Mangola named OAC Player of the Year, four Polar Bears named All-OAC in Softball for 2011

By: Tim Glon

ADA — Junior All-American second baseman Jackie Mangola was named the Ohio Athletic Conference Player of the Year for the second consecutive season, leading a list of four Ohio Northern players to be named All-OAC in softball for 2011 in voting conducted by the league's 10 head coaches.

Mangola, junior catcher All-American Kimi Blewett and freshman center fielder Christin Miller were First Team All-Conference honorees, while sophomore shortstop Ashley Sujkowski was named Honorable Mention All-OAC.

Mangola is now a three-time First Team All-OAC award winner and is the first Polar Bear to be named OAC Player of the Year twice in her career.

This also marks the third consecutive season that an Ohio Northern athlete has won the award, as Liz Decima was the 2009 OAC Player of the Year.

Mangola has ONU single-season records with 19 home runs and 33 walks and also leads Ohio Northern in batting average (.477), RBI (57), total bases (117), slugging percentage (1.093) and on-base percentage (.612).

She is also second on the squad with 47 runs scored and has started all 141 games in her career at second base.

Mangola is ONU's all-time career home runs leader with 39 and ranks third in RBI (151), is fourth in base hits (174) and is fifth in doubles (37).

Blewett is also a three-time First Team All-OAC honoree.

This season, she is batting .405 with 11 home runs, 56 RBI, a team-best 10 doubles and a .733 slugging percentage while starting all 38 games.

In her three seasons as a Polar Bear, Blewett ranks second in RBI (156) and doubles (42), is third in home runs (27) and is fifth in base hits (172).

Miller is one of only three freshmen to be a First Team selection.

Miller is hitting .448 from the lead-off position with team-highs of 53 runs scored and 15 stolen bases. She has started 36 games in center field.

Sujkowski is making her first appearance on the All-Conference squad in her first year as an ONU starter.

She is hitting .450 with five home runs and 41 RBI and has started all 38 games at shortstop.

Sujkowski leads the team with 10 doubles and four triples and ranks second on the team with 59 base hits.

The Polar Bears won the OAC Regular Season title for the third consecutive year and for the fourth time in the past five seasons and earned a bid to participate in the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season under first-year head coach Kim Burke.