Newberg Named the 2012-2013 Skyline NCAA Woman of the Year
New York, NY –Senior Kelsey Newberg (New Britain, CT/New Britain) of The Sage College's has been named the recipient of the Skyline Conference's Woman of the Year award and will be nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year, one of the most prestigious honors the NCAA bestows.
The award recognizes senior student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and leadership. Each NCAA conference, and independent institutions, can nominate a distinguished female student-athlete for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will select the top 10 winners in each division in August. From those 30 honorees, the selection committee will determine the top three in each division (September). Finally, the members of the CWA will vote from among the top nine finalists to determine the Woman of the Year.
Over the course of her outstanding career at Sage, Newberg excelled on the softball diamond, while also competing for one season as a member of Sage's women's volleyball team during the fall of 2010.
A 2013 CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-District First Team honoree, she was also named to two different positions as a member of the 2013 Skyline Conference Softball All-Star Team. She was placed on the second team for her outstanding play as both a starting pitcher and a utility player. She was also named Sage's 2013 Gator of the Year in softball for the second time in her career as she won the awards in both 2011 and 2013. Twice this past spring she was named the Skyline Conference Pitcher of the Week as well as the ECAC Metro NY-NJ Pitcher of the Week once on another occasion.
She shattered several of Sage's career pitching marks, while also making quite a statement as a performer at the plate in her three seasons in a Sage uniform. She holds the career record for most strikeouts 261 and most wins 28, while ranking among the top performers as well in innings with 339.0 (No. 2), complete games (36, No. 5), and ERA with a 3.28, which is seventh. She also holds Sage single-season marks for most games (30), most wins (16), and most strikeouts (119). She ranks in the Top 15 in several categories as well having played in 109 games with 329 at-bats, 96 hits and 12 doubles.
Newberg finished her senior season ranked nationally with her two shutout wins as well as ranking nationally with her 7.16 hits allowed per seven innings of work. Her 2.99 ERA in 2013 ranks 213th, while her 5.1 strikeouts per seven innings is ranked 159th nationally.
Over the past two seasons, Sage's softball team has garnered a long list of program highlights and she has most certainly been a large part of the success the Gators have experienced. As a junior, she led the Gators to a pair of runner-up finishes at the 2012 Skyline Conference Championship and the 2012 Eastern College Athletic Conference Metro NY-NJ Softball Championships. Along the way, the Gators enjoyed an incredible run that included a school-record 29 wins, including another record with a streak of 13 straight victories, while playing in a program-best 46 games along the way. The 2013 season saw Sage once again return to the Skyline Conference playoffs, while once again bringing home the ECAC Metro NY-NJ Runner-up trophy at year's end.
As a team in 2012, Sage recorded more wins than any other team in the Skyline Conference with 29, while adding a .335 batting average, and connecting for school record performances that includes 299 runs scored, most hits 437, most doubles (89), most home runs (30), most RBI (269), most total bases (632), most shutouts (9), and lowest opponent batting average (.262).
Adding to the success of the 2012 Gators Newberg excelled in the circle and at the plate and was named to the team as a utility player. Newberg broke a pair of long-standing Sage strikeout records for both a season and career. She fanned 119 batters in 2012 alone and became one of Sage's first players named to the 2012 Skyline Conference All-Star First Team as a utility player. She went 16-9 and her 16 wins in a season is another Gator record. In the circle for Sage in 2012, Newberg fanned 10 or more batters twice, including an 11-strikeout effort as Sage bested Cazenovia in the team's home opener. She added a pair of saves as well in 2012 and produced a 3.08 ERA in 30 appearances. Newberg's success as a junior was not limited to her time as a pitcher as she added a .306 batting average with 45 hits and 24 RBIs with 31 runs scored.
Newberg, who is an accomplished scholar-athlete at Sage, has been instrumental in her role as president of Sage's S.A.A.C., which participated in a number of community service projects as the NY State Special Olympics Fall Games, the Special Olympics' Polar Plunge. In 2012, while in season, she participated and organized a spirit lifting project at the pediatrics wing of nearby Albany Medical Center. For her efforts on behalf of Sage's student-athletes, she was named the recipient of the ECAC Merit Medal.
Her leadership as Sage's SAAC president was once again evident in the number of projects and activities the Gators accomplished once again in 2012-2013. Named to the Skyline Conference Scholar-Athlete Team three times during her career she was also inducted in the Sage Scholar-Athlete Honor Society again in 2013 after earning a spot on the team in 2012. A three-time Sage Scholar-Athlete honoree, she earned multiple listings on Sage's Dean's List, while earning a spot in the Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society, the Sigma Theta Tau National Nursing Honor Society, and the Women's Studies Honor Society.
Away from the softball diamond, she was extremely active on Sage's campus and in the community. Named the President of the Sage Nursing Association for the 2012-2013 academic year, she also worked as an emergency room technician at a local hospital. She also worked in Sage's Admission's Office, where she was heavily involved with the Transfer Students Association and worked as an Admission's Department Tour Guide. As a member of Sage's Nursing Association, she was involved with additional efforts at the Ronald McDonald House and the Making Strides for Breast Cancer Walk in the Capital District. She also decided to be a medical volunteer in a self-funded trip to India. She travelled independently and studied inequalities in maternal medicine abroad.
Newberg said of her experiences as a Sage student-athlete, "Succeeding on the field, gave me the confidence and ability to critically think and problem solve in diverse situations. Academically, I am a member of three National Honor Societies and have earned Dean's List honors every semester. My passions for softball and nursing, has taught me how to effectively collaborate with others, while learning multiple skills for time-manage. Most importantly, being a student-athlete has instilled in me confidence! Because of that gift, I gained the confidence to apply for and achieve a position as a Surgical ICU/Trauma nurse at a local hospital and will be remaining in Capital District."
Newberg joins a distinguished list of recent Skyline Conference NCAA Woman of the Year honorees as the 2011 recipient was Sage's women's volleyball all-star performer, Nicole Corbett, softball record-setter, Kellie Jones in 2010 and Kaitlin Olmstead, who excelled as a member of Sage's 2008 Skyline Conference and NCAA participant volleyball team as the league's honoree in 2008-2009.
