One carried her team to its first-ever Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, the other turned in one of the best all-around statistical seasons in his sports history. Senior softball pitcher Ashley Birdsong and men’s basketball forward Theron Wilson are the recipients of the female and male 2008-09 Bradley University Alumni B-Club Most Outstanding Athlete Awards.
The first Bradley softball player to earn first-team all-MVC honors since 2006, Birdsong, an Otis, Ore., native, ended her career as the Braves’ all-time strikeout leader and ranks fourth in Valley history with 870.
She posted a 20-12 record with a career-best 1.69 ERA in her final season on the Hilltop and highlighted the Braves’ late-season run with 10 consecutive victories.
Birdsong picked up victories in the final five regular-season games and cruised to four more victories in the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at EastSide Center to help the Braves to their first-ever Valley title and NCAA Tournament appearance.
The MVC Tournament Most Valuable Player continued her streak into the NCAA Tournament, earning a 2-1 victory against 15th-seed and 20th-ranked DePaul in Bradley’s NCAA Tournament opener.
Wilson was voted first-team all-Missouri Valley Conference and first-team All-District 16 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches after producing one of the best all-around statistical seasons in Bradley basketball history.
The 6-foot-5 forward from Topeka, Kan., joined the legendary Hersey Hawkins as the only players in school history to record at least 400 points, 200 rebounds, 50 assists and 50 steals during the course of a regular-season.
Leading the Braves (21-15) to a fourth consecutive season with at least 21 wins and the championship game of the inaugural CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament, Wilson finished the year with 504 points, 263 rebounds, 66 steals and 61 assists.
He was the only player in The Valley to rank among the league’s top five in scoring (14.0 ppg, T-5th), rebounding (7.3 rpg, 3rd) and steals (1.8 spg, 2nd) and he finished 14th nationally with 251 free throw attempts.
Birdsong becomes the fifth softball player to claim the Most Outstanding Athlete Award and the first since Laura Harms in 2004. Wilson is the 19th men’s basketball player to win the Most Outstanding Athlete Award, but the first since Marcellus Sommerville repeated in 2005.
