BOSTON – The 2023 America East regular season champion UMBC Retrievers dominated the league's all-conference awards, as five players earned First Team honors.
Graduate student Courtney Coppersmith (York, Pa.) earned Pitcher of the Year honors for the fourth-consecutive season, becoming the first Student-Athlete in America East Softball history to do so. Overall, she became just the third America East student-athlete (in any sport) to win a regular season major award four consecutive years.
The league's coaches also named the UMBC coaching staff, led by Head Coach Chris Kuhlmeyer, as 2023 Coaching Staff of the Year. The award is the third consecutive earned by the Retriever mentor as UMBC became the first program to win three-straight outright America East Regular Season titles since 2003.
Coppersmith was joined on the First Team by sophomore pitcher Kya Matter (Dalmatia, Pa.), junior 1B
Ashley Della Guardia (Phoenixville, Pa.), graduate student SS
Karly Keating (Orlando, Fla.) and senior designated player
Madison Wilson (Abingdon, Md.)
In addition, senior 2B Shanel Stott (Cumberland, Md.) earned Second Team honors and freshman 3B
Emily Riggs (Lancaster, Pa.) was tabbed to the All-Rookie Team.
Coppersmith also was named to the league's All-Academic Team. She earned her undergraduate degree in the spring of 2022 in biochemistry & molecular biology (3.71 GPA) and is pursuing her Master's degree in chemistry.
Notable
- Coppersmith leads the conference in earned run average (1.85) and saves (5)… in America East play, she won six of seven decisions, pitched to a 0.67 ERA and fanned 85 batters (walking only 8) in 52 innings…she became the 99th pitcher in NCAA history to reach the 1,000 strikeout plateau.
- Matter posted a 12-5 record and was just below her circle-mate with a 1.87 ERA.
- Della Guardia enters the tournament as the Retrieves' leading hitter (.330), is second in the conference in OPS (.970) and third with seven home runs.
- Keating, who earned All-Tournament Team honors in 2022, is fourth in America East in on-base percentage (.426).
- Wilson produced a breakout season, hitting .411 versus league foes in 2023. Her 17 RBI's in 18 America East games was the second-best total in the conference.
- Stott also put together her best season in black-and-gold and enters the championships with a batting mark of .315.
- Riggs started 28 games in her freshman campaign and is tied for third on the squad with four home runs.
The Retrievers will be hosting the 2023 America East Softball Championships, which get underway on Wednesday, May 10 at The Diamond. UMBC is the top seed and will face the winner of No. 4 UMass Lowell vs. No. 5 Bryant on Thursday, May 11 at 11:00 a.m.
UMBC will be attempting to win its fourth consecutive America East Championship.
