ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Empire 8 Athletic Conference released its Softball All-Conference teams on Monday, as three Soaring Eagles garnered postseason honors for their accomplishments during the regular season. First-year players Sophia Temple and Ashlyn VanFleet were selected to the second team and third team for the Soaring Eagles.

One member of each team was named that institution's representative on the 2025 Empire 8 Softball Sportswoman of the Year Team. The Empire 8 Conference emphasizes that "Competing with Honor and Integrity" is an essential component of a student-athlete's experience in conjunction with an institution's educational mission. These honorees have distinguished themselves and consistently exhibit the critical traits as outstanding sportswomen.

For Elmira College, the Sportswoman of the Year recipient was senior pitcher Maryann Sobel. Sobel recorded five wins in the circle this season for the Purple & Gold, while notching her 30^th career win and appearing in her 84^th game. She became just the fourth pitcher to record 30 wins in her career at Elmira and set the program record for appearances against Geneseo on April 30. Notably, Sobel also ranks fifth in her career at Elmira with 333 innings pitched and seventh with 142 strikeouts.

Temple garnered her first all-conference recognition as a member of the second team at designated player for Elmira. Temple started 34 games while appearing in 36 for the Purple & Gold this season. She finished third on the team with 33 hits and tied for third with six doubles and two home runs. Temple also finished second on the team with 21 runs batted in, to go along with 17 runs scored and a .289 batting average.

VanFleet also garnered her first all-conference recognition as a member of the third team at catcher for the Soaring Eagles. VanFleet started 30 games while appearing in 34 for Elmira this season. She paced the team with three triples and hit-by-pitches with four, while batting .337. VanFleet also added 30 hits, 17 runs scored, and was 6-for-11 in stolen bases this season.


Empire 8 Softball Major Award Winners:
Player of the Year: Emily McManus, So., OF, St. John Fisher
Pitcher of the Year: Ainsley Evanetski, Sr., P, St. John Fisher
Defensive Player of the Year: Jessica Remm, Jr., OF, Alfred 
Rookie of the Year: Kaijah Alexander, Fr., 3B, Nazareth
Coaching Staff of the Year: St. John Fisher, led by head coach Bari Mance


ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE
The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit www.empire8.com and YouTube.