Troy, NY – Coming off their third-straight Liberty League title, five Yellowjackets from the University of Rochester softball team were named to the Liberty League softball all-conference teams, as announced by the conference on Tuesday.
 
First-year pitcher Molly Broccolo, sophomore designated player Jenna Gorecki, senior first basewoman Hannah Keiper and sophomore shortstop Ally Kim all earned First-Team All-Liberty League honors, while sophomore outfielder Bailey Nicholoff was named Second-Team All-Liberty League.
 
The Yellowjackets finished the regular season with a 32-6 (13-1 LL) record, a record for the most regular season wins in program history. UR then bounced back from a first-round defeat in the Liberty League Tournament against No. 3-seeded Ithaca, to win their next four contests, including two extra-inning affairs against the Bombers in Saturday's final to clinch their third-straight tournament championship and secure the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
 
Rochester is set to head to Annville, PA for the Lebanon Valley Regional, where they'll face New England Collegiate Conference champion Eastern Nazarene College in their first game of the 2023 NCAA Division III Softball Tournament on Thursday, May 18 at 4:30 p.m.
 
First Team:
Molly Broccolo (FY, P, Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) – 1st All-LL Honor; Not only has Broccolo been the ace of the Yellowjacket staff this season, but the first-year has been one of the best pitchers in the country, sporting an 18-2 record and 0.86 ERA over 138.2 innings pitched. Over 24 appearances and 21 starts, Broccolo has a 0.94 WHIP, having struck out 72 batters and walked just 22, and has allowed just 17 earned runs, and 109 total hits, with opponents hitting just .203 off the Webster, NY native. Broccolo leads the conference in wins, ERA, WHIP and games started, and ranks in the top 10 in complete games, hits allowed per seven innings, shutouts, strikeout-to-walk ratio and walks per seven innings. Broccolo's 0.86 ERA also ranks 10th in the country, while the first-year's 18 wins rank 19th. For her efforts in the Liberty League Tournament, Broccolo was named the Most Outstanding Performer, going 1-0 with a 1.62 ERA in 21.2 innings pitched, appearing in four out of the 'Jackets five games. Broccolo also no-hit SUNY Brockport earlier this year and shut out multiple conference foes, while the first-year's single-season ERA is the lowest in program history, while Broccolo's 18 wins are the third-most in a season.
 
Jenna Gorecki (SO, INF, Pittsburgh, PA/Mount Lebanon) – 1st All-LL Honor; Gorecki turned in a breakout campaign for the Yellowjackets in 2023, batting .361/.420/.549 with 17 doubles, a triple, two home runs, 20 runs scored and a team-high 39 RBI over 42 starts and 43 games played as the designated player. Gorecki led the conference in both doubles and runs batted in, ranking 20th and 75th in Div. III in each category, while Gorecki also finished in the top 10 in the Liberty League in slugging, hits, home runs and walks. The sophomore also turned it up a notch in conference play, batting .409/.460/.636 against conference foes. Gorecki notched eight multi-RBI games and hit multiple doubles in four games, tying the program record for doubles in a game with three at Medaille on April 8. Gorecki's 17 doubles are also tied for the second-most in a season in program history, while the sophomore's 39 RBI are tied for 9th.
 
Hannah Keiper (SR, INF, Chester Springs, PA/Bishop Shanahan) – 3rd All-LL Honor (2021 1st TM, 2022 2nd TM); Keiper was again one of Rochester's top hitters at the plate, batting .311/.436/.541 with 10 doubles, a team-high six home runs, 19 runs scored and 31 RBI, drawing a team-best 26 walks over 42 games played and started. The senior started all but one game for the Yellowjackets at first base, leading the conference in both walks and home runs, while ranking in the top ten in numerous other categories, including on-base percentage, slugging, doubles, runs batted in and stolen bases. Keiper's 26 walks are the second-most in a season in program history, while defensively, the senior turned in the third-best fielding percentage at first, recording just one error. Keiper also helped turn 10 double plays at first and tallied 11 multi-hit and six multi-RBI games. The senior's best individual game of the year came against Misericordia on March 10, a 4-for-4 performance with two doubles, a home run, a run scored and three RBI.
 
Ally Kim (SO, INF, Pleasanton, CA/Amador Valley) – 2nd All-LL Honor (2022 1st TM); Kim was once again one of the Yellowjackets' best hitters, setting the table atop UR's lineup as one of the fastest players in the country. Kim started all 43 games for Rochester this season, batting a team-best .401/.482/.592 with 12 doubles, six triples, a home run, a team-high 57 runs scored and 45 stolen bases, and 29 RBI. The sophomore struck out just six times, drawing 17 walks and five hit-by-pitches, twice recording on-base streaks of 10+ games. This season, Kim shattered the program record for stolen bases and is just one steal away from breaking the single-season record Kim set just last year. Overall, Kim led the conference in five different categories (runs scored, hits, at-bats, triples and stolen bases), while ranking in the top 10 in seven more. Kim's 45 stolen bases rank third in the country, while the sophomore's 1.33 runs per game rank fourth. This season, Kim has turned in 16 multi-hit games, including five three-hit games, and seven multi-RBI games, and has swiped a program record four bags twice, at Fredonia on April 11 and at SUNY Geneseo on April 25.
 
Second Team:
Bailey Nicholoff (SO, OF, Chicago, IL/Northside College Prep) – 2nd All-LL Honor (2022 1st-TM); Nicholoff appeared in every game for the 'Jackets this season, making 42 starts in the outfield and at catcher. The sophomore hit .324/.391/.532 with 15 doubles, a triple, four home runs, 40 runs scored, 23 stolen bases and 31 RBI as Nicholoff established herself as one of the best No. 2-hitters behind Kim in the league. Nicholoff ranked in the top five in the Liberty League in nine different categories, leading the league in sacrifice flies while finishing second in at-bats, home runs and RBI, third in doubles and fourth in runs scored. The Chicago, IL native notched 11 multi-hit games, including a four-hit performance at Medaille on April 8, and eight multi-RBI games, including a five-RBI performance at SUNY Geneseo on April 25. Nicholoff also tallied a 10-game hitting steak and an 11-game on-base streak and drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth against Ithaca in game six of the Liberty League Tournament, and the game-tying run in the bottom of the seventh against the Bombers in game seven.