Binkley, Forsty headline Bethany All-PAC selections
Posted: May 09, 2018

Binkley, Forsty headline Bethany All-PAC selections

Andrew Woodley, Sports Information Director

GREENVILLE, Pa. (May 9) - Senior pitcher Sam Binkley (Kenilworth, Ontartio/St. James) and Head Coach Jan Forsty were among four honorees from the Bethany College softball team on the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) annual postseason awards release announced Wednesday afternoon.

Binkley was named First-Team All-PAC pitcher, while Forsty was named the PAC Coach of the Year for the 13th-time in her career. Bethany senior pitcher Cassie Weiss (Taylorstown, Pa./McGuffey) and sophomore catcher Kayla Dinsmore (Beavercreek, Ohio/Beavercreek) also earned all-conference laurels after being named Second-Team All-PAC.

Binkley, who was also named to the PAC Sportsmanship and All-PAC Tournament teams, was named All-PAC for the first time after having a career-best season. She pitched 94 of the team's last 97 regular-season innings and posted a 2.86 ERA and 4.8 strikeouts per seven innings during that span. For the season, Binkley finished third in the PAC with both 115 strikeouts and 11 wins. She also carried a 3.21 ERA and limited opponents to a .286 batting average, both good for seventh-best in the PAC. Binkley closes out her career ranked sixth all-time in Bethany history with 257 strikeouts.

Weiss garnered her fourth All-PAC award after posting a 2.44 ERA with 88 strikeouts over 80.1 innings pitched. Despite a season-ending injury in early April, Weiss still managed to rank fourth in the PAC in strikeouts and third in both ERA and opponents batting average (.272). Weiss will graduate as the all-time Bethany strikeout leader with 514 in her career. She also ranks eighth all-time with 39 wins and third with both 58 complete games and 73 games started. As a sophomore, Weiss established the single-season strikeout record with 172.

Dinsmore started all 35 games and had a break-out season for the Bison after hitting .345 to lead the team in batting. She also posted team-bests with a .390 on-base percentage and five stolen bases, while ranking second on the team with 23 RBI and 21 runs scored.

Forsty was tabbed the PAC Coach of the Year for the 13th time in her illustrious career after leading the Bison into the PAC Tournament this season. Bethany battled numerous setbacks, including a season-ending injury to Weiss in early March, but managed to win six of its final nine league games to secure the No. 4 seed.
 
Forsty announced her plans to retire from coaching this year following a 31-year career in the dugout, but will continue to serve as a Professor and Chair of the Physical Education and Sports Studies Department. Since arriving on campus in 1987 as the head coach of both the softball and field hockey teams, Forsty has led the Bison softball program to unparalleled success with 687 wins during that stretch. She sits 15th all-time in NCAA Division III history with 767 career wins and has led Bethany to a PAC-best 13 conference championships.