simply the best! - Saint Mary's University of Minnesota

Hocking named
All-American
S
aint Mary’s University’s Jill Hocking was
named to the 2000 Louisville Slugger/
National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA)
All-American First Team, while senior Angie
Wright was a second-team selection.
Hocking, a junior first baseman/pitcher,
appeared in all 46 games for the Cardinals, who
captured their first-ever NCAA Division III national
championship in 2000. Hocking led the Cardinals
in virtually every offensive category, including
batting average (.465), hits (59), RBIs (59), doubles
(22), home runs (13), total bases (120) and
slugging percentage (.945). Her 13 home runs
and .945 slugging percentage are school records.
On the mound, Hocking — a three-time Louisville
Slugger/NFCA All-American (first team in 2000,
second team in 1999 and third team in 1998)
and SMU’s outstanding female athlete and outstanding
female scholar-athlete for the 1999-
2000 season — posted a 16-4 record and a 1.37
ERA, appearing in 107 innings, while walking just
19 and striking out 44.
The All-American honor was the last in a
long line of post-season honors for Hocking, who
was also named to the NFCA All-Region team for
the third straight season, earned her third consecutive
All-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference honor, was selected to the Midwest
Regional All-Tournament team, and was a firstteam
GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-American.
Wright, named to the All-American second
team as an outfielder, hit .380 in 46 games (49-
for-129) and led the team in triples (5). An All-
Region first-teamer and also a Midwest
Regional All-tournament pick, Wright drove in
30 runs and scored 40 times, while also stealing
a team-leading 27 bases and boasting a .527
slugging percentage.
two-run home run over the left-field
fence in the top of the first to give
SMU a 2-0 advantage.
“I wasn’t expecting to hit a home
run, that’s for sure,” admitted
Huegel, who finished with a .545
average for the tournament, while
also driving in five runs. “I was just
going up there looking for a base hit,
trying to find a pitch that I could
drive. When I hit it, I knew I hit it
MIAC athletes
achieve success
— and they do it
with integrity
by Patrick Reusse
Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Saint Mary’s finished second to St. Thomas in the
MIAC softball standings. Saint Mary’s 33-6 record
did earn the Cardinals an at-large berth in the national
tournament. The Cardinals then won seven consecutive
post-season games to win the school’s first national title.
This year alone, three teams that were beaten out for
a regular-season or playoff championship in the MIAC
wound up finishing in the top two in their NCAA Division
III national tournaments.
The athletes representing these teams have proved
again — especially in this time of scandal and chaos at the
University of Minnesota — that this state has in its midst
a much-needed gem of integrity and pure competition in
the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
In most sports, there are 11 athletic entities in this
conference: St. Thomas, Macalester, Hamline, Bethel,
Augsburg, St. Olaf, Carleton, Gustavus Adolphus, Concordia,
Saint Mary’s and St. John’s/St. Benedict.
The College of St. Catherine, a women’s college in
20