Complete All-MIAC Softball Team

WINONA, Minn. — For the second time in a week, Saint Mary's University's Paige Carter (Rosemount, Minn.) and Mallory Betzold (Farmington, Minn.) found themselves earning post-season honors when the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference announced its all-conference team Tuesday, May 17.

Carter and Betzold, named to the NFCA All-Midwest Region Third Team last week, were among the 23 players named to the All-MIAC First Team Tuesday.

Only this time around, the Cardinal duo had become a trio, as Katy Gannon (Roselle, Ill.) joined Betzold and Carter as part of the conference's All-MIAC First Team.

Carter hit a team-leading .422 in conference play, while Gannon and Betzold were close behind with their .398 and .397 batting averages, respectively. The trio helped spark the Cardinals to a third-place finish in the regular-season conference race and their first MIAC Tournament berth since 2007. SMU finished 1-2 in the conference tournament, sandwiching a 7-4 win over Hamline around a pair of losses to Gustavus.

Along with her team-leading .422 batting average, Carter also chipped in a team-best 35 hits — including nine doubles — while scoring 12 runs and boasting 17 RBIs.

Gannon, meanwhile, was second to Carter in hits with 33 — thanks in part to her season- conference- and career-best nine home runs — while driving in a team-best 22 runs and scoring 25 times. Gannon also accumulated 65 total bases and owned a .783 slugging percentage.

Betzold was a double threat for the Cardinals, going 31-for-78 from the plate with 11 runs scored, three doubles, three home runs and 18 RBIs, while also going 9-5 with a 2.95 ERA in 86.1 innings in the pitcher's circle. Betzold struck out a team-best 58 batters and walked just eight.

Along with three players selected to the All-MIAC First-Team, the Cardinals' Joanna Mangan (Chicago, Ill.) and Erin Stenseth (Eau Claire, Wis.) were named honorable-mention All-MIAC.

Mangan hit .403 (25-for-62) with four doubles, a home run, 13 RBIs and 12 runs scored, while Stenseth batted .333 (31-for-93) with five doubles, a triple, five home runs, 19 RBIs and 19 runs scored.

Regular-season and MIAC Tournament-champion St. Thomas nearly swept the conference's top honors, as Kayla Boward was named MIAC Player of the Year, while Cassie Smith earned MIAC Pitcher of the Year honors and UST head coach John Tschida was voted the conference's Coach of the Year. The MIAC Rookie of the Year award went to Carleton's Jenny Ramey.

As part of the conference-wide sportsmanship initiative, the MIAC also announced the fifth annual All-MIAC Sportsmanship team for baseball, which included SMU sophomore Hailey Ohl (Bloomington, Minn.)