Columbia College wins third straight AMC Tournament Title

Columbia, Mo. – For the third consecutive season, the Columbia Cougar softball team prevailed as the AMC Postseason Tournament Champions, defeating William Woods University (Mo.) 6-1 in today’s title game. The Cougars will receive an automatic bid into the NAIA Region V tournament on May 10-11 in Springfield, Mo. As the runner-up in regular season action, William Woods also qualifies for the six-team regional playoff.

In a vote by league coaches, Amy Seipp, a senior catcher for the Columbia Cougars, has been named the American Midwest Conference Player of the Year for 2004. Seipp, who hails from O’Fallon, Ill., played in all 46 games for Columbia during the regular season and recorded a .388 batting average. In 147 at-bats, she totaled 57 hits, including 17 doubles, five triples and seven home runs. Seipp posted 39 RBI and struck out only 11 times. Behind the plate, she totaled 281 putouts, 21 assists and committed only two fielding errors.

Monica Mueller, a junior pitcher for the Cougars, is the AMC Pitcher of the Year. The Hannibal, Mo. native appeared in 27 games during the 2004 regular season, throwing 161.1 innings. She posted a 19-5 mark and tallied a league-low 0.52 earned run average. She faced 631 batters and logged 177 strikeouts, while allowing only 26 runs, 12 earned runs and 39 walks.

Ashley Windmiller, a catcher for the Owls from William Woods, is the 2004 AMC Freshman of the Year. The rookie from Salisbury, Mo. played in 50 games this season and led the AMC in RBI with 43. In 154 appearances at the plate, she totaled 58 hits for a .377 batting average, including nine doubles, a triple and 11 dingers. As William Woods’ lone catcher, she committed only two fielding errors, while tallying 229 putouts and 31 assists.

The AMC Newcomer of the Year honor is presented to the top transfer student-athlete in the AMC. Ashley Schmidt, a senior pitcher for William Woods, is the 2004 recipient of this award. During the 2004 regular season, Schmidt appeared in 31 contests, throwing 15 complete games. The Columbia, Ill. native posted a 14-6 record and an earned run average of 1.02. She faced 546 batters, fanning 117. She gave up just 24 walks, 37 runs and 20 earned runs.

The 2004 AMC Coach of the Year for women's softball is Tracy Gastineau from William Woods. Gastineau, who is in her seventh season at the helm of the Owl program, led William Woods to a second place finish in the AMC regular season race with a mark of 10-2 and 36-14 overall record. This is the second time in her stint at William Woods to receive coach of the year accolades.

A complete list of the 18-member AMC All-Conference team, the honorable mention squad and the academic all-conference team, is included below. Members of the academic all-conference team have earned at least a 3.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale.