St. John Fisher College’s Jennifer Vanek (Smithtown West/Smithtown), a senior on the softball team, has been named the College’s Female Athlete of the Week for the week ending May 13, 2012.
Vanek and the Cardinals took part in the NCAA Regional round last week, with Fisher seeing its season come to a close at the tournament. In the double-elimination tournament, the Cardinals went 1-2 to place fifth in the Regional and ended the year with a 34-14 record. Vanek was one of Fisher’s top batters on the weekend, recording a .455 batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
The team opened the tournament with an 8-5 win over the University of Rochester, where Vanek played a huge role in advancing her team. The centerfielder went 3-for-5 from the plate, scored two runs and also stole a base. The win helped Fisher advance to the next round, where they ultimately saw a 3-0 loss to eventual Regional Champion Tufts University.
In the Cardinals last game of the season, an 8-0 loss to Ithaca College, Vanek was the only batter to record multiple hits as she went 2-for-3 on the day. The loss knocked Fisher from NCAA contention, with Vanek wrapping up a stellar career at Fisher.
Vanek’s 39 runs scored this season place her eighth all-time, sitting just behind the 40 that she scored last season. The Smithtown native finishes the year leading the team in runs scored (39), triples (4), walks (18), sacrifice bunts (7) and stolen bases (5). She also sits second in hits (51), just one behind team-leader Leanne Merchant’s 52.
Vanek also helped lead Fisher to 34 wins this season, the second-highest total in the program’s 29-year history. During her junior campaign, Vanek was also named as the 2011 Empire 8 Conference Player of the Year.
