NEW HAVEN, Conn. - - After a dominating month from inside the circle and continued success inside the classroom, Wilmington University softball senior Katie Warrington has been named the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Student-Athlete of the Month for March, as announced Friday by CACC Commissioner Dan Mara.
Warrington has performed numerous firsts for not only the softball program but also the Wilmington University athletic department, with her latest feat coming this past month. Warrington became the first Wildcat to be named a national player of the week after being named the Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division II National Pitcher of the Week on March 6.
During the previous week, Warrington went 5-0 pitching in all but one inning in her appearance. She struck out an outstanding 68 batters in 33 innings, throwing three shutouts on the week. She allowed four runs (two earned) on the week, coming to a 0.42 earned run average. She recorded 17 strikeouts in a shutout victory over CACC foe Felician in a nonconference matchup, tallying the second most strikeouts in a game in program history. She struck out at least 10 batters in all five of her starts last week.
Later in the month, the right-handed pitcher became only the second Wildcat pitcher to break the 500 career strikeout mark as she struck out nine at Bowie State. In her next contest, Warrington became the Wilmington all-time career leader in strikeouts, securing her sixth of the game, and 509th all-time to take the career mark from Kim Lawrence who needed four years to reach the 500 strikeout plateau. At week's end, Warrington has 565 career strikeouts in only three seasons as a Wildcat.
The Townsend, Del. native has recorded double-digit strikeouts in nine games this year, with the season high 17 against Felician. The two-time CACC First Team All-Conference member was the 2011 CACC Pitcher of the Year, Daktronics All-East Region First Team and NFCA All-East Region Second Team.
In the classroom, Warrington currently carries a 3.99 GPA in Sports Management. She became the first Wilmington student-athlete to earn Academic All-America status, doing so twice. She was named to the 2012 Capital One Academic All-America Second Team and Capital One Academic All-District First Team. In 2011, Warrington was name to the Capital One Academic All-America Third Team and First Team All-District. The perennial CACC Spring All-Academic recipient was named the 2012 CACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Warrington is also a two-time Chi Alpha Sigma National College Athlete Honor Society Member, earned and given out at the annual Wilmington Academic All-Star Banquet.
Outside of the playing field and classroom, Warrington is a three-year member of the Wilmington Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, walked for the third year in a row in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk and spent time as a Fence Judge at the St. Augustine Pony Club Harvest Fest for the second year in a row. She also is a three-year member of the Wilmington University Athletics Advisory Board as a student-athlete representative.
The CACC Student-Athlete of the Month is awarded from September through May to select student-athletes who excel in athletics, the classroom and the community.