Spartan Named ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American

AURORA, Ill. June 2, 2005 - Aurora University senior women’s softball pitcher/first baseman Taylor Petersen (Aurora, Ill./West Aurora) was named to the 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American College Division Women’s Softball Team, which is selected by Sports Information Directors throughout the country.

Petersen, a Second-Team selection, is a senior biology with secondary education major at Aurora University and was named First-Team All-District three weeks ago. In addition to her excellence in the classroom, Petersen had a tremendous season and career on the softball diamond for AU. Her post-season awards include a laundry list of honors, including National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) First-Team All-American, NFCA Great Lakes First-Team All-Region, Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference (NIIC) Player of the Year (second consecutive season), NIIC All-Conference, ESPN the Magazine First-Team Academic All-District, and AU’s Female Athlete of the Year (second consecutive year).

She led the Spartans to back-to-back NIIC championships, their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1995, and she rewrote the Spartan record book. Petersen established new marks in career strikeouts (450), career shutouts pitched (27), season strikeouts (274), season wins (27), and season shutouts (16).

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.

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.

The Academic All-District teams are selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America members within the district based on the student-athletes’ academic prowess while being a steady influence on their respective athletic fields.

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