Document text
Donovan earns NAIA Player of the Year award By SOU Sports Information Updated: Jun 08, 2022 10:09 PM A A Junior catcher becomes the third Raider since 2018 to win the award ASHLAND — Thanks to Riley Donovan, the NAIA Softball Player of the Year award is staying in Southern Oregon. Donovan, a junior catcher, became the third Raider in four years to receive the country’s top honor when the NAIA office announced postseason accolades on Wednesday. SOU’s Phelicity Fa’aita got one, too, landing on the All-America second team. Donovan was among the national leaders in almost every major statistical category: She was No. 1 in hits (88), RBIs (89) and walks (51); No. 2 in home runs (20) and slugging percentage (.973); No. 3 in on-base percentage (.592); No. 4 in doubles (22); and No. 6 in batting average (.481) and runs scored (70). In 2018, her sister Harlee Donovan collected SOU’s first-ever NAIA Softball Player of the Year award. Last year, Lauren Quirke won it after the Raiders celebrated their second consecutive national title, and now it belongs to Riley Donovan. All three MVPs transferred to SOU via College of San Mateo (Calif.). Donovan brought some major momentum into the season after earning the NAIA World Series MVP and All-America second-team kudos in 2021. On Tuesday she was named the National Fastpitch Coaches Association’s Diamond Sports NAIA Catcher of the Year. The product of Half Moon Bay, Calif., has already broken SOU’s home run records for a single season (20) and a career (28) with one year of eligibility remaining. She hit three in five games during the NAIA Softball Championship Opening Round. According to NAIA records that date back to 1998, SOU is the first team to produce different NAIA Players of the Year in back-to-back seasons. The Raiders finished with a 49-14 record and were No. 12 in Wednesday’s NAIA Top 25 postseason coaches’ poll. Fa’aita, another transfer from College of San Mateo, batted .415 with 10 home runs, 13 doubles and 49 RBIs in her debut season with the team. The sophomore also went 12-3 as a pitcher, posting a 3.42 ERA over 88 innings. Andy Atkinson / Mail TribuneSOU's Riley Donovan, seen here in a photo from this past season, was named NAIA Player of the Year Wednesday after a monster year at the plate for the Raiders.