BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The awards and honors for Western Washington University softball player Emily Benson continue to pile up, this time with the senior first baseman being named a top 10 finalist for the 2019 Schutt Sports/NFCA Division II Player & Pitcher of the Year.
Benson (West Richland, WA/Kamiakin) was originally named to the top 25 list on April 25, and now is amongst the top 10 players at the NCAA II level. She is one of two West Region players that are among the final 10, joining Concordia Irvine sophomore pitcher Callie Nunes.
Benson concluded her stellar four-year career with a record-breaking senior season. She set WWU single-season records batting average (.448/56-for-125), on-base percentage (.567), slugging percentage (.896), OPS (1.463) and home runs (14). With the Division II postseason still going, she ranks No. 6 in the nation in slugging and on-base.
In addition to being selected as a top-10 finalist for the NFCA Player of the Year honor, Benson also earned end-of-season awards as the GNAC Player of the Year, the D2CCA West Region Player of the Year and as an NFCA All-West Region selection.
In four seasons at WWU (2015-17, 2019), Benson leaves the program as the all-time leader in several offensive categories, including batting average (.377), slugging (.692), on-base (.477), OPS (1.169), hits (208), extra-base hits (82), total bases (382), walks (104) and RBI (156), while playing in the second-most games (188). Her 45 career home runs tie the all-time GNAC record and ranks in the top-10 in conference history in career slugging percentage, on-base percentage, RBI, walks and total bases.
The Player and Pitcher of the Year will be announced after the NCAA II Championships on May 30.
