BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – In a remarkable year, the College of Saint Benedict softball team, which finished 26-7 and second in the league, were rewarded with the numerous season-end honors from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) in an awards announcement on Tuesday (May 23).
 
For the second straight year, senior Gabby Spencer was named the league's Most Outstanding Player while first-year pitcher Ellie Peterson was Rookie of the Year. In the award announcement, six Bennies earned first-team all-conference, and two others were recognized for honorable mention honors. In addition, three CSB student-athletes, including Gabby Spencer, Elly Novak and Ellie Peterson, were named to the All-MIAC Playoff Team.
 
Spencer is the third conference player of the year in program history and is the first two-time honoree. The other honoree was Lexi Alm who earned the honor in 2014.  Spencer becomes the MIAC's first two-time MIAC Player of the Year honoree since Angie Jackson of Bethel was named in 2015 and first repeat honoree since St. Thomas's Maria Bye in 2007 and 2008.
 
Peterson is CSB's fourth conference rookie of the year, joining Bryn Carlstrom (2021), Kim Lidstone (2013) and Ally Hjort (2018) as past honorees.
 
Spencer, Peterson, senior pitcher Elly Novak, outfielder Jordyn Swoboda, junior infielder Tori Harren and first-year shortstop Kallie Finkbeiner were selected first-team All-MIAC while first-year infielder Cat Smetana and junior catcher Bryn Carlstrom earned All-MIAC Honorable Mention. It is the third time in school history in which the Bennies had six players named first-team All-MIAC. Saint Ben's eight honorees is a program best for a single season.
 
This group of standouts led Saint Ben's to a 26-8 overall record and a 16-6 mark in the MIAC for second place. CSB was nationally ranked for most of the season, reaching as high as No. 13 (April 11), as they advanced to the MIAC Tournament Championship for the first time since 2017. The Bennies also have won 26 or more win in a season for the sixth straight year and 20 wins or more for the past 10 full seasons.
 
Spencer, who was named CSB's first-ever first-team All-American a year ago by the NFCA, was recently now to the NFCA All-Region First Team for a second consecutive year. Spencer's back-to-back recognition as MIAC Player of the Year resulted after she was again one of the league's most outstanding players. She tied for the MIAC lead in batting average at .456, which is the sixth best total ever in CSB history, and ranked in the league's top five in every major batting category.

 

The senior center fielder, a three-time All-MIAC first-team honoree, who was selected to the All-MIAC Playoff Team, finished second in the MIAC in slugging percentage at .660 and her .569 on-base percentage was a league best as well as setting a school mark for a season. She was second in the MIAC in OPS at 1.229, tied for first with 24 walks (another CSB record) seventh in hits and 10^th in steals. In 34 games in 2023, Spencer, who had a 13-game hitting streak, scored 30 runs, had 10 doubles, a triple, three home runs and 24 RBI along with 68 total bases. This year Spencer had 14 multi-hit games this year and 47 in her career with 11 games of three hits or more. In league play, she ranked fourth with a .464 average but led the MIAC In OBP at .560 and OPS with a 1.241 mark. She was fourth in runs, third in hits with 32 and fifth in slugging at .681.

A senior biology major from St. Paul, Minn., Spencer, who earned All-MIAC Player of the Week honors on April 10, set two career records and ranks and top 10 in 13 other career categories. Her career .412 average ranks second all-time at CSB (Kelly Mahlum, .432, 1991-93) while ranking second in slugging percentage at .666 (Lexi Alm, .737, 2011-14) while breaking the school record in on-base percentage at .510 and walks (tied with Robyn Magalska, 1997-00) with 63. She also finished second all-time at CSB in triples with 13, third in steals with 61, sixth in home runs with 12, sixth in total bases with 241, sixth all-time at CSB in runs scored with 116, ninth in hits with 149, seventh in doubles with 30 and tied for 10^th in RBI with 71.  
 

 

A first year from St. Anthony Village, Minn., Ellie Peterson earned the MIAC Rookie of the Year honor, a day after being named a finalist for the NFCA National Freshman of the Year honor. This is her first All-MIAC First-Team honor and she also earned All-MIAC Playoff recognition. With 13 wins, she was tied for 10^th for most wins in a season at CSB.  Peterson, an exercise science major, was ranked in the top five in the MIAC in four pitching categories and threw a pair of five inning no hitters. She had a season high of nine strikeouts vs. York (Pa.) on March 9. 

Peterson, who was 13-3, had a 2.12 earned run average for fourth in the league while allowing opponents .188 batting average for third in the MIAC and fourth best for a season all-time in St. Ben's history. She was fourth in strikeouts with 80 in 92.1 innings and she was fifth in batters striking out while looking. Peterson allowed just 62 hits and had only 25 walks with 11 complete games, and three shutouts in 16 games. Seven times she had six or more strikeouts with her 6.06 per seven innings ranking 17^th all-time at CSB.

Elly Novak, who recently earned her third straight All-NFCA All-Region honor, was named to the All-MIAC team for a third straight year and also to the All-MIAC Playoff Team. Novak, who four times in her career was MIAC Pitcher of the Week, including twice in 2023, finished her career with pitching numbers that rank her among the best all-time at Saint Ben's.

