Softball Places Five on All-Skyline Conference Teams

NEW YORK — Senior Maeve McKeon (Point Pleasant, N.J./Point Pleasant) of the St. Joseph's University, N.Y. (Brooklyn) softball team was named First Team All-Skyline Conference to lead five all-conference selections, as announced by the league office on Tuesday afternoon.

Juniors Bella Gomez (Whittier, Calif./Sonora) and Arianna Heinsch (Brooklyn, N.Y./Fontbonne Hall Academy), sophomore Lauren Van Der Kamp (Sacramento, Calif./Rosemont), and freshman Brooke Horn (Lakeside, Calif./El Capitan) were all named to the conference's Second Team.

McKeon caps off her playing career as a first-team utility player. Splitting her time behind the plate and in the outfield, the senior finished the regular season with 25 hits and maintained a solid .352 batting average. This was coupled with an on-base percentage of .427 and a slugging percentage of .451. McKeon earned Skyline Player of the Week honors following a week in which she batted .615 with four hits and a pair of RBI during the Bears' participation at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic in Florida.

Gomez continued to build off last year's first-team selection. The second baseman placed second in RBI (22) and runs scored (27), and third in hits (36) while batting .333 and posting a .439 on-base percentage. Her team-leading 12 stolen bases were good enough for fourth in the conference. With eight multi-hit games to her name, Gomez had three-hit contests against Brooklyn College, St. Joseph's Long Island, and Purchase, delivering five RBI against the latter in the regular-season finale.

Heinsch earns her second all-conference selection following last season's first-team nod. She opened the year with a 4-for-5 game against Crown College and concluded the regular season on a seven-game hit streak with 3-for-3 contests against Yeshiva and Sarah Lawrence sandwiched between. In 109 at-bats, the junior produced a team-leading 43 hits, 32 runs, and a .468 on-base percentage. She also ranked second in batting (.394) and slugging (.541). 

Van Der Kamp earns her first career postseason honor, joining Heinsch in the second-team outfield. The sophomore led the team with a .424 batting average while ranking second with a .449 on-base percentage, good for sixth in the Skyline, and 39 hits. She also slugged at a .489 clip and drove in 16 runs. Van Der Kamp performed well against Mount Saint Mary, batting 5-for-8 over two games. She also had three-hit contests against Crown and St. Joseph's Long Island.

Horn rounds out the Bears' five all-conference selections as second-team pitcher. Tossing 97 innings, the rookie finished the campaign with an 11-4 record. Horn posted a 2.60 ERA and 101 strikeouts, the first Bear since 2012 to strike out north of 100 batters in a single campaign while conceding 36 earned runs. The California native struck out 12 batters against Yeshiva and 11 against Lehman en route to her first collegiate perfect game. She also fanned seven against a Ramapo side receiving votes in the NFCA Top 25. 

As a team, the Bears finished with a 25-14 record and a 13-5 mark in league play. Their third-place finish in the conference standings, along with their .641 win percentage were both the best in Danielle Fazzolare's eight-year coaching tenure.

The All-Conference teams and Player, Pitcher, Rookie, and Coach of the Year were voted on by the league's head coaches prior to the start of the 2023 Skyline Conference Championship.