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Scholastic Roundup: Ashleigh Hartwig holds all the records

May 20, 2022 Andy Furman

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She plays softball – but Ashleigh Hartwig just won the “hat-trick.”

The St. Joseph’s University senior was named to the 2022 National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division III All-Region First Team — and she’s received the All-Region honor for the third-time in her career – and is a first-teamer for the second consecutive season.

The 5-6 native of Santee, Calif., previously was named the Skyline Conference Softball Player of the Year and to the All-Skyline First-Team for the third-straight season. She was tabbed the Bears Female Athlete of the Year, and becomes the first in program history to receive the College Sports Information Directors Association (CoSIDA) Academic All-District selection.

Hartwig set a single-season record of 60 hits and compiled a .556 batting average and .569 on-base percentage that placed fourth in Division III. She hit successfully in 33 of the 36 games she played and reached base safely in all but one game.

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She graduates as the St. Joseph leader in batting average (.521), slugging percentage (.791), on-base percentage (.569), doubles (49), total bases (269), and assists (230). She is second all-time in hits (177), runs batted in (127) and home runs (11).

Amazingly, she accomplished these marks despite playing just 12 games in a shortened 2020 season and only 27 games in 2021 conference-only schedule.

The NFCA awards salute student-athletes from the Association’s 10 NCAA regions with first, second and third-team honors. In total, 384 student athletes from 197 schools comprised the 2022 NFCA Division III All-Region teams. NFCA member coaches voted on the teams in their respective regions, and all honorees are eligible for selection to the 2022 NFCA Division III All-America squads.

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Chris Mikos was named the men’s 2021-22 Athlete of the Year at St. Joseph’s University. The senior produced the highest scoring average in the Bears Skyline-era averaging 21.8 points-per-game en-route to becoming the first All-Skyline men’s basketball selection since the 2015-16 season.

Breaking the women’s basketball scoring and rebounding records and becoming the first Bear student-athlete to be named All-Skyline four times, senior Kelly O’Donnell received the Career Achievement Award at the school’s annual Athletic Awards Banquet last week.

Seniors Jessica Mecham (softball, cross-country) and Eric Torres (soccer) were named Scholar-Athletes of the Year.

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Stephanie Staiano, a physical education teacher at Archbishop Molloy High School, is the first female assistant coach of the Stanners boys’ baseball team.

Lost in the shuffle – Senior Brinesha Derrick-Bain came in first in the 400 meter hurdles for Bishop Loughlin with a New York State No. 1 and CHSAA No.1 (1:02.80) in the Penn Relays staged in late April…Senior Andre Reid placed fifth in the triple jump with a CHSAA fifth (41-2)…Junior Wesley Noble Jr. placed first in the Invitational 400 meters with a CHSAA first and New York State first (47.69)…The Varsity Boys 4×4 was a first in the CHSAA and New York State (3:23.47)…That squad consisted of: junior Jelani Johnson, freshmen Rashaun Euche, sophomore Kyaire Lawson and junior Wesley Noble Jr.

Xaverian High closed out their regular season in baseball with a win over Kellenberg and secured first-place in Brooklyn-Queens in the process…Christian Tarantino allowed just two runs on two hits in six innings.

Pratt Institute’s men’s and women’s track and field teams closed out their regular season in the Yale Springtime Invitational, Sunday. Siena Sujitno placed ninth for the women in the 100-meter dash (13:05) …she also finished 14th in the 200-meter (28:69) …Mia Wing was fifth in the 100-meter hurdles (22.73) …Alexi O’Rourke earned a top-10 finish in the 400-meters, placing ninth (1:09.95) …Dominic Paolini finished third for the men in the 3000-meter steeplechase (11:34.44) …Jack Phelean was runner-up in the triple jump (11.56-meters); he also placed third in the long jump (5.48-meters).

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LIU’s right-handed pitcher Joshua Loeschorn, a senior from Butler, N.J. combined academic and athletic achievements have earned him CoSIDA Academic All-Region honors. He owns a 3.91 cumulative GPA as a computer science major and graduated this week summa cum laude. He is 9-1 with a 3.38 ERA and 79 strikeouts in 77.1 innings for the first-place (NEC) Sharks.

Dwight Smith’s contribution to the LIU women’s fencing team in his first season as an assistant coach has earned him national recognition. He was named Assistant Coach of the Year by the United States Fencing Coaches Association. He was a three-time All-American while at Columbia, as well as a four-time USA National Team member.

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Ryan Blume is headed to the professional lacrosse ranks. The Premier Lacrosse League’s Archer’s claimed the LIU team captain and defenseman. He led the Sharks with 22 caused turnovers. The 6-1 Blume tallied 186 ground balls, 69 caused turnovers, 15 goals and nine assists in 63 career games (60 starts) with LIU over five seasons.

LIU Athletics celebrated the student in student-athlete this week – the department was well represented at commencement at Barclays Center. A total of nearly 200 student-athletes were eligible to participate across both the Brooklyn and Brookville, L.I. campuses this month. Overall, student-athletes produced a 3.48 GPA in the fall.

Kevin Reyes, a St. Joseph’s College graduate student, became the 14th student-athlete in baseball program history to notch 100 career hits. The outfielder accomplished the feat with a single against Maywood University, Scranton, Pa. back on April 30th.

Andy Furman is a Fox Sports Radio national talk show host. Previously, he was a scholastic sports columnist for the Brooklyn Eagle. He may be reached at: [email protected] Twitter: @AndyFurmanFSR