LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Six finalists, one from each of the NFCA’s NAIA regions, have been selected by the Association’s NAIA All-America Committee for the 2024 TUCCI/NFCA NAIA Freshman of the Year award.
College of Coastal Georgia’s Rylee Mills (Region I), Southeastern University’s Edan Playa (Region II), Oklahoma City University’s Tara Hoehner (Region III), University of Science & Arts of Oklahoma’s Leighanne Eaton (Region IV), St. Xavier University’s Aubrey Wroble (Region V) and Campbellsville University’s Jessie Daniels (Region VI) are in the running for the award, which will be announced on June 10.
Mills, Playa, Hoehner and Eaton are the second finalists from their respective programs. Playa’s current teammate, Riley Sanders, was the 2022 recipient of the award.
Mills (Sun Conference), Hoehner (Sooner Athletic Conference), Wroble (Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference) and Daniels (Mid-South Conference) were named their league’s freshman of the year, while all six finalists were named first-team all-conference. Additionally, Playa, Hoehner, Eaton and Wroble were named first-team NFCA All-Region with Mills and Daniels collecting second-team nods.
The award honors the outstanding athletic achievement among freshman softball student-athletes throughout NAIA. To be eligible, student-athletes must come from an NFCA member institution.
Reinhardt University’s Emily Loveless was the inaugural winner in 2021, followed by Sanders in 2022 and Baker University’s Kira Baker as last season’s recipient.
2024 TUCCI/NFCA NAIA National Freshman of the Year Finalists
Region I – Rylee Mills, College of Coastal Georgia
Region II – Edan Playa, Southeastern University
Region III – Tara Hoehner, Oklahoma City University
Region IV – Leighanne Eaton, University of Science & Arts of Oklahoma
Region V – Aubrey Wroble, St. Xavier University
Region VI – Jessie Daniels, Campbellsville University
The National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) is the professional organization for fastpitch softball coaches. Known for its highly-regarded Tucci/NFCA Freshman of the Year Awards, the NFCA also educates and supports softball coaches on a variety of different levels: from podcasts to a comprehensive drills database, to in-person events and National Convention
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