Five student-athletes from the Marian University softball program have earned all-conference recognition.
Junior Ariana Schliepp (Elkhorn, Wis.) earns a spot on the All-NACC Second Team for her first all-conference selection. Schliepp was a staple in the middle of the Marian lineup all season long finishing the year with a team-high 36 hits and 25 runs driven in. She finished the season with a .333 batting average and slugged at a .444 clip. Schliepp started in all 38 games finishing the year with 12 multi-hit efforts. She had a three-hit game in the opener against Rockford going 3-for-3 with two runs driven in and two runs scored. Schliepp also had eight games where she drove in multiple runs including against Bluffton during the annual spring trip when she drove in four runs. Defensibly, Schliepp allowed just 13 stolen bases and caught three would-be base stealers.
Sophomore Erin Cowe (Palos Hills, Ill.) is named all-conference for the second time being named an honorable mention pick. Cowe was one of three Sabres to finish with more than 30 hits ranking second on the team with her 35 base knocks. She also led the team with 23 runs scored, while ranking third on the team with 11 runs driven in. Cowe started in all 38 games and was held hitless in only 13 games and had seven multi-hit performances. She earned the first NACC Player of the Week award of her career after leading Marian to sweeps of Alverno and Aurora. Cowe went 10-for-15 (.667) with 10 runs driven in between the four games. She also had the first four-hit game of her career in the opener against the Inferno.
Sophomore Sabrina Di Vito (Prospect Heights, Ill.) found her stride towards the end of the season to earn All-NACC Honorable Mention recognition. Di Vito was a multi-faceted weapon for the Sabres going 9-8 with two saves and a 2.98 earned run average in the circle while hitting .283 with seven runs driven in over only 60 at bats. She led the team in the circle logging a team-high 94.0 innings and ranked sixth in the NACC for wins and strikeouts with 65. Di Vito also ranked second in the NACC with her five shutouts. One of her shutouts came at CUW where she only allowed three hits and then topped herself 10 days later against Lakeland allowing only one hit in a 1-0 Marian victory. Offensively, she was 2-for-3 with three runs driven in against Bluffton and had a three-hit game in the opener against CUW, the same game as her shutout of the Falcons.
Senior Kendall Pliner (Mayville, Wis.) finishes her Sabre career with an All-NACC Honorable Mention selection. Pliner was third on the team with 34 base hits and finished the regular season with a .333 batting average. She also ranked second on the squad with her 24 runs driven in. She was the top qualifying Marian hitter for slugging percentage at .461 recording four doubles and a team-high three home runs. Pliner had multiple hits in nine games and drove in multiple runs seven times. One of her top games came against Adrian where she drove in three runs. Pliner only committed five errors defensively and finished the season with 202 putouts and a .976 fielding percentage.
Sophomore McKenna Repovich (Plainfield, Ill.) was one of the top pitchers in the conference to earn a spot on the All-NACC Honorable Mention team. Repovich finished the regular season with the lowest earned run average in the conference at 1.59 and had the third-best hits allowed per seven innings average at 6.78. She paced the Sabre pitching staff with 24 appearances logging a 6-1 record over 52.2 innings of work with two saves. Repovich allowed multiple earned runs in only three of her appearances and allowed zero runs 16 times. She had a scoreless streak of 15.1 innings from April 13 to April 26. One of her top performances came in game two against Aurora where she went 4.0 innings allowing only one hit.
The full release and all-conference teams from the NACC can be found at https://naccsports.org/sports/softball.
