Pioneer second baseman Kassandra Winger named CCAA Player of the Week
Senior infielder Kassandra Winger hit .538 in her final week as a Pioneer to earn CCAA Player of the Week honors.
- April 25, 2011
Following a stellar week to cap her collegiate softball career, Cal State East Bay softball player Kassandra Winger was named Worth/CCAA Player of the Week on Monday. The senior second baseman was an unstoppable force in four games last week and helped the Pioneers upset No. 10 UC San Diego in her final doubleheader in the East Bay uniform on Saturday.
A Livermore native, Winger shined in the final week of the season, leading the team with a .583 batting average and 1.083 slugging percentage. Winger reached base in 64.3 percent of her plate appearances in the leadoff spot last week, leading to a team-leading four runs in four games. Winger also added a homerun and two RBI during the Pioneers' 1-3 week that also included a one-run loss and an extra-inning loss to the Tritons.
In Friday's 2-1 loss to UCSD, Winger led the Pioneers at the plate, going 2-for-3 with two doubles. She followed up that performance with a stellar Senior Day showing, finishing the Saturday doubleheader with six hits in seven at-bats, three runs, two RBI, a double, a homerun and a walk.
In helping East Bay to a 11-3, eight-run rule victory over the Tritons in game one, Winger reached base in the leadoff spot in three of her four plate appearances, scoring three runs. One run came on her sixth homerun of the season, a two-run blast in the second inning that proved to be the eventual game-winning hit for Cal State East Bay. The homerun was one of four for the Pioneers in the game, setting a new season high and tying a program record for homers in a game.
Winger was at it again in the final game of her career, a pitcher's duel that went eight innings before UC San Diego broke up a 1-1 tie in the ninth to post a 4-1 win. The senior finished 3-for-4 at the plate with her 10th double of the season to cap a season that saw her lead East Bay's regular starters with a .325 batting average, 27 runs and .419 on-base percentage.
The middle infielder also finished the week with no errors and posted 14 putouts and an assist in 15 chances in 29 innings at second base. She finished the season with just five errors and 112 putouts in over 200 chances and helped turn five double plays at second during her senior campaign.
Winger joins junior catcher Taylor Neumann as the second Pioneer player to earn Worth/CCAA Player of the Week honors this season. Neumann collected East Bay's first award since joining the CCAA last season on Mar. 14.
The Pioneers finished the season with a 24-27 overall record and a 14-22 mark in CCAA play to finish eighth out of 10 conference teams. East Bay posted 10 more wins than last season, including an impressive nine more conference victories.
Though it loses the four seniors to graduation, Cal State East Bay will return 15 players from this year's squad, including Neumann, who leads the team in RBI, Jamie Yaller, who shares the team lead in homeruns with seven, and both Talia Ferrari and Kelly Lowe, who each tallied 10 victories in the circle in 2011.