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BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo softball team announced its 2002 team awards at UB's annual Athletic Awards Banquet, held at Samuel's Grande Manor on Sunday, April 28. Sophomore Breanne Nasti (Baldwin, NY/Baldwin) earned Most Valuable Player honors, freshman Stacey Evans (Collinsville, IL/Triad) was named Top Newcomer, freshman Ann Magur (Endicott, NY/Union-Endicott) was named Most Improved and freshman Melissa Pace (Long Beach, CA/Millikan) received the team's Coach's Award.

Breanne Nasti

Nasti finished the 2002 season with a UB and a Mid-American Conference single-season record .451 batting average, breaking Toledo's Leigh Ross' 1991 record of .447. She also finished the year with 51 hits, 26 runs scored, nine doubles, four triples, seven home runs, a .788 slugging percentage and 25 runs batted in. She had a team-high 18 multiple-hit games and seven multiple-RBI games during the year, and she ended the year hitting safely in 16 of her last 17 games, hitting .500 during that stretch (29-for-58) and stringing together a 14-game hitting streak from April 14 to May 1. Nasti was named MAC East Player of the Week twice during the season. She was a perfect 5-for-5 in the doubleheader and 6-for-8 in the three-game series against Western Michigan on April 6 and 7, including two doubles, two home runs and three RBIs. She was also 4-for-8 with six RBIs and two runs scored in a doubleheader at Bowling Green on April 27, including a seventh-inning grand slam in the opener, and she was 5-for-7 with an RBI and three runs scored in a doubleheader at MAC East Division champion Akron on April 30.

Stacey Evans

Evans picked up her team-leading seventh win of the year on the mound in the season finale against Miami, and she pitched a team-high 119.1 innings and struck out a team-high and a UB single-season record 101 batters in her freshman campaign in 2002. Evans struck out a UB single-game record 12 batters in a 2-1 win over Canisius on April 23, and she threw a one-hitter in a 5-0 shutout of Kent State on April 20. She was named MAC East Division Pitcher of the Week on May 6 after posting a 3-0 record in the last week of the season, including shutouts of MAC East Division champion Akron on April 30 and Miami on May 4. Evans ended the year with a team-leading 2.76 earned run average and a 7-8 record.

Ann Magur

Magur ended the year hitting .450 in her last 12 games to raise her season average to .342. She also drove in 17 runs in the final 12 games of the season to tie for the team lead with 25 RBIs on the year. Magur had 10 multiple-hit games and seven multiple-RBI games during the season. She went 4-for-4 with four RBIs in a 7-4 win at Bowling Green on April 27, and she also drove in four runs in a 9-0 win at Akron on April 30. She also provided solid defensive play all year long in the outfield, finishing the year with a .966 fielding percentage.

Melissa Pace

Pace earned a starting spot in the lineup in her rookie season, and she ended the year with a .230 batting average and 10 RBIs, tied for fourth on the team. Pace had seven multiple-hit games and three multiple-RBI games during the season, and she ended the year with a .930 fielding percentage at third base.

The Bulls finished the 2002 season, their best yet in the Division I era, with a 13-25 overall record and an 8-16 record in the Mid-American Conference. They won four of their last five games and eight of their last 13 to finish in sixth place in the MAC's East Division and in 11th place overall.