College Softball News – Guilford’s Cynthia Hayes Named to All-ODAC Team

FOREST, Va. – Guilford College junior Cynthia Hayes (Seagrove, N.C./Southwestern Randolph) earned Second Team All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) softball honors according to a vote of the league’s head coaches, the league office announced Tuesday. Hayes, also a 2012 second-team pick, was the lone Quaker honored this year and becomes Guilford’s fourth two-time All-ODAC softball selection.

Cynthia Hayes 2014

A 5-6 infielder, Hayes hit a league-best .598 with eight doubles, two homers and 24 runs batted in (RBI) as the Quakers’ starting second baseman. Her season ended after 28 games due to a knee injury suffered in the second week of April. (As a result of the injury, she fell shy of the minimum requirements needed for ranking among NCAA Division III statistical leaders.) Despite missing the Quakers’ final 10 games, Hayes set Guilford season standards for batting average, on-base percentage (.611), slugging percentage (.805) and stolen bases (19). She ranked first in the ODAC in on-base percentage, third in slugging percentage and fifth in hits (52). Hayes hit .600 with 10 RBI and seven stolen bases in 10 ODAC games.

Hayes enjoyed a school-record 20-game hitting streak and hit in all but one contest this season. She had 18 outings with two or more hits and five multiple-RBI games. Hayes went 2-for-3 with a grand slam and five RBI in a March 20 tilt with Frostburg State University and was 3-for-4 with a triple and four RBI later in the day versus Rutgers University-Newark. She was 3-for-4 with four runs scored, two doubles, three RBI and three stolen bases in an April 3 victory over Salem College.

After 95 games in three seasons, Hayes owns a .438 batting average with 18 doubles, 42 RBI and a school-record 38 stolen bases. Her six career triples stand third in Guilford history. She is sixth all-time with 94 runs scored.

Coach Dennis Shores’ Quakers posted a 19-19 overall record and went 5-15 in the ODAC. Shores could return as many as 19 letter winners in 2014.