2015 Woman of the Year finalist: Sam Munger

From a team perspective, Sam Munger’s final season at Saint Martin’s University ended disappointingly. Despite going 41-20 and tying the school record for most wins in a season, the Saints saw their hopes for a national championship snuffed with back-to-back losses at the NCAA Division II West Region tournament.

But for Saint Martin’s senior star Sam Munger, a finalist for The Herald’s 2015 Woman of the Year in Sports award, the season could hardly have gone better.

Offensively, Munger batted .431, the second-best average in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference while dividing her time in the field between pitcher and shortstop. And as a pitcher, Munger totaled 22 wins, also No. 2 in the GNAC, while posting a league-best 2.24 ERA.

Munger, a 2011 graduate of Everett’s Cascade High School, was named GNAC Co-Player of the Year, an award she shared with Taylor Hoke of Montana State-Billings. Munger was also the GNAC Pitcher of the Year.

In addition, Munger was a unanimous all-GNAC selection by the league’s opposing coaches. It was her fourth year on the all-league team, making her one of just seven players in GNAC history to be so honored.

In an interview last spring, St. Martin’s coach Rick Noren called Munger’s career contributions “in one sense immeasurable.” She is, he went on, “a well-rounded player that does just about everything for you offensively.

“And then when you combine that with the pitching numbers she’s put up,” Noren said, “you see that she’s one of the most unique combinations ever.”