Miami Softball Adds Shalise Lugo to Signing Class
4/27/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 27, 2006
OXFORD, Ohio - The Miami University softball team and head coach Angie Jacobs announced the signing of righthanded pitcher/infielder Shalise Lugo (Ventura, Calif./St. Bonaventure) to a National Letter of Intent. Lugo is the second pitcher Miami has inked for the 2007 season, and she is one of five new student-athletes that will suit up for the Red and White next season.
"We are extremely happy Shalise has signed with us," Jacobs said. "She has been playing with and against some of the top softball players in the country the past two seasons, and her addition helps solidify our pitching staff. We also are looking for her to contribute at the plate next season."
A four-year varsity starter at St. Bonaventure, Lugo is coming off a junior season in which she went 7-4 with a 1.02 earned-run average. In 15 appearances for the Seraphs, Lugo struck out 144 batters in 89.0 innings and also tossed nine complete games. Lugo also allowed one earned run or less in 12 of her 15 appearances and had 10 games with double-digit strikeouts, including a combined 23 strikeouts in St. Bonaventure's two CIF-SS Division V playoff games.
A two-way threat, Lugo also batted .294 (20-for-68) last season with a home run and 10 RBIs as she led the Seraphs to an 18-7 record, including a 7-3 mark in the Tri-Valley League. Away from the field, Lugo holds a 3.5 grade-point average and has been named to the honor roll and selected as a scholar-athlete all three-years in high school.
Lugo also has been a member of the Jets 18 Gold club softball team since 2004 and helped the team to a 62-25-5 record in 2005. During the 2005 season, Lugo led the Jets to an appearance in the American Fastpitch Association (AFA) National Championship in Beaumont, Texas and a seventh-place finish at the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) National Qualifier in Stockton, Calif.
Lugo joins the four student-athletes Miami inked during the fall signing period -- Meredith Linch (Milledgeville, Ga./John Milledge Academy), Sarah Billstrom (Douglasville, Ga./Chapel Hill), Alicia Hogl (Bellingham, Wash./Sehome) and Briana Burke (Upland, Calif./Upland). As the two pitching signees, Lugo and Linch will join current freshman Kelly Cabana and Melissa Kail and comprise a youthful but deep pitching staff in the 2007 season. Lugo and Linch also will be tabbed to replace senior Courtney Salmon, who graduates after this season and currently ranks second all time in strikeouts (561) and appearances (123), third in winning percentage (.531; 42-37), wins (42), innings pitched (563.2) and games started (86), and fourth in shutouts (15) and earned-run average (2.16).
The Miami University softball team has advanced to the finals of the Mid-American Conference Tournament each of the past three seasons, and in 2005, the RedHawks took home the tournament crown and made their first NCAA Tournament appearance. During the eight-year tenure of Jacobs, the winningest coach in program history, Miami has produced 18 all-MAC selections, four all-region selections and had two players drafted to play professional softball.
