Five Polar Bears named Louisville Slugger/All-Great Lakes Region in Softball

Cash - Decima - Fought

By Tim Glon

ADA — Five Ohio Northern players were named Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-Great Lakes Region in softball for 2009 in voting conducted by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

Juniors Cortney Cash (Crown Point, Ind./Marian Catholic), Mandi Fought (Toledo/Whitmer) and Liz Decima (Freedom, Pa./Ambridge) were First Team All-Region honorees.

Freshman Kim Blewett (Carmel, Ind.) was a Second Team selection and senior Danielle Goubeaux (Coldwater) was named to the Honorable Mention squad.

Cash is having a remarkable season, posting a 25-1 record with a 1.70 ERA on the mound while hitting .349 with 2 home runs, nine doubles and 11 RBI.

Cash was a Second Team All-Conference pick at utility player as a freshman in 2007 and has earned First Team All-OAC honors each of the past two seasons. She was also an All-Region honoree last year and was named to the 2009 All-OAC Tournament Team.

She was named the OAC Pitcher of the Week twice this season.

In three seasons, Cash has 107 hits, eight home runs and 75 RBI at the plate and is 40-9 with a 2.65 ERA and 170 strikeouts on the mound.

Cash was also named Second Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District IV this spring.

Decima is a two-time All-Region and First Team All-OAC honoree, earning both awatds as a sophomore in 2008, as well..

She leads the Polar Bears in batting for the second consecutive season with a .511 average and a school-record 70 hits while starting all 39 games at shortstop.

She also had three home runs, and team-bests of 38 RBI, 52 runs scored and 18 stolen bases.

In her career, Decima is ONU’s all-time career hits leader with 181 and is the doubles leader with 40. She also ranks second with a career .449 batting average, is fourth with 10 home runs, is seventh with 36 stolen bases and ranks 10th with eight triples.

She was also named to the All-OAC Tournament Team in 2008 and 2009 and was named the OAC Hitter of the Week on 4/20/09.

Decima was also named Second Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District IV this spring.

Fought is a three-time All-Region and a three-time All-OAC honoree after earning First Team honors each of the past two seasons and Second Team All-OAC honors as a freshman in 2007.

She is ONU’s all-time career leader with 73 stolen bases and with 141 runs scored in her three seasons as a Polar Bear.

Fought is hitting .426 this season with a team-best 18 stolen bases, three home runs, 19 RBI and 44 runs scored, while starting 38 games in the leadoff position and playing center field.

She is also ranked fifth all-time at ONU with 12 triples and is third with 169 career hits.

Fought was also named to the 2009 All-OAC Tournament Team.

Blewett has started 38 games at catcher and as the designated player and was also a First Team All-OAC selection as a utility player.

She is fourth on the team with a .400 batting average, leads the squad with 14 doubles and is fourth with 32 RBI.

She has a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage behind the plate and has allowed only seven stolen bases this season.

Goubeaux is making her second appearance on the All-Region squad, earning the award as a junior in 2008.

She is a two-time First Team All-OAC honoree and is fifth on the squad with a .378 batting average while starting 37 games in left field.

She also has 31 RBI, 10 doubles, scored 29 runs and has a .436 on-base percentage.

In 141 career games, Goubeaux has collected 125 hits, ranking her 14th all-time at ONU. She also ranks among ONU’s all-time leaders in home runs (6), RBI (67) and runs scored (88).

Goubeaux was also named Second Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District IV this spring.

The No. 4-ranked Polar Bears finished the 2009 regular season with a 35-3 record, won the OAC Regular Season title with a 16-2 record and won the OAC Tournament title.   

Northern is currently 36-3 and is the No. 1 seed in the NCAA III Regional at Greencastle, Ind.

ONU won its first round contest against fourth-seeded Trine (Ind.) 4-3 in nine innings on Thursday and is slated to face fifth-seeded Defiance Friday at 2 pm.