HADLEY, Mass. -- The Bates softball team set a new program standard with four All-NESCAC selections, as announced Wednesday by the New England Small College Athletic Conference.

Junior pitcher Delaney Rankin (Harrison, Maine) and sophomore catcher Isabel Bettencourt (Peabody, Mass.) were both named first team All-NESCAC at their respective positions. Meanwhile, junior shortstop Ella Maher (Newton, Mass.) and junior infielder Emma Yen (Albertson, N.Y.) both earned second team All-NESCAC honors.

This is the first All-NESCAC honor of Rankin's career. The team captain posted a sparkling 1.82 ERA in 18 starts. She threw 16 complete games and tossed three shutouts. Rankin struck out an even 100 batters on the season and won 11 games for the Bobcats. She is the first Bates pitcher to earn first team All-NESCAC honors since Kirsten Pelletier '20 in 2019.

Bettencourt led the Bobcats in pretty much every offensive category, hitting .378 with three home runs and 28 RBIs. The team captain posted an OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) of .942 on her way to becoming the first Bates catcher to earn first team All-NESCAC honors since Stacia Saniuk '09 in 2008. It's the first time a Bates starting battery (pitcher and catcher) have both been named All-NESCAC in the same season. 

Maher becomes the first Bates shortstop to earn All-NESCAC honors since Mary Lewis '13 in 2013. The team captain led the Bobcats with a .403 on-base percentage while hitting .308 with a home run and 14 RBIs. Her 17 walks were tied for fourth-most in the NESCAC. Maher was dramatically improved both offensively and defensively this season from her sophomore year, raising her batting average by 147 points while only committing eight errors for a career-best fielding percentage of .933 at the most demanding position on the field. Her home run against Macalester was the first of Maher's collegiate career.

Yen is the only repeat All-NESCAC selection this year for Bates, having also been named second team All-NESCAC a year ago. With pitchers fully aware of her talent at the plate, Yen was able to draw 15 walks this year while batting at the top of the order, seven more than her first two seasons combined. She and Maher "set the table" for Bettencourt and the middle of the order all season, with Maher scoring a team-leading 25 runs and Yen crossing the plate 22 times. Yen is the first Bobcat to earn All-NESCAC honors in back-to-back seasons since Pelletier in 2018 and 2019. And she's the first Bates position player to pull it off since Saniuk in 2008 and 2009.

The four All-NESCAC awards earned this year by the softball team breaks the previous program record of three, set in 2006. Bates finished the season with 16 wins, tied for the fourth-most victories in the 50-year history of Bates softball.