Gurnee's Ricci Collects All-Region Honors for UW-Whitewater Softball

2017 May 24

Amy Ricci, a native of Gurnee, IL, and graduate of Warren Township High School, was one of six members of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater softball team to garner All-Great Lakes Region accolades from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

Senior right fielder Haley Morelli (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein), senior first baseman Amy Ricci (Gurnee, Ill./Warren Township), junior left fielder Mallory Klotz (New Berlin, Wis./West), freshman third baseman Meg Cohrs (Elburn, Ill./Kaneland) and freshman pitcher Bella Matthias (Greenfield, Wis./Greenfield) were named to the first team, while sophomore centerfielder Caitlin Catino (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) earned third team honors.

All six student-athletes helped the Warhawks sweep the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season and tournament championships during the 2017 season and finish with a 37-9 record. The team also hosted the regional round of the NCAA Division III Championships last weekend for its fifth straight national tournament appearance and 20th in program history.

The WIAC Position Player of the Year, Morelli currently leads the conference in home runs (12) and runs batted in (48). She is second in batting average (.424) and slugging percentage (.741) and finished the season with eight doubles and 103 total bases.

Ricci, a first team All-WIAC honoree, currently ranks fourth in the league in batting average (.408) and second in RBI (42), and added 11 doubles. The four-year starter finished her career as a two-time all-conference honoree.

Klotz is now a three-time All-Region selection. She leads the league in batting average (.470), on-base percentage (.531) and runs scored (57). Klotz garnered first team All-WIAC accolades and is a three-time all-league selection during her career.

Cohrs is batting .376 and committed only one error at third base while leading the league with 88 fielding assists. She hit five home runs and seven doubles and was tabbed first team all-conference.

Matthias, the WIAC Pitcher of the Year and first team All-WIAC honoree, is among league leaders in wins (18-4 record), earned run average (1.31), shutouts (10) and strikeouts (133) in 138 2/3 innings pitched.

Catino, now a two-time all-conference and all-region pick, finished with a .373 batting average and led the team in both doubles (16) and stolen bases (20).