Softball lands five players on All-GPAC Team

MITCHELL, S.D. – After concluding the season at the Great Plains Athletic Conference tournament, the Dakota Wesleyan University softball team was honored with five members being named to the All-GPAC Team, it was announced by the conference Thursday.

 Junior infielder Andriana Sprakel (Yankton, S.D.) recorded a standout junior campaign that landed her on the All-GPAC Second Team for the first time in her career. Sprakel led the team with a .403 batting average and in stolen bases with three on the season. In 39 games played, she started in 36 of them, recording 58 hits, seven doubles, a triple, a homerun and 18 RBIs. Along with the team-leading batting average, Sprakel finished the season with a slugging percentage of .486.

 Sprakel finished the regular season ranked eighth in the NAIA in at bats per game with 3.7 and ranked 22^nd nationally in hits per game with 1.5. She now has 110 hits in her career as well as 39 career RBIs. Along with her batting, Sprakel finished the season with a .915 fielding percentage with 202 putouts and 296 assists.

 Junior pitcher Sierra Haage (Sioux Falls, S.D.) was also named All-GPAC Second Team for her efforts on the mound for the Tigers. The honor is the third time in her career making an All-GPAC team after being named Honorable Mention last season and Second Team her freshman year. Haage led the team with a 3.25 ERA and 97 strikeouts. She broke the school records for pitching wins in a career with 36 career pitching wins and career pitching strikeouts with 332 in her career.

 Haage finished the season with a pitching record of 12-9 after pitching 129 and one-third innings and struck out 97 batters on the season. Offensively, Haage finished with 25 hits, seven doubles, five homeruns and 18 RBIs on the season. She notched a batting average of .362 and a team-leading slugging percentage of .681.

 The third Tiger named to the All-GPAC Second Team was sophomore catcher Melysia Ortega (West Covina, Calif.). This honor is the second of her young career after being named All-GPAC Honorable Mention in her freshman season. Ortega finished the 2018 season with 32 hits, six doubles, four homeruns and tied for first on the team with 25 RBIs. She notched a .340 batting average and a .532 slugging percentage. Defensively, Ortega finished with a fielding percentage of .984 with 112 putouts.

 Amber Budmark (Sacramento, Calif.) and Karly Severance (Las Vegas, Nev.) were each named to the All-GPAC Honorable Mention Team. The honor is the second time for Budmark and the first time for Severance. Budmark finished her junior season with a batting average of .349 with 38 hits, seven doubles, six homeruns and 21 RBIs. She was also third on the team with a .578 slugging percentage. Severance had a breakout junior season after breaking the career homerun record with 21 in her career. She broke the record on April 23 against Concordia University. She finished the season with 32 hits, four doubles, eight homeruns and 25 RBIs. Severance tallied a .986 fielding percentage with 214 putouts and only three errors in 222 chances.

 The Tigers graduate one senior and welcome six new members to the squad and return 18 players for next fall.