RSS FEED
Loading ...Amber Stapler Named Guilford Student-Athlete of the Week
Greensboro, N.C. — Guilford College junior Amber Stapler (Glen Burnie, Md./Glen Burnie (Anne Arundel)) received the school’s Student Athlete of the Week Award Wednesday. The honor covers competition from April 21-27 and is presented weekly by Guilford’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
Amber Stapler
Stapler, the left-handed batting starting shortstop on the softball team, hit .500 with four hits in eight at-bats in the Quakers’ first Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Tournament appearance since 2003. She scored three runs and handled all five fielding chances perfectly as Guilford went 0-2 in the six-team, double-elimination event. Stapler was Guilford’s lone All-ODAC Tournament Team selection and the Quakers’ first in school history.
Stapler finished her first Guilford softball season ranked third among the team’s batting leaders with a .348 average. She set school records with 42 starts, 155 at bats, 41 runs scored and three triples. Stapler also led Guilford with 54 hits, the second-highest total in the team’s seven-year history. Her 20 runs batted in ranked third on the squad and her three stolen bases stood second. She led the Quakers with 16 multiple-hit games, including three three-hit efforts. Stapler ended the year on a seven-game hitting streak, three shy of her longest streak of the season. One of her best games was a three-for-five performance with three runs scored and an RBI in the Quakers’ Apr. 13 upset of sixth-ranked Lynchburg College. She went two-for-four with a career-high four RBIs in an Apr. 2 win over Randolph College and slugged her first career home run versus Swarthmore College Mar. 13.
Stapler helped second-year head coach Dennis Shores’ club to the finest softball season in school history. The Quakers went 20-21-1 (8-10 ODAC) and set school records for wins, runs, batting average and hits in a season. Guilford returned to the six-team ODAC Tournament for the second time in school history after a five-year absence. Shores could return as many as 14 letter winners from this season’s team in 2009, including Stapler.