January 20, 2011 – The Hillsdale College softball program will be adding seven new players to its roster for the 2012 season.

Joining Hillsdale College’s softball program in 2011-12 are: Jessica Day (Plain City, Ohio), Katie Ardrey (Grove City, Ohio) and Amber Hunt (Tawas City, Mich.).

Day joins the team as an infielder who specializes as a left-handed slap-hitter. She currently plays for Jonathan Alder High School in Plain City, Ohio, and has been named All-County three times already in her career. She was named Second-Team All-District as a junior in 2010, and was special mention All-Metro. She was part of the Underclassmen All-Ohio team in 2009 and 2010, and has earned scholar-athlete honors. She’s also earned varsity letters in soccer and basketball.

Day is part of the Ohio Stingrays travel team and has racked up an incredible six most valuable player awards during her career on the team.

A student with a 3.96 overall grade point average, Day is very active outside of athletics, participating in Younglife, while being named the Forensics Student of the Year, Spanish Student of the Year, Chemistry Student of the Year and Biology Student of the Year. She’s also a member of the National Honor Society.

A travel club teammate of Day’s, Ardrey comes to Hillsdale from Bishop Ready High School in Grove City, Ohio, where she is a shortstop and second baseman. She has served as team captain of the Silver Knights for two years, and led them to a state final four appearance in 2009. The team won back-to-back league, district and regional titles in 2008 and 2009, and she’s been named all-league in each of her three seasons at the varsity level.

Ardrey was named the game MVP for Queen of Diamonds South in 2009 and Queen of Diamonds North in 2010.

Outside of softball, Ardrey has been named to the honor roll in every quarter of her high school career, and been named Student of the Month. She is a member of the environmental club, bake club, Liturgical Choir, Show Choir, and has volunteered at the Heinzerling Developmental Center.

Hunt is another infielder, having spent most of her time playing third base and shortstop for Pinconning High School, one of the traditionally stronger prep small-school programs in Michigan. The Spartans won the conference, district and regional championships last spring, and Hunt was named All-District in 2010.

Hunt has played a total of six combined travel seasons for the MBS Jets and the Pinconning Thunder, and helped lead the Jets to a third-place finish at the ASA Eastern Nationals in 2008.

She is also a member of the National Honor Society, and the student government, and has worked as a tutor. Academically, she ranks at the top of her class, and has also played volleyball at Pinconning.

SECOND WAVE OF RECRUITS

Signing with the program in April 2011 were: Emily Pillivant (Lake Orion, Mich.), Genna Hilgenbrink (Aurora, Ill.), Natalie Grimmer (Northville, Mich.) and Jenny Bals (South Bend, Ind.) to next year’s recruiting class.

Pillivant comes to Hillsdale College from one of the most successful athletic programs in metro Detroit, Lake Orion High School. She played varsity softball for the Dragons all four years of her high school career, and was a team captain in 2011. She helped her team to back-to-back district titles in 2008 and 2009, and was a versatile player for LOHS, logging time at first base, catcher and outfield. Pillivant earned Academic All-State honors, and was named an OAA Scholar-Athlete six times during her career.

She has played for some top-notch travel teams as well, including the Oakland Edge from 12U-16U, the 18U Compuware Fastpitch team, and the Ann Arbor Gold 18U club. She batted .360 while playing for Compuware and was in the top quarter of all teams at the ASA Nationals with Compuware.

Off the playing field, Pillivant also played volleyball at Lake Orion, and was named to the All-A Honor Roll in all four years of her career. She was a member of the National Honor Society, served as a freshman mentor and was an active tutor in her school. She earned a 3.96 overall grade point average and has logged more than 140 total hours of community service around Lake Orion.

Hilgenbrink is a 5-foot-10 first baseman who played at Oswego High School in Aurora, Illinois, located on the west side of the Chicago suburbs. She has earned honorable mention All-Area honors, and has been the cleanup hitter in her team’s lineup throughout her career. She was named her team’s offensive player of the year following the 2008 season.

Her most recent travel ball team was the Illinois FuZion 18U club. She’s also played for travel teams based in Romeoville and Naperville, where she was also the starting first baseman and cleanup hitter.

Away from the field, Hilgenbrink was part of the National Honor Society, worked for the Panther’s Paw, the school’s newspaper, and made the High Honor Roll. She plans on studying sociology and journalism at Hillsdale.

Bals is a two-time team MVP at St. Joseph’s High School in South Bend, where she alternates between pitcher and second base. Her team was sectional champs in 2009 and 2010, and was league co-champions in 2010.

She played for the Indiana Twist travel team for four seasons, before joining the Michiana Inferno and Michiana Mystique over the past three seasons. Her team was the NSA 18 and under world series champions in 2009.

Bals was also a varsity swimmer at St. Joseph’s for four years, and received many academic awards through her career. She was awarded the Fr. Denis Blank Memorial Award, the Saint Joe Scholar award, the Burger King Distinguished Student Award, and was the secretary of the National Honor Society.

Grimmer competed for the Mustangs at Northville High School, and during her career, helped lead the team to a district championship in 2009. She has played third base, shortstop and pitcher, and has earned scholar-athlete honors from both her high school and high school’s conference. She also ran for Northville’s cross country team.

In 2011, Grimmer played for the Oakland Cobras travel team, and in 2010 with the Michigan Warriors, batted over .400 for the season. She’s also played for the Northville Broncos (2004-07), Livonia Storm (2008), and the Queens of Diamond (2009) travel teams. She was a member of the National Honor Society and the German Honor Society.