Moon Township, Pa. – In a vote of Horizon League head coaches, a pair of RMU student-athletes earned postseason honors Wednesday, it was announced by the league. Named to the 2021 All-Horizon League First Team was graduate student Natalie Higgins, while freshman Charlotte Grover was tabbed to the 2021 All-Horizon League Freshman Team.
Higgins, a native of Middletown, Ohio, enters the 2021 #HLSB Tournament Thursday leading the conference in batting average (.415) while ranking in the top five in a variety of other categories. She ranks second in the circuit in hits (59) and total bases (98) and third in home runs (9), RBI (43) and on-base percentage (.465).
One of just two Colonials to start each of RMU's 42 games during the 2021 campaign, Higgins also owns a slugging percentage of .690, a mark that would establish a new RMU single-season record. In 2007, former outfielder Brooke Panepinto (2006-09) set the school record for slugging percentage at .675.
Twice during the 2021 season Higgins has recorded a hitting streak of 10 games. She opened the year by hitting safely in each of RMU's first 10 contests, producing a .500 (18-for-36) batting average during that stretch with eight runs, four doubles, a triple, home run and 15 RBI. Higgins also fashioned a 10-game hitting streak in April, a span in which she posted a slash line of .556/.610/.972 and collected nine runs, three doubles, four home runs and 11 RBI.
Higgins has recorded a hitting streak of 10 games or longer four times during her time in an RMU uniform. She also posted a 10-game hitting streak as a junior in 2019 and during her sophomore campaign in 2018 established a career best by hitting safely in 11 consecutive games.
RELATED: RMU Opens Horizon League Tournament Thursday At Youngstown State (5/11/21)
Earlier this season, Higgins established a new RMU career record for doubles. She owns 45 on her career entering Thursday's game against No. 1 seed Youngstown State in the first game of the 2021 Horizon League Tournament. Higgins, one of just four Colonials in program history to eclipse the 200-hit plateau, also ranks second in program history in RBI (129), third in hits (211), fourth in home runs (25) and fifth in games played (196).
Grover, a native of Woodinville, Wash., has started each of her 30 games for the Colonials in 2021 at shortstop. She owns a .250 batting average (23-for-92) and ranks second for the Colonials in RBI (22) to go along with 18 runs, five doubles and four home runs.
Entering the 2021 Horizon League Tournament, Grover has hit safely in 10 of her last 14 games, hitting .261 (12-for-46) with seven runs, four doubles, a home run and 13 RBI during that stretch. She gave the Colonials a 6-5 walk-off victory over Youngstown State (4/23) in eight innings in game two of a four-game set with the Penguins at the North Athletic Complex with a two-run single.
Led by third-year head coach Jexx Varner, the Colonials are making their debut in the Horizon League Tournament Thursday with a Noon first pitch against YSU. Varner has guided RMU to an overall record of 25-17 (.595) in 2021, including a mark of 20-14 (.588) in the Horizon League. The 25 wins are the most for the Colonials since 2015, when RMU recorded a mark of 26-23 (.531).
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