Softball 5/14/2024 12:00:00 AM

Hacker Named United East Rookie of the Year; Four Earn All-UEC 1st Team Honors

Click for Complete United East All-Conference and Major Awards

Latham, N.Y. – Freshman Marlena Hacker was named the United East Conference (UEC) Volt Division Rookie of the Year as announced by the conference office on Tuesday afternoon when the All-United East softball honors and Major Awards were revealed. Hacker, along with juniors Hailey Gamble and Gretchen Yanss, and freshman Victoria Butler were all selected to the All-United East first team.

Hacker is the third player in program history to earn Rookie of the Year accolades. Former standout and current assistant coach, Becca Dougherty, was named the NEAC's top rookie in 2016 and Isabel Hoch received the honors the following year in 2017.

Hacker had a tremendous rookie campaign as she led the team in hitting with a .367 average to go along with 47 hits, five doubles, 10 triples, 31 runs and 31 RBI. Her 10 triples currently rank second in the United East, while her 31 RBI are sixth most in the conference. Hacker also went a perfect 14-of-14 on stolen base attempts.

She recorded a season-high four hits and two triples in game one of a doubleheader victory at Penn State Berks in March. Hacker also had three RBI in the game tying her season-high at the time. She drove in three runs on four occasions during the year.

Yanss is earning All-United East honors for the third straight season and first team recognition in back-to-back years. It was a historic season for Yanss that saw her become the program's all-time leader in strikeouts. Yanss recorded 144 strikeouts on the year breaking her own single season record set last season (134). The three-time All-United East selection recorded her 300^th career strikeout in game one of a doubleheader versus Gallaudet University in April and then in game two set the program record with her 308^th career strikeout. Yanss finished her junior season with 337 career strikeouts.

In the pitching circle, Yanss registered a career-low 1.91 earned run average trailing only Penn College's Mackenzie Weaver (1.92) for lowest ERA in the conference this year. She tied her career-high with 11 victories set career lows in hits (118), runs (59), walks (38) and opponent batting average (.226).

At the plate, Yanss finished the year batting .288 to go along with 30 hits, seven doubles, two triples, 14 runs and a career-high 25 RBI.

Gamble is earning All-United East honors for the first time in her career after putting together a career season. She finished the year batting a career-high .372 with 29 hits, five doubles and four triples. Gamble scored 13 runs and drove in another 11.

Down the stretch of the season Gamble hit safely in eight of her final 10 games, including the postseason. During that span Gamble went 15-for-34 (.441) at the plate to go along with nine runs and eight RBI.

In the field, Gamble was near-flawless as she committed a career-low one error in 27 chances for a .963 fielding percentage.

Gamble will enter her senior season with a career .334 batting average with 97 hits, 19 doubles, 12 triples, four home runs, 65 runs and 64 RBI.

Butler had a stellar rookie season as she batted .330 with 34 hits and 23 runs scored while stealing 12 bases on 14 attempts. Butler started the year hot as she compiled a 10-game hitting streak during the month of March. During her streak, she had six multi-hit games, including a season-high four-hit performance in game one of a doubleheader versus Sarah Lawrence College in the team's home opener. Butler finished the game 4-for-4 with three runs and four RBI.

Defensively, Butler was one of eight eligible players statistically to not record a single error in the field. Butler finished the season with a perfect fielding percentage on 50 chances.

Abington finished the 2024 season with a 20-20 overall record and were 11-9 in conference play. The Nittany Lions reached the 20-plus win mark for the seventh time in the program's Division III era and the third straight season. In addition, Abington qualified for the postseason for the 11^th time and has reached the postseason every year since 2013.

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Players Mentioned

#18 Hailey Gamble: OF; 5' 5"; Junior; R/R

#13 Gretchen Yanss: P; 5' 7"; Junior; R/R

#9 Victoria Butler: OF; 5' 5"; Freshman; R/R

#12 Marlena Hacker: C/IF; 5' 4"; Freshman; R/R

Players Mentioned

#18 Hailey Gamble
: 5' 5"; Junior; R/R
: OF

#13 Gretchen Yanss
: 5' 7"; Junior; R/R
: P

#9 Victoria Butler
: 5' 5"; Freshman; R/R
: OF

#12 Marlena Hacker
: 5' 4"; Freshman; R/R
: C/IF