth trio
