Willamette Softball Holds Alumni Day
SALEM, ORE. -- The Willamette University softball team hosted its annual Alumni Day on Saturday, Oct. 10. Activities got underway with a game between the returning players and a team of alumni and freshmen. The returning players won the game, 5-4. More than 100 people attended the teamâ??s Awards Dinner. Jodi Hanauska, who played at Willamette from 1992 through 1995, was honored as the 2009 Willamette Softball Distinguished Alum.
SALEM, ORE. -- The Willamette University softball team hosted its annual Alumni Day on Saturday, Oct. 10. Activities got underway with a game between the returning players and a team of alumni and freshmen. The returning players won the game, 5-4.
More than 100 people attended the teams Awards Dinner. Jodi Hanauska, who played at Willamette from 1992 through 1995, was honored as the 2009 Willamette Softball Distinguished Alum.
I would say the biggest reason for her receiving the Distinguished Alum award is her heart-of-a-champion resume, former WU Head Coach David Just said. I was proud to put her name on the lineup card for four years of college knowing I would get maximum effort from a great athlete.
Hanauska played every infield position for the Bearcats during her Willamette career. She was a four-year starter, who hit above .300 in each of her final three seasons. She ranks third all-time at Willamette in putouts (501) and defensive chances (713). She earned a .976 career fielding percentage.
Her overall softball career included a State title at Churchill HS in Eugene, Ore., in 1991. she also played on the 18-and-under American Softball Association Northwest Region championship team in 1990 and completed at the ASA National Tournament in 1989, 1990 and 1991. She received the Oregon State Activities Association (OSAA) Student-Athlete scholarship in 1991.
She is true competitor who played hurt from the time she was a middle school ASA player all the way through her senior year at Willamette, when she battled leg and shoulder injuries to stay on the field, Just said. Her accomplishments as a student athlete at Willamette can best be measured by what she is doing today at River Bend hospital in Eugene.
Hanauska is a physicians assistant for neurosurgery at River Bend Hospital, which serves Eugene and Springfield. She works for Oregon Neurosurgery Specialists. Hanauska received a Bachelor of Science degree from Willamette in 1995 with a major in Exercise Science (Sports Medicine emphasis). She became a certified physician assistant after graduating from Alderson Broaddus College in West Virginia in 2000.
Bearcat Softball Alumni Day
The WU softball team held its annual Alumni Day on Oct. 10. Returning players defeated a team of alumni and freshmen, 5-4.