Amanda Shevchuk Named Fisher's Female Athlete of the Year
Senior pitcher Amanda Shevchuk of the St. John Fisher College softball program has been named the College’s Female Athlete of the Year.
Shevchuk, the Empire 8 Conference Pitcher of the Year, finished the season with an 18-8 overall record. The hard-throwing right-hander had a 2.64 earned run average while striking out 130 batters in 185.2 innings of work, and helped lead the Cardinals to their second consecutive appearance in the Division III NCAA Championship. Fisher finished the 2009 campaign with a 32-12 overall record, good enough for third best in the program’s history.
As the team’s go-to pitcher from the circle, Shevchuk shouldered the brunt of the load throughout the season and continued her efforts into the postseason. She started in all eight of Fisher’s postseason games, working 56.2 out of a possible 59 innings.
In a four-game week in the Empire 8 Conference Championship, she posted a 3-1 record in four complete-game efforts, including an 11-inning 3-2 win over Alfred University to spearhead the Cardinals’ second consecutive conference championship. Shevchuk garnered Empire 8 Conference Tournament Most Valuable Player honors for the second year in a row after working 32.0 innings and allowing just five runs (three earned) while striking out 16. She did not walk more than two batters in any game during the week.
Shevchuk then helped the Cardinals to two wins in the double-elimination NCAA Championship Regional hosted by Ithaca College. Fisher eliminated both King’s College and Keuka College from the bracket behind a pair of seven-inning efforts from the senior.
Over her four years at Fisher, Shevchuk made the All-Conference Team three times and was named to the 2009 Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division III Northeast All-Region Team following her performance in the Division III NCAA Championships. She finished her career ranked second in school history in career wins (49) and strikeouts (355).
Shevchuk graduated from Fisher in May with a degree in Sports Management and currently resides in Rochester.