Lakeland College

Softball places two on Great Lakes All-Region team

Athletics - posted on 5/14/2010

Seniors KC Blahnik and Chelsea Coenen have been selected to the 2010 Louisville Slugger/NFCA Great Lakes All-Region first team as voted on by the head coaches in the region.

This is Blahnik's second consecutive all-region selection after being chosen to the second team in 2009. This season she led the Northern Athletics Conference in on-base percentage (.522) and walks (23), was second in the conference in runs scored (58), third in the league in slugging percentage (.726) and home runs (7) and fifth in batting average (.437) and hits (59). She ranked fifth in the nation with an average of 1.38 runs scored per game and was named first team All-NAC for the second consecutive season and third time in her career. She set the Lakeland career stolen bases record after stealing 19 bases this season to end her career with 52.

"Teams knew what they were dealing with when pitching to KC, and how they reacted changed what she did at the plate this season," Lakeland head coach Chad Buchmann said. "Teams were more likely to walk her this season or pitch to her outside and despite having to adjust her approach, she was still able to hit home runs and be extremely successful."

Coenen was named first team all-region for the first time in her four year playing career after leading the NCAA in triples with a career high total of 14. She led the NAC in runs scored (61), hits (71), RBI (49), total bases (126) and triples, finished second in the conference in on-base percentage (.517) and was third in the NAC with a .461 batting average.

"Chelsea benefitted from batting behind KC a little, but she's a great player on her own and has her own game," Buchmann said. "She can hit a triple to left center as often as she can to right field but can still slap and bunt for us.

"KC and Chelsea both seemed to feed off of each other's success. If KC got on base, the feeling was that Chelsea would get on base. Their expectation has always been to win and be competitive instead of competing over individual honors."

Both players are now eligible for selection to the Div. III All-American team.

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