2010 Louisville Slugger/NFCA NCAA Division II All-American Teams
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – With three selections, National Championship participant Angelo State was the only school to garner more than one first team selection when the NFCA announced its 2010 Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-American teams at the NCAA Banquet of Champions on Wednesday night at Missouri Western State’s Fulkerson Center in St. Joseph.
Of the 56 student-athletes representing 37 institutions chosen to one of three All-American teams, six of the eight teams participating in this year’s championships had a combined 15 players to earn the distinguished honor. Angelo State, Bloomsburg, Hawaii Pacific, North Georgia, Valdosta State and Wayne State (MI) all had at least one player that was selected to an All-America team this season and all six will compete in this weekend’s National Championship. Rounding out the eight-team field this year will be Metro State and Molloy, both of which had players selected to their respective 2010 Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-Region teams.
Angelo State was led by 2009 third team selection Alix Dean. Dean is currently hitting.408 on the season with 80 hits, 34 runs, 20 doubles, one triple, eight home runs and 57 RBIs. Also on the first team from Angelo was Kaycee Taylor, who was chosen at designated player. Taylor, who was first team selection in 2007, has scored 25 runs off of 73 hits this season to go along with 16 doubles, six home runs and 51 RBIs.
Rounding out the honorees for the Rambelles was catcher Kacie Easley. Easley led her team this season with 67 RBIs and 15 homeruns and is currently batting .348. She also threw out seven base stealers and committed only five errors.
Joining Easley at catcher was Valdosta State’s Alyssa Shirey. Shirey is leading the Blazers this season with a .416 batting average and has driven in 58 runs due in large part to her team leading 20 home runs.
All three pitchers chosen to the first team this season will have the opportunity to display their abilities one more time, as all three will be playing for a national championship. Sarah Phillips and the North Georgia Saints are currently the only undefeated team in all of NCAA softball and much of that can be attributed to her pitching. Phillips is currently 43-0 with a 0.85 ERA and has allowed just 34 earned runs off of 136 hits and has struck out an astonishing 275 batters.
Casey Hanes of Wayne State (MI) has also had a stellar year in 2010 and currently leads the nation with a 0.54 ERA. Hanes has gone 42-6 this season and has the second most strikeouts in the country with 355. The final pitcher on the first team was Hawaii Pacific’s Sherise Musquiz. Musquiz currently boasts a 1.15 ERA to go along with her 28-2 record. She has allowed only 24 earned runs this season over 187.1 innings while fanning 100 batters.
Completing this year’s infield was Kyrie Timbrook of Caldwell at first base, Miranda Campbell of Emporia State at third base and Kat Rivers of Lenoir-Rhyne at third base.
Timbrook, who helped lead the Cougars to a NCAA Regional appearance, batted .449 on the season and finished in the top 50 of six different national statistical categories. She finished the season with 80 hits, 32 for extra bases, 36 runs and 68 RBIs, while drawing 19 walks. Miranda Campbell helped take Emporia State to within one game of advancing to a Super Regional this season and finished the year by scoring 57 runs off of 76 hits for a batting average of .490. Campbell, now a three-time All-American, also has the fifth highest slugging percentage in the country at .903 and ended the year with 69 RBIs.
Lenoir-Rhyne’s Rivers helped guide the Bears to a Super Regional berth this season by hitting .437 with 90 hits, 65 runs, 16 doubles, two triples, 23 home runs and 64 RBIs.
In the outfield this year was Central Washington’s Danielle Monson, West Texas A&M’s Kimberly LeComte and Winona State’s Mollie Bjelland. Monson helped guide the Wildcats to the regional championship game by hitting .511 with 50 runs off of 96 hits for 21 RBIs.
LeComte played an integral role in leading West Texas to its first-ever regional appearance and finished the season with a .381 batting average, 64 runs, 80 hits, 17 doubles, three triples, 21 home runs and 68 RBIs.
Mollie Bjelland also led her team to a regional appearance this season and ended her season with a .371 batting average and a .755 slugging percentage. Bjelland drove in 51 runs on the season off of 59 hits with 17 doubles, four triples and 12 home runs.
Selected at utility this year were Lindsey Slocum of Nebraska-Omaha and Dre Brunskill of Mary. Slocum was the choice for utility/pitcher, while Brunskill made the team as the utility/non-pitcher selection.
Slocum finished the season with a .371 batting average at the plate, while driving in 61 RBIs and blasting 30 extra base hits. In the circle, Slocum went 21-3 with a 1.95 ERA and allowed just 48 runs off of 140 hits with a team-high 173 strikeouts. Brunskill, who spent most of her time this season at catcher, led the Marauders with a .427 batting average to go along with 30 runs, 76 hits, 17 doubles, two triples and eight home runs.
Rounding out this year’s first team was UNC Pembroke third baseman Jelena Shaw, who earned the first team’s lone at-large berth. Shaw, a 2008 third-team selection, had a team-high .437 batting average in 2010 and finished the season with 66 hits, 55 runs, 15 doubles, a triple, 11 home runs and 44 RBIs. Shaw was also nearly perfect on the base paths, stealing 22 out of 23 attempted bases.