The senior communications major from Montgomery, Minn., finished 2023 with a 13-5 record with her wins tied for second most in the MIAC. She was in the top four in five MIAC categories, including second in earned run average at 1.80, second in strikeouts with 123, third in batters striking out looking with 27, and fourth in opponent batting average at .188. In 19 appearances in 2023, she had 17 starts of which Novak recorded 12 complete games, ranked second in the MIAC with six shutouts. She allowed just 28 earned runs in 108.2 innings with just 18 walks.

In her career, Novak set nine school records in pitching, including season and career. Novak ranks first at CSB in wins in a season with 17 and strikeouts in a season with 172. With 123 strikeouts this season, Novak set a school record with 461 career strikeouts as well as most strikeouts per seven innings at 8.27.  Novak set a school record with 19 career shutouts. Plus, she has a combined 24 which is also first all-time.  She was second in school history in wins at 49 (49-11, tied with Ani Jordan, 49-18, 2001-04).

Novak, who ranks seventh all-time in earned run average at 1.54, was sixth in career innings at 390 while owning the school record in lowest opponent batting average of .195. She was fourth in complete games with 45, and second in most strikeouts looking at 85. In addition, Novak had the three of the top six strikeouts per seven innings marks in school history including the record of 9.74 in 2021 along with 7.92 in 2023 and 7.41 in 2022. She had three of the top 10 wins marks with a school mark of 17 in 2021; 16 in 2022 for second all-time (tied with two others) and 13 in 2023 for 10^th. Novak also had the season mark for most games started with 22 in 2022 and ranks third for complete games in a season with 16 in both 2021 and 2022. In addition, she had a school record for a season in shutouts with nine in 2021 with her six in 2023 tied for third.

Junior infielder Tori Harren, a biology major from Kimball, Minn., earned her first career All-MIAC honor after a special season. In 34 games, Harren ranked 13^th in the league in batting average at .361 with a 1.060 OPS for sixth in the MIAC. Overall, she had 35 hits, including six home runs, two triples and four doubles while scoring 23 runs with 26 RBI, 61 total bases, .629 slugging which was fourth in the MIAC and .431 OPS.Harren had nine multi-hits with six multi-RBI games. In league games, she was seven in second at .712 and sixth in OPS at 1.43. With a career slugging mark of .538, Harren is 12^th in school history with 15 home runs in three seasons tied for fourth all-time with Sara Wennerstrand (2015-18). With her six home runs this season, she is eighth all-time at CSB.

Jordyn Swoboda, a communications major from Willmar, Minn., has earned her third career All-MIAC honor with her second first-team selection. She was recognized first-team all-conference in 2021 and All-MIAC Honorable Mention in 2022 when she was also named to the St. Joseph All-Regional Team. The standout outfielder led the MIAC in home runs with eight, which is the second-best total in a season in school history (Lexi Alm, 9, 2014). In 34 games, she hit .347 (20^th, MIAC) with 31 runs, 35 hits, five doubles, a triple and a team-high 31 RBI.

With a 1.086 OPS, Swoboda was third in the MIAC. Swoboda, who had eight multi-hit games and a team-high eight multi-RBI games, including three or more four times, also placed third in the conference with her .660 slugging percentage and RBI with 31. In her career, Swoboda had 24 home runs which ranks second all-time and her 98 RBI is fifth for a career with her 240 total bases, sixth at CSB. She finished with 31 multi-hit games.

First-year Kallie Finkbeiner was one of the MIAC's top shortstops, both at the plate and in the field. She hit .387, which ranked seventh in the MIAC. In 24 starts and 26 games played, Finkbeiner, a psychology major from Monticello, Minn., had 29 hits with five doubles, two home runs and 12 RBI. In addition, she was superb on defense, recording a 1.000 percentage at shortstop with 38 assists, and 25 putouts in 63 chances while also recording two double plays. She had eight multi-hit games with three multi-RBI games and had a 12-game hitting streak during the season.

Cat Smetana had a standout first-year at first base for the Bennies. An economics major from Lake Elmo, Minn., Smetana, who was selected by the NFCA to its All-Region Team, earned her first All-MIAC honor as an Honorable Mention selection She had a .368 average and .989 OPS. In 20 games with 18 starts, she had seven multi-hit games, 21 hits in 57 at bats with four doubles, a triple, two home runs and nine RBI. Smetana had a .579 slugging and .410 OBP while recording a 1.000 field percentage with 97 putouts in 101 chances, four assists and converted four double plays.

Bryn Carlstrom, a junior from Rochester, Minn., earned her third career All-MIAC honors. Along with honorable mention this season, Carlstrom was first team All-MIAC in 2021 and 2022. She was named MIAC Rookie of the Year in 2021. This season, she was a steady influence behind the plate, where she had a .994 fielding mark with 167 chances, 139 putouts and 27 assists with just one error. She had one double play and threw out four attempting to steal a base.

At the plate, Carlstrom hit .313 with eight multi-hit games and three multi-RBI contests. In 32 games, she had 31 hits with five doubles, a home run and 11 RBI. Carlstrom totaled a .394 slugging mark with a .364 on-base percentage. In her career, she is hitting .328 in 99 games with 99 hits, 26 doubles, two home runs, and 60 RBI. She has had three hits in a game seven times.