No. 7 WashU Softball Earns Three Major All-UAA Awards; Six Honored

WESTERVILLE, Ohio – Six from the No. 7 Washington University in St. Louis softball team earned All-UAA honors, the organization

announced on Tuesday.

Headlining the awards for the Bears are junior

Maria Brooks who was named Pitcher of the Year and first-year outfielder

Julia Sullo who was named Rookie of the Year. Additionally, the WashU coaching staff of head coach

Casey Cromwell and assistant coaches Melissa "Skeeter" Gentile,

Natasha Ramakrishnan,

Roni Knittig and

Natalia Pilpil were named Coaching Staff of the Year for the third-straight year.

Sullo is the first Rookie of the Year for the Bears since Brooks earned the honor in 2024 and is the program's fifth overall. Brooks is just the second Bears' pitcher to earn this honor, along with Anna McKee in 2017.

Brooks and Sullo also earned a spot on the first team as did junior third base player

Kennedy Grippo.

Senior catcher

Alexa Hanish, sophomore first base

Harper Nix and first-year pitcher

Jessi Szafoni were all named to the second team.

Brooks has an impressive 16-0 season on the year, making 18 appearances with 13 starts. She has a conference-low 1.34 earned-run average (ERA) and has pitched 11 complete games. Brooks has a .89 WHIP and has pitched three shutouts on the year. She has 112 strikeouts so far in 109.1 innings pitched. Brooks has 34 career wins and 237 career strikeouts, which puts her seventh all-time on the career lists for both. This is Brooks' third-straight first team honor.

Sullo has had a monster season for the Bears in her first year, playing in 34 games with 32 starts, leading the team with a .473 batting average, 53 hits, 39 runs scored and 24 RBI. She has 45 stolen bases in 47 attempts on the year, which is a new single-season record for both the Bears and the UAA. In the outfield, she has just one error on the year for a .968 fielding percentage.

Grippo has played and started in all 34 games at third base and has a .383 batting average on the year. She's racked up 36 hits including five doubles, has 13 RBI and 20 runs scored. Grippo has a .948 fielding percentage on the year and has been part of two double plays. This past weekend, Grippo went 3-for-3 in the final game of the Emory series, helping secure the UAA title for the Bears. This marks Grippo's second All-UAA honor and first on the first team.

Hanish has played in 26 games with 22 starts and is second among the Bears with a .385 batting average. She has 25 hits including seven doubles, has scored 12 runs and driven in 17 runs. Behind the plate, Hanish has a .980 fielding percentage. This is Hanish's first-career All-UAA honor.

Nix has played in 32 games with 31 starts, primarily at first base. She has a .368 batting average with 32 hits including a team-high eight doubles to go with 13 runs scored and 21 RBI. Nix has drawn a team-high 14 walks. In the field, Nix has a .975 fielding percentage and team-leading 194 putouts. This marks her first-career All-UAA honor.

Szafoni has a 7-3 record on the year, making 16 appearances with nine starts. She's pitched seven complete games with two shutouts and has struck out 42 batters. Szafoni has a 1.56 ERA and has pitched 67.1 innings. She currently ranks second in ERA among UAA players.

The Bears begin the NCAA Tournament on Thursday when they host the NCAA Regional at the WashU Softball Field. WashU takes on Capital on Thursday at 11 a.m. and the winner will move on in the winner's bracket to play at 11 a.m. on Friday. The loser will play in an elimination game on Friday at 1:30 p.m.

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