Junior All-American Liz Decima a candidate for Collegiate Women's Sports Awards Division III Athlete of the Year

Liz Decima

By Tim Glon

ADA — Ohio Northern junior All-American Liz Decima (Freedom, Pa./Ambridge) has been nominated as a candidate for the Collegiate Women's Sports Awards 2008-2009 Division III Athlete of the Year.

Decima, a shortstop on Ohio Northern's No. 4-ranked softball team, is one of 11 finalists for the award, which will be announced June 22 at Columbia University in New York City.

She represents the sport of softball and was nominated as the top athlete in her sport by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

Division III athletes are nominated by national coaches associations for each of the 11 sports: basketball, cross country, field hockey, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, track and field and volleyball. The athletes are placed on ballots emailed to all Division III Senior Women Administrators in June every year and the Athlete of the Year for each division is determined by the outcome of the voting.

The awards program is sponsored by American Honda Motor Co., Inc. and to celebrate these awards American Honda Motor Co., Inc. donates $1,000 to the women’s athletic fund of each Honda Sports Award nominee’s university and each Division III nominee’s university. The Division III winner’s institutions receive $5,000 each.

Decima, a civil engineering major, was a First Team Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-American this season and was voted the Ohio Athletic Conference Player of the Year.

She is a two-time First Team All-OAC honoree, a two-time All-Region honoree, an All-District IV honoree, an Academic All-Conference award winner and was named to the NCAA III Central Region All-Tournament Team.

Decima led the Polar Bears in hitting with a .475 average in 45 games this season. She also has a team-high 54 runs scored, a school-record 75 base hits, five triples, a .671 slugging percentage and a .531 on-base percentage.

In three seasons as a Polar Bear, Decima is ONU’s all-time career hits leader with 186 and doubles leader with 40.

She also ranks among ONU’s all-time leaders in RBIs (106), home runs (10), triples (8), runs scored (122) and stolen bases (37).

Decima was also named to the OAC All-Tournament Team in 2008 and 2009 and was named the OAC Hitter of the Week on April 20, 2009.

The Polar Bears set a school record with 39 victories this season against just six defeats, won the OAC Regular Season and Tournament titles, and advanced to the NCAA III NCAA Championships for the first time in school history by winning the NCAA III Greencastle, Ind., Regional Tournament.