Mercer Softball 2015-16 Season: In Review
5/17/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
MACON, Ga. – After an up and down regular season, the Mercer University softball team closed out the 2016 campaign with an impressive run to the Southern Conference tournament semifinals and a third place finish in Greensboro, N.C. from May 11-14.
The program, under the leadership of co-head coaches James and Stephanie DeFeo, has finished at least third in three straight league tournaments, including a pair of championship game appearances in the Atlantic Sun (2014) and SoCon (2015).
2015-16 Season In Review
-
The Bears finished the season with a 24-34 overall record and a 4-14 mark in regular season SoCon play. It was the program's first losing season since 2013, as Mercer won 39 and 37 games in back-to-back seasons in 2014 and 2015. Mercer won 24 games in 2012 and 2013 as well.
-
Mercer's SoCon tournament semifinals appearance came as the league's No. 7 seed. The Bears went 2-2 in postseason play with wins over No. 2 Furman (5-2) and No. 6 Chattanooga (7-4) before falling to eventual champion No. 1 Samford (3-0) and Furman (8-1) in the semifinals. Mercer is 8-6 in the postseason over the last three seasons, including a 5-4 mark as a member of the SoCon.
-
Mercer saw five players earn All-SoCon postseason honors in 2016. Taylor Miller and Taylor Rodgers were named to the All-SoCon First Team while Natalie Shiver earned a spot on the All-SoCon Second Team. A pair of freshmen, Shaila Warren and Lindsay Boynton, were named to the SoCon All-Freshman Team.
-
Megan Bilgri was named to the SoCon All-Tournament Team following her standout performances in the circle. The sophomore right-hander logged 26 innings, tossed three complete games and earned wins against Furman and Chattanooga while starting all four tournament contests.
-
Miller pieced together one of the most dynamic offensive seasons in Mercer history. She was the SoCon batting champion with a .414 average and finished the season with 79 hits, falling just short of becoming the first Bear to record 80 hits in multiple seasons. The junior outfielder also led the league in stolen bases with 26, marking the second straight season a Bear has done so (Meghan Rud, 31 in 2015). Miller was named the SoCon Player of the Week for March 14-20, too.
-
The Bears led the SoCon in stolen bases for a second consecutive year, swiping 76 in 89 attempts. Miller and Rud became the first pair of Mercer teammates to steal at least 20 bases in back-to-back seasons.
-
Mercer saw two seniors, Shiver and Kaytlin Haney, leave the program following successful four-year careers in the Orange and Black. The duo contributed to a combined 122 wins since 2013 and dotted the record books with their names. Shiver started 218 games at Mercer, the fourth-most all-time, and ranks in the program's top-10 of runs scored, home runs, doubles and RBIs. Haney started over 100 games in her first two years before moving into a utility role. She had a career-best season in 2014 when she hit .326 with 55 RBIs, the third-best single-season mark ever for a Bear.
-
James DeFeo pulled within single-digits of the all-time wins record at Mercer. The fifth-year head coach is six wins away from the Ken Phillips' (1992-2001) record of 152 wins and will seek to break the record next spring. DeFeo is 147-133 at the helm for Mercer and owns the best winning percentage of among the six all-time coaches (.525).
-
In the midst of a season-best seven-game winning streak from March 12-19, Mercer defeated nationally-ranked Minnesota, 5-2, at the FAU Invitational in Boca Raton, Fla. Maxine Rodriguez tossed a complete game for the win in the circle while Natalie Shiver and Quirisa Mauga had a combined three doubles.
-
The Bears were impressive in the classroom during the 2016 season as well. Rud and Shiver both earned SoCon Student-Athlete of the Week honors while Shiver, a double major in sports business and finance, was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team and recognized as a SoCon Graduate Scholar.
HEADING INTO THE OFFSEASON
Follow @MercerUSoftball on Twitter and Instagram or visit the team's official Facebook page this offseason for all you need to know about the Bears.
