Trainor earns MIAC & national player of the week honors for St. Thomas

Mac Whaley, staff writer|May 4, 2016

Micaela Trainor, Cotter ’12, a senior at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn.  has been named  Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) softball player of the week.

According to an article on the MIAC league website,  “Micaela Trainor earned Player-of-the-Week honors thanks to her huge week at the plate. The senior 3B hit .565 (13-for-23) with 14 RBI, five runs scored, three home runs and two doubles and smashed a grand slam to record her 100th career hit.”

http://www.miacathletics.com/sports/sball/2015-16/releases/050216_sb_aow    MIAC press release

Trainor’sperformance also earned her the national player of the week for D3 softball.

https://nfca.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6900:trainor-mclendon-earn-louisville-slugger-nfca-division-iii-national-player-pitcher-of-week-honors&catid=148&Itemid=149

Trainor’s effort was part of three consecutive double-header sweeps that led to a conference championship for the Tommies.

“It is exciting to see that Micaela’s great work ethic has led to an outstanding senior year on a championship team,” Cotter softball coach Pat Bowlin said.

Micaela Trainor fires a strike from 3rd. Photo Mark Brown/ University of St. Thomas.

St. Thomas coach John Tschida had this to say about Trainor:

“Micaela is a great player, but an even better person.  She is 100% about the team and making sure her teammates are in a place where they can be successful on and off the field.  She is the first player to volunteer her time to a worthy cause. ”

Tschida put this giving spirit of Trainor’s to the test this season and she has proved to be more than up for the challenge.

“She is a complete player.  Micaela bats third in our line-up and leads the team in RBI.  She has one of the strongest arms in division III softball, hits, hits with power, runs very well and has a great glove at 3rd base.  She was/is a very good catcher and unselfishly moved to 3B this season where she has been a standout all year. Her work ethic took her from being a very good player to being a great player.”

“Adjustments need to be made to keep succeeding at the next level and Micaela hasn’t stopped improving, going from being the Winona Area player of the Year in high school to National Player of the Week in college.  She came with great discipline, class and athletic skills thanks to the Cotter program that Pat Bowlin has established for the community of Winona.  If you met her parents, you could see why she is the person she is!  We are thankful to have had her in our program over the last four years,” Tschida said.

http://www.tommiesports.com/sports/sball/index  UST softball

 

A dugout full of smiles. Photo courtesy of the University of St. Thomas.

Mr. Bowlin, who coached Micaela in both softball and basketball in high school, noted that  “between Micaela’s season in softball and Paige Gernes’ play with the women’s basketball team, its been a great year with the Cotter and St. Thomas connection.”

Paige Gernes, Cotter ’13, a junior at St. Thomas, was the starting point guard on a team that went 26-4 and made it to the NCAA D3 sectional semifinals.

Paige Gernes