Sage’s junior utility player Kristen Beikirch (Brockport, NY/Brockport) has been selected as the 2013-2014 Eastern College Athletic Conference Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She was honored in conjunction with the ECAC Honors Dinner on Sunday, September 28, at the Sea Crest Beach Hotel in North Falmouth, Massachusetts.
Beikirch becomes the third Sage student-athlete honored with this award. She follows in the footsteps of men’s volleyball player Ryan Kramer (2012-2013) and women’s volleyball player, Caitlin “CJ” Ostrowski-Grebert (2006-2007).
Beikirch’s latest award comes on the heels of her selection to the 2014 CoSIDA Academic All-America Softball Second Team, an honor she also achieved as a sophomore earning a spot on the 2013 national third team.
Sage head softball coach Jamie Brown said of Beikirch’s selection, “Kristen is so well deserving of this award.” Brown added, “She works extremely hard on and off the field. She is always striving towards achieving her ultimate goals of being a doctor and of being the best softball player she can be. Her Gator softball family is very proud of her and we can’t wait to see what she can accomplish as a senior next year.”
Beikirch batted .374 this spring with a team-best 43 runs scored and was a perfect 20-20 in stolen bases. She leads the team with 13 doubles in 37 starts and has played at first and third base, while also working behind the plate as a catcher. As a junior, she connected for a team-best 16-game hitting streak, while boasting 14 multiple-hit games with five multiple RBI games as well in 2014.
With the release of the final NCAA Division III softball statistics, she finished the 2014 season ranked nationally in two categories. She capped her junior season ranked No. 29 in Division III with her 1.16 runs per game average, while standing No. 49 in stolen bases with a 0.54 per game average.
The 2014 softball team went 23-14 on the year having finished as the Skyline Conference Tournament Runners-up. The Gators won the 2014 Skyline Conference regular-season title and earned the No. 1 seed after producing a 10-4 record in league play. The Gators also made the program’s third consecutive appearance in the ECAC Metro Tournament to cap the 2014 campaign.
Academically, she has excelled in the classroom as a biology and pre-med major with a 3.936 grade-point-average. At Sage she is a Kellas Scholar as well as a SIMETS scholar. A National Honor Society student at Brockport High School, she earned four letters in softball and was a two-time first team all-county pick as a junior and senior. She also earned All-Greater Rochester Honorable Mention honors.
