DWU Athletic Department

Bonifacio headlines five DWU All-GPAC selections

Tiffany Bonifacio

MITCHELL, S.D. – Freshman infielder Tiffany Bonifacio headlined a group of five Dakota Wesleyan University softball players who earned Great Plains Athletic Conference All-Conference honors when the teams were announced Monday by the league.

Official GPAC Release

Bonifacio was named to the All-GPAC Second Team while sophomore Ekekela Watson and freshmen Brandi Nekrassoff, Nicole Haley and Jackie Pugilese all received All-GPAC Honorable Mention. Watson was a repeat Honorable Mention selection, while the other four earned their first All-GPAC honors. The five selections are the second-most in school history behind only the 2007 squad, which had seven All-GPAC players.

Bonifacio made quite an impact in her first season at Dakota Wesleyan. The Lahaina, Hawaii, native led DWU with an overall batting average of .372 and 16 RBI. In conference games, Bonifacio was even better at the plate with an average of .391 and a .438 slugging percentage. She was a perfect 5-for-5 on stolen base attempts this season, and she finished with an overall fielding percentage of .892, mostly at third base.

Ekekela Watson	Brandi Nekrassoff
Nicole Haley	Jackie Pugilese

Watson earned her second-straight Honorable Mention award thanks largely to her sparkling defense at second base. Also a Lahaina, Hawaii, native, the sophomore turned in a .976 fielding percentage overall, and a .963 mark in GPAC play. She had 72 putouts, 50 assists and just three errors in 125 chances. Overall, Watson batted .217 with a .280 on-base percentage with 11 runs and four stolen bases.

Nekrassoff was honored as a utility player after serving as DWU’s top pitcher as well as one of the offensive leaders. Overall, the Fair Oaks, Calif., native finished 7-16 on the mound with a 3.85 ERA. She had 109 strikeouts to just 16 walks in an incredible 160 total innings of work. She played great defense both at pitcher and third base, with a .963 fielding percentage, and she batted .311 (.318 in GPAC play) with 14 runs, 12 RBI and a team-high seven doubles. Due to injuries to the rest of the pitching staff, Nekrassoff shouldered the pitching load over the final month of the season, and the way she handled the added responsibility was admirable.

Haley was honored as an outfielder, but also spent time at shortstop during her solid freshman season. She nearly hit .300 overall (.299) and was at her best in GPAC play, where she batted .324 with a .400 on-base percentage. Haley scored 12 runs with 13 RBI, including a team-high 10 RBI in GPAC play. She finished with an overall fielding percentage of .946 with just five errors in 92 chances.

Pugilese was another strength of the DWU defense in 2009. The centerfielder from Las Vegas, Nev., used great range to finished with a .939 fielding percentage, and her strong arm led to five outfield assists. As the Tigers’ leadoff hitter, Pugilese hit .256 overall and tied for the team lead with 14 runs and seven doubles. She also stole five bases, with four coming in GPAC play.

Concordia University’s Clarissa Eloge was named the Hauff Mid-America Sports/GPAC Player-of-the-Year. Midland Lutheran College’s Kelly Sladek was named the Hauff Mid-America Sports/GPAC Pitcher-of-the-Year and Morningside College’s Jessica Sitzmann and Dordt College’s Tim Covey shared Hauff Mid-America Sports/GPAC Coach-of-the-Year honors.

In head coach Marie McCarthy-Foster’s second season, Dakota Wesleyan was 10-24 overall and 6-18 in GPAC play. The Tigers finished 11th in the conference standings. Next season, all 13 players will return, including all five All-GPAC selections, as 10 were freshmen and three were sophomores.

2009 Team Photo