Lake Forest College softball player Josie Klein added to her long list of awards on Friday when she was announced as the 2021-22 Midwest Conference Athlete of the Year for Women's Sports.
Klein will also be the conference nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award, which honors graduating student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service, and leadership.
In addition, Klein will be the MWC's nominee for the Division III Commissioners Association Women's Sport Student-Athlete of the Year Award, which recognizes student-athletes for the same accomplishments and attributes as the NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
Klein was named MWC Position Player of the Year after leading Lake Forest to a conference championship in 2022, the team's second title during her career. The senior center fielder posted the league's highest on-base percentage (.597) and slugging percentage (.946) while ranking among the leaders with 30 hits, 28 runs, seven doubles, four home runs, and 22 runs batted in during the 16-game conference schedule. In addition, Klein went 3-0 with a shutout and a 2.23 earned run average as a pitcher. She was named MWC Position Player of the Week three times and Pitcher Performer of the Week once this spring.
Klein's 57 base hits over the course of the entire season is a new school record and she finished among the top 35 in the nation in slugging percentage, on-base percentage, total bases, and triples. She was named Second Team All-Region IX by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and earned Team MVP honors for the second consecutive season.
Successful in the classroom as well, Klein was a First Team Academic All-America® selection by the College Sports Information Directors of America and, earlier today, was listed as an Academic All-MWC honoree for the fourth time in her career. The economics and psychology double-major appeared on the Dean's List throughout her collegiate career, earned multiple academic scholarships as well as the Warren A. Peterson Memorial Award in Economics, and was inducted into the Chi Alpha Sigma National College Athlete Honor Society.
Klein has also been involved in numerous activities on campus, in the surrounding community, and in her hometown of Burlington, Wisconsin. She served as an economics tutor and a teacher's assistant at a nearby elementary school and volunteered for Forester Day of Service, Special Olympics, and National Women and Girls in Sports Day. Members of the softball team donated their time at Feed My Starving Children and worked with young players at Lake Forest College Softball Camps. Klein also shared her knowledge of the game as a private pitching coach, an assistant coach of a travel softball team, and a head coach in Burlington Little League Baseball.
Klein is the fifth Forester in the last 10 years to earn one of the league's most prestigious awards, which was formerly called MWC Woman of the Year. She joins swimmer Becky Shaak '13, soccer players Becky Esrock '14 and Michelle Greeneway '16, and fellow softball player Jenny McTague '17.