2009 Photo Galleries: Golf Outing /
Awards Ceremony /
Alumni Games
WINONA, Minn. — Cassie Otte (Randolph, Minn.) collected her share of doubles during her four-year playing career as a member of the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team.
Fifteen career doubles, to be exact.
Saturday evening, the Cardinal standout earned her 16th career double — without even swinging the bat — as Otte was named SMU's Outstanding Female Athlete for the second straight year during part of the Cardinal 'M' Club Sports Hall of Fame and Awards Ceremony Saturday evening.
Cardinal swimmer Jon Fox (Winona, Minn.) was named SMU's Outstanding Male Athlete, after becoming the program's first-ever NCAA Division III National Championships automatic qualifier, while women's soccer player Emily Berg (Owatonna, Minn.) and baseball player David Dahlstrom (Rochester, Minn.) were also honored, being named SMU's Outstanding Male and Female Scholar Athletes.
Saturday's festivities also included the induction of three new members into the SMU Sports Hall of Fame, as the Cardinal 'M' Club, in association with the Saint Mary's Alumni Office, welcomed the Class of 2009 — Chad Doerre '96 (baseball), Sue Otto '90 (women's soccer) and Tom Pepper '74 (basketball) — into the Hall (click here for complete Hall of Fame bios).
Otte saved her best season for last, as the senior earned All-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honors for the third straight year, while also being selected to the NFCA/Louisville Slugger All-Region Second team. She started all 40 games for the Cardinals, leading the team in virtually every offensive category, including career-bests in batting average (.449), at-bats (147), runs (38), hits (66), total bases (70), on-base percentage (.477) and stolen bases (21). Her 66 hits rank No. 2 in program history behind SMU Hall of Famer Jenny Garin's 72 hits in 1997, while her .449 batting average ranks 10th all-time.
Fox, meanwhile, also enjoyed a banner season a year ago, setting five school records at the regular season-ending MIAC Championships — including touching the wall in 55.61 in the 100 breaststroke to earn him an invitation to the national championships, where he would finish 38th overall. Fox, a provisional national qualifier as a sophomore, is now the school's record-holder in the 50 freestyle, 100 and 200 breaststrokes, and is a member of the school-record 100 and 200 medley and 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams.
An Accounting/Human Resource Management major with a 4.00 grade-point-average, Dahlstrom was a key cog in the Cardinals' pitching staff. He appeared in 14 games, compiling a team-best 2.16 ERA, while striking out 10 and earning his first collegiate win and save.
Like Dahlstrom, Berg was a mainstay in the Cardinal women's soccer lineup. An Education major with a 3.86 GPA — and SMU's 2009 Outstanding Female Senior as voted on by her peers — Berg was an honorable-mention All-MIAC selection in 2008, and closed out her collegiate career with two goals and seven assists for 11 points.
