For the second time in her career, Jessica Twaddle has been named as the OVC Player of the Year, the league announced Tuesday evening at the annual OVC Softball Banquet in Oxford, Alabama. In addition, Mason Robinson and Brenna Finck were named to the All-OVC second team, while Kaylee Ranburger was named to the OVC All-Newcomer team.
Twaddle, the first two-time winner in the 23-year history of the award, has had an amazing season for the Racers and currently leads the team with a .404 average. The senior also leads Murray State in RBIs with 40, doubles with 12, home runs with 13 and walks with 22. The Franklin, Tennessee native currently leads the league in slugging percentage at .756 and is the 13th toughest batter to strikeout in the nation, striking out only four times in 156 at bats.
Twaddle was previously the 2015 OVC Player of the Year and has now received postseason honors in each of her four years in the blue and gold. She was an All-Newcomer selection in 2014, an All-OVC first-team honoree in 2015, a second-team honoree in 2016 and a first-team honoree again in 2017. She is the current Murray State career leader in batting average at .377, on-base percentage at .454, hits at 230 and RBIs at 137.
Robinson is in the midst of the best season in program history by a Racer hurler, as she has won a program-record 23 games and currently has a single-season low ERA of 1.81. The senior from Lewis Center, Ohio has struck out 109 batters this season, while walking only 33. Late last month, Robinson tossed the first perfect game in Murray State history, then two games later did it again. She is also the program’s all-time leader in wins with 68 and shutouts with 18, including seven this season. This is the third OVC honor of her career after being named to the All-Newcomer team in 2014 and the All-OVC second team in 2016.
Finck, a sophomore from Maroa, Illinois has led Murray State in 2017 in total hits with 66, the second-highest total in the OVC. This season, she set a Murray State single-season record for triple with six and is also the career leader in that category with eight. The six triples places her 16th nationally in that category amongst all Division I players. Finck is also currently second on the team in batting average at .382 and leads the team in runs scored with 46. This is the first OVC honor of her career.
Ranburger has started in 49 of 51 game for the Racers as a freshman and has batted at a .354 clip. The freshman from Owensboro, Kentucky began her career on a nine-game hitting streak and has tallied multiple hits on 133 occasions, including a career-high three six different times. She has led Murray State this year on the base paths, swiping 14 of 17 bases attempted and has scored 27 runs while driving in an additional 11.
Twaddle, Robinson, Finck, Ranburger and the rest of the Racers will begin their quest for the program’s first OVC title Wednesday when they take on Eastern Illinois at 3 p.m. at Choccolocco Park in Oxford, Alabama in the first round of the 2017 OVC Softball Championship.
by Parker Griffith