2008 Season

Coach: Sonya Wilmoth

Record: 39-24

Conference Record (place): 13-9 (6^th)
Postseason: Ineligible due to NCAA reclassification rules

2008 Awards

Atlantic Sun All-Conference: Ashley Battaglia, Devyn Findley (2^nd Team), Heather Hyde (2^nd Team), Gwen Williams (2^nd Team)

Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Week: Gwen Williams (March 24), Heather Hyde (March 31), Kara Rutenbar (April 21) 
Atlantic Sun All-Academic: Ashley Battaglia, Brittany Cavalli, Devyn Findley, Stephany Hall, Heather hyde, Joanna Kurycki, Macie McCloud, Ashley Parenteau, Lauren Pulling, Gwen Williams, Laura Williams

Season Statistics (pdf)  

2008 Season Recap

The University of North Florida softball team enjoyed its most successful season at the NCAA Division I level to date, pushing the 40-win mark for the first time since joining the top ranks of collegiate athletics, while also securing its third-straight finish in the top six of the Atlantic Sun Conference.

UNF finished the year with a 39-24 mark and a 13-9 record in Atlantic Sun play, completing the team’s first winning mark in league play since joining the A-Sun in 2006.

UNF got it done with the long ball this season, bashing 50 home runs to shatter the former team record of 36 set one year ago. That was good enough to land the Lady Ospreys among the top 50 in the nation in home runs per game. Leading the charge was a group of seniors that re-wrote the UNF record books. Ashley Parenteau and Gwen Williams were engaged in a year-long battle for the career home run mark at UNF, finishing tied with 28 home runs in their careers. Williams set the single-season home run mark at UNF with a towering blast at conference frontrunner Florida Gulf Coast, ending her season with 13. Parenteau and Heather Hyde also threw their names into the single-season home run mix, each hitting double-digit long balls and setting career home run highs in the process. Parenteau finished with 11 in 2008 while Hyde hit 12, tying UNF’s previous single-season home run mark.

While the offense was taking care of the runs, sophomore pitcher Devyn Findley was holding opponents at bay, setting career highs in wins (21) as well as strikeouts (228), while finishing among the national leaders in ERA. Senior Tori Ahern complemented Findley in the pitching circle, notching her 30^th career win at the Division I level, while easing into the top-5 on the team’s all-time strikeout list. She finished the year with a 17-8 record, while striking out 103 opposing hitters.

The team saw plenty of formidable competition in 2008, beginning the year with wins against SEC foe South Carolina and Big East opponent Louisville, before downing the likes of Virginia, Charlotte and East Carolina in non-conference play. UNF also traveled to tournaments at Georgia and Florida, and showed they could hang with both of those SEC squads, which each ranked among the top-10 in the nation when they met up with the Lady Ospreys.

Once conference play began, UNF quickly vaulted to the top, capturing at least one win against every team that was A-Sun Tournament bound, while also splitting with two of the top teams in the conference – Florida Gulf Coast and Lipscomb.

The Lady Ospreys claimed a couple of points for UNF in the SunTrust River City Rumble, downing JU 7-0 before ending the second game early via the mercy rule with a 9-1 win.

Three Lady Ospreys – Hyde, Williams and Kara Rutenbar – were named A-Sun Player of the Week. Ashley Battaglia was a first team A-Sun All-Conference selection, hitting .312 on the year while throwing out 40 percent of would-be base stealers. Hyde, Williams and Findley all earned second team all-conference honors to join Battaglia in postseason honors.