Marisa Bast (Softball, 2011-14)
A four-time All-Big Ten selection and 2012 All-American, Marisa Bast went on to become Northwestern Athletics' first-ever top-9 finalist for the NCAA Woman of the Year award as a senior.
In her All-America season of 2012, Bast finished one home run shy of winning the Big Ten's triple crown after leading the league in batting (.414), RBIs (63) while blasting 13 home runs. She finished the season ranked ninth in the NCAA with 1.17 RBIs per game and second in NU single-season history with 68 RBIs.
She went on to have two more All-Big Ten seasons, including earning the nod at third base on the first-ever Big Ten All-Defensive team in 2014. That season, she recorded an incredible .988 fielding percentage, with just two errors in 164 chances at the hot corner.
Off the field, Bast was a two-time Academic All-American, a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and an Academic All-Big Ten honoree. She also founded ROARR, a student-based initiative to combat bullying in local schools. Those efforts combined with her All-America prowess on the field made her NU's Big Ten Medal of Honor winner and a Woman of the Year finalist. Each year, three student-athletes from each of the three NCAA divisions are chosen as finalists; Bast was one of three Division I student-athletes to be a finalist in 2014.
In her All-America season of 2012, Bast finished one home run shy of winning the Big Ten's triple crown after leading the league in batting (.414), RBIs (63) while blasting 13 home runs. She finished the season ranked ninth in the NCAA with 1.17 RBIs per game and second in NU single-season history with 68 RBIs.
She went on to have two more All-Big Ten seasons, including earning the nod at third base on the first-ever Big Ten All-Defensive team in 2014. That season, she recorded an incredible .988 fielding percentage, with just two errors in 164 chances at the hot corner.
Off the field, Bast was a two-time Academic All-American, a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and an Academic All-Big Ten honoree. She also founded ROARR, a student-based initiative to combat bullying in local schools. Those efforts combined with her All-America prowess on the field made her NU's Big Ten Medal of Honor winner and a Woman of the Year finalist. Each year, three student-athletes from each of the three NCAA divisions are chosen as finalists; Bast was one of three Division I student-athletes to be a finalist in 2014.
