HENNIKER, N.H. – A combined five players from the New England College softball and baseball teams were named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Teams for the 2023 season in an announcement by the CSC on Tuesday.

Seniors Emily Gagne (Portsmouth, N.H.), Taylor Maher (Piscataway, N.J.) and Naomi Medrano (Escondido, Calif.) of the Pilgrims' softball team and junior Brett Patnode (Weare, N.H.) and sophomore Brady Philibotte (Weare, N.H.) of the baseball team were all recognized as representing the apex of academics and athletics among student-athletes.

Gagne – a left-fielder / catcher who earlier was voted to the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) All-Conference team for the fourth time - concluded her NEC career as one of the school's all-time leading base-stealers with 66 over 102 career games. Maher hit .357 this year with 16 RBI, while Medrano posted a 3.55 ERA, coming up clutch in the playoffs for the 'Grims with a 3-1 win over Mitchell College to help lead the team to the conference finals.

Patnode hit .265 with 23 RBI in 36 games while Philibotte hit .253 with twenty runs batted in. Patnode was also a Chi Alpha Sigma Academic Society Honoree.

All five exceptional student-athletes will appear on the ballots for the prestigious Academic All-American program. The College Sports Communicators – formerly CoSIDA – have recognized outstanding academics among student-athletes since 1952.

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