Two Bobcats earn All-OEC
The Saddleback softball season came to a close this past week and later in the week the coaches from the Orange Empire Conference convened to determine an all-conference squad. Two members of the Bobcats were named to the team on Friday.
Saddleback played some of its best softball down the stretch when it knocked off both Cypress College and Santiago Canyon College in a matter of five days and then followed it up with an OEC Consolation championship the next week.
Saddleback earned some praise on Friday for its efforts when both Anne Thibert and Ehva Cifuentes-Zombulovic earned All-Orange Empire Conference honors. Cifuentes-Zombulovic was named to the first team while Thibert was named to the second team.
Cifuentes-Zombulovic (pictured right) had a big season for the Bobcats, playing both catcher and shortstop on defense. It was her offense, however, that separated her from the rest of the competition when she batted .383, leading the team in home runs (9), RBI (37), doubles (11) and slugging percentage (.730). Cifuentes-Zombulovic finished the season 10th in the state in home runs, 25th in slugging percentage and 27th in RBI. Her most impressive streak came in mid-February when she hit home runs in four straight games.
Thibert (pictured left) was a pillar of consistency for Saddleback. She led the team in batting average (.425), stolen bases (18), hits (48), runs-scored (27) and on-base percentage (.472). In addition, she had a .948 fielding percentage while playing center field. Thibert hit safely in 21 of the last 23 games of the season. Her best performance of the season came on opening day when she finished 4-for-4 with three runs-scored in a 10-8 win over Santa Barbara.