Spartans Named NFCA All-Region

AURORA, Ill. May 24, 2005 - Aurora University’s women’s softball team placed two players on the 2005 Louisville Slugger/National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-Region teams. Senior pitcher/first baseman Taylor Petersen (Aurora, Ill./West Aurora HS) and freshman third baseman Dana Cebular (Brookfield, Ill./Riverside-Brookfield HS) were named Great Lakes All-Region by the NFCA.

On the season, in which AU won a school record 40 games, Petersen had an unheralded season. On the mound, she had a 27-2 record with one save and a 0.40 earned run average, one no-hitter, 25 complete games, 16 shutouts, and 274 strikeouts in 193 innings pitched. She allowed just 15 walks and opponents hit just .139 against her. At the plate, Petersen hit .390 with 13 doubles, two triples, five home runs, 27 runs batted in, and 40 runs scored. She had a .617 slugging percentage with a .424 on-base percentage. Petersen was named Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference (NIIC) Player of the Year for the second consecutive season; she led the Spartans to back-to-back NIIC championships, their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1995, and she rewrote the Spartan record book. She has established new marks in career strikeouts (450), career shutouts pitched (27), season strikeouts (274), season wins (27), and season shutouts (16).

Cebular, as a freshman, set a single-season school record with 11 home runs and is one shy of the career record of 12 home runs. She hit .388 with 11 doubles, two triples, 37 runs scored, and 39 runs batted in. Cebular had a .714 slugging percentage with a .420 on-base percentage and committed just three errors in 147 chances for a .980 fielding percentage at the hot corner. She was named Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference (NIIC) All-Conference.

Aurora’s women finished the season with a 40-6-1 overall record and 14-1 in the NIIC and were the NIIC Regular season and tournament Champions. The conference title is the second consecutive for the Spartans and the NCAA softball tournament appearance was the Spartans first since the 1995 season.

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