ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – Elly Novak wasn't looking to make history when she took the mound for her sophomore season with the College of Saint Benedict softball team.
 
After making just four appearances in her first season – which was shortened by the COVID19 pandemic – Novak just wanted the opportunity to get used to the college game and prove she belonged as one of the team's top pitchers.
 
From her first appearance on the mound in 2021 to her last, Novak didn't just prove herself to be one of the team's best this season – she made a name for herself as one of the best pitchers in CSB softball history.
 
For her incredible season that included two school records, All-American honors and some of the top performances in Division III, Novak is the 2020-21 CSB Athlete of the Year. Novak was chosen from a pool of nine talented athletes from CSB's volleyball, basketball, track and field, swim and dive and softball teams. She is the first Bennie softball player to win the department's Athlete of the Year award since Lexi Alm in 2012-13.
 
Novak also joined Alm in the Bennie softball history books earlier this summer when she joined the 2014 CSB alumna as the only two All-Americans in Saint Benedict softball history. Alm earned a second-team nod in 2014, and Novak earned Third Team All-American honors this season for her breakout year. She also earned NFCA All-Midwest Region First-Team honors and All-MIAC First Team accolades in 2021.
 
After nearly a year between pitching appearances, Novak set the tone right away for her sophomore campaign in the team's season opener on March 13. She struck out a career-best 15 batters against UW-La Crosse – the second-most strikeouts in a game for a CSB pitcher dating back to at least 2007, and before the season was over, she reached double-digit strikeouts five more times.
 
Novak didn't seem to have a problem finding the strike zone all season – she never struck out less than six batters in a complete game, and she struck out five in just 1.2 innings of work against Carleton. All those strikeouts added up quickly, and on April 24, Novak added her name to CSB's record books for the first time.
 
With her first strikeout of Game 2 against St. Kate's, Novak broke the school record for strikeouts in a season with 130. The previous record of 129 was set in 2007 by Monica Eiden. By the time the season ended on March 13 with a MIAC play-in game against Concordia, Novak improved that record to 172 strikeouts in a single season – the 13^th-most in Division III.
 
Novak etched her name in the record books once more on May 1 in the team's regular-season finale against St. Thomas. After dropping an 11-inning thriller to the Tommies, CSB bounced back to win 3-1 behind a six-strikeout, five-hit performance from Novak. That win marked her 17^th of the season – another CSB single-season record. Stacie Klaviter set the record with 16 in 1993, and Emily Engelmeier tied it in 2014, but Novak's win against UST put her alone in first with 17 wins in a single season.
 
As if her strikeout and win numbers weren't impressive enough, Novak also finished the season 10^th in the nation with an impressive 0.96 ERA. Of the 24 runs she gave up all season, just 17 were earned. She was even more impressive in MIAC play – she only gave up seven runs to conference opponents and only five of those were earned for a miniscule ERA of 0.45.
 
After one full season plus four appearances with CSB softball, Novak is already sixth in program history with 193 strikeouts. She owns a 1.21 ERA in her two seasons, and has 20 wins to her name.