By Robert Heller
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Devils softball player Dayna Phillips BI’11 will need a new trophy shelf. Phillips was named to the CoSIDA Academic All- District First Team when she was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 2 Softball Team in spring 2010. She was the school’s second first-team honoree during the 2009–10 academic year.
The CoSIDA/ESPN honor was one of several earned by the junior centerfielder this year. At the start of the the school year, Phillips was one of the 24 USciences’ student-athletes named as Division II Academic Achievement Award winners. Also in the fall, Phillips was named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Academic Team.
In the spring, Phillips earned her second consecutive Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference All-Academic Team honor and was one of just 10 area softball players named to the Philadelphia Area All-Academic Softball Team, giving the Rosenhayn, New Jersey, native a total of five student-athlete academic honors this season.
Phillips also excels on the field, compiling a .328 batting average in three years, while starting in every game (124 total) over that time span. In 2010, Phillips led the Devils with 20 runs scored and was third on the team with 37 hits while batting primarily in the leadoff position. Phillips also led the team with nine stolen bases and 11 sacrifice hits.
Career-wise, the three-year starter has also made her mark, ranking third on the Devils all-time list in runs scored (75), hits (134), and stolen bases (37). In 2009, she became just the second player in program history to record 50 or more hits in a season, banging out 51.
A biology/pre-med major, Phillips chose USciences because of the many opportunities that it gives its graduates and because of the close family-like atmosphere of the softball program. After graduating in 2011, Phillips plans to continue her education by attending medical school where she hopes to become a surgeon.
