Michelle Schlichtig Earns Sixth Honor as NJAC Pitcher of the Week

College Softball:
Michelle Schlichtig Earns Sixth Honor as NJAC Pitcher of the Week

Schlichtig had a phenomenal week on the mound and at the plate while leading the Lady Raptors to the NCAA East Regional title. Rutgers-Camden, 43-5 and ranked No. 3 nationally, will begin play in the 2006 NCAA Division III Softball Championship in Raleigh, NC, Friday at 11 a.m. Its first opponent will be NJAC foe Ramapo College.

In three games at the NCAA Regionals, Schlichtig fired a trio of two-hit shutouts, running her scoreless innings streak to 24. She walked five and struck out 26 in the 21 innings while raising her record to 28-3. The 28 wins set a new single-season program record, breaking her mark of 27 set last year. She also extended her school records to 16 shutouts this season and 39 for her career. She helped her own cause by fielding her position flawlessly, collecting nine assists during the tournament.

Offensively, Schlichtig was a powerful force as well, going 8-for-9 (.889) with four doubles, one home run, four runs, three RBIs and one walk. The eight hits helped her set a new single-season program record with 56 hits, breaking her own mark of 54 set last season. She also tied career marks with 243 assists and 39 doubles and could set new program standards at the Division III championships.

A member of the NCAA East Regional all-tournament team, Schlichtig has had numerous awards already this season. She captured her second straight honor as the NJAC Pitcher of the Year and her third consecutive All-NJAC First Team honor earlier this month. Those awards go with the NJAC Player of the Year she won as a sophomore.

Out of the 11 weekly awards in the NJAC this season, Schlichtig has been Pitcher of the Week six times, including the last three weeks, and Player of the Week once. She also has won three ECAC Metro Div. III Pitcher of the Week honors and one ECAC Metro Div. III Player of the Week award.

For the season, Schlichtig is hitting .381 and is tied for the team lead with eight home runs. Her team-leading 44 RBIs are a single-season school record. She also holds the Raptors’ career records with 264 total bases and 103 RBIs, and is four hits shy of the career hit mark of 166, set by Celeste Chinappi (2002-05).

On the mound, Schlichtig is 28-3 with a 0.96 ERA and 279 strikeouts in 196.2 innings. She holds virtually every single-season and career pitching record at Rutgers-Camden, including 52 consecutive scoreless innings, tied for the sixth-longest streak in NCAA Division III history, which was set earlier this year.