May 8, 2008
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BLUFFTON, Ohio - Bluffton University head coach Heather Bruder has been named the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year for the 2008 season. In just her second season at Bluffton, Coach Bruder led the Beavers to a 25-17 overall record, including a 13-3 mark and share of the regular season championship in the HCAC. It marks the first time since Holly Spann was named co-Coach of the Year in 2004 that a Bluffton softball coach has taken this honor. Bluffton's 25 wins were just one shy of tying the 2004 squad for the most ever, while the 13 HCAC victories broke the previous mark of 12 set in 2004. |
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Coach Bruder took over a Bluffton softball team that went 15-23 in 2006 with a 7-7 mark in the HCAC and lost All-American pitcher Sarah Betts to graduation. With a lineup that consisted of just one senior and started five freshmen last season, Bruder guided the Beavers to a victory over HCAC regular-season champion Defiance in a contest Bluffton needed to qualify for the four-team conference tournament. The Beavers ended HCAC play with a 9-6 mark before falling to Defiance and perennial-power Transylvania in the 2007 tournament. |
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One year later, Bluffton went 13-3 in the HCAC and just missed out on hosting the tournament due to a sweep at the hands of Rose-Hulman in the first conference doubleheader of the season. Following the losses to the Engineers, Bruder led her young squad to nine consecutive victories, two shy of the school record, and conference sweeps of five straight opponents before dropping the first game of a doubleheader at Defiance. |
| In her two seasons at Bluffton, the Beavers' batting average has risen 72 points from .238 to .310. Coach Bruder and her assistant, Lisa Shepard, have also been instrumental in the improvement of the Bluffton pitchers. Opponents batted 22 points lower in 2008 than they did in 2007, .247 compared to .269 a year ago. As a team, the 2008 edition of Bluffton University softball shattered school marks with 352 hits, 61 doubles, 20 home runs, 194 RBI and 230 runs scored. | 
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The 2008 HCAC Coach of the Year award marks the second time in Coach Bruder's career that she has been named conference Coach of the Year. In 2005 after five straight losing seasons, Division II Northwood finished with a 34-14 overall record and its first ever GLIAC championship. Bruder was named GLIAC Coach of the Year and her team advanced to the finals of the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship where it fell to Northern Kentucky, the number 1 team in the country. The Timberwolves put together a 71-29 record during Bruder's final two seasons as head coach. She has fashioned a 23-9 record in the Heartland Conference during her first two seasons in Bluffton, including two straight trips to the HCAC tournament. -BEAVERS- |