LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Ten finalists, one from each of the NCAA’s 10 regions, have been selected by the Association’s Division III All-America Committee for the 2026 NFCA Division III Freshman of the Year award.
Tufts’ Paige Murphy (Region I), Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Abby Merchant (Region II), Nazareth’s Alexis Brown (Region III), Stockton’s Camryn Harry (Region IV), Muhlenberg’s Josie Hoffacker (Region V), Piedmont’s Anslee Saunchegraw (Region VI), Heidelberg’s Cara Meyer (Region VII), Wisconsin-Oshkosh’s Kiran Sanford (Region VIII), Bethany Lutheran’s Olivia Sanborn (Region IX) and East Texas Baptist’s Emma Boren (Region X) are the 10.
Four finalists — Murphy, Hoffacker, Saunchegraw and Boren — are shortstops, while two more are pitchers (Merchant and Sanford) or outfielders (Brown and Meyer), one is a first baseman (Harry) and one is a designated player (Sanborn).
Of the group, Brown (.491), Meyer (.461), Murphy (.460) and Saunchegraw (.476) all led their respective teams in hitting for their first collegiate season, while Merchant (25-1) and Sanford (16-3) have already established themselves as the aces of their pitching staffs.
Merchant’s lone loss of the season came in the (44-5) Engineers’ final game, an 8-2 loss on Sunday to UMass-Dartmouth in the Worcester Regional championship.
Seven of the finalists played in the NCAA Division III Regionals, while Hoffacker and Sanford both helped their teams advance to this week’s Super Regional round. All 10 finalists earned NFCA All-Region honors this season, with eight voted to the first team in their respective region.
Merchant, Meyer and Murphy were all their conference’s Rookie of the Year, while Sanborn and Saunchegraw both earned Player of the Year honors in their conference. Sanford earned both Pitcher of the Year and Newcomer of the Year in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Brown’s selection gives her head coach, Margaret Yerdon-Grange, three Freshman of the Year finalists in the past four seasons at two different schools. Third baseman Kaijah Alexander was a finalist for Nazareth last season and pitcher Molly Broccolo was a finalist in 2023 during Yerdon-Grange’s final year of a 14-year run in charge at the University of Rochester.
The award annually honors the outstanding athletic achievement of freshmen in NCAA Division III. The regional finalists and the winner are chosen by the NFCA Division III All-America Committee, which includes one representative for each of the 10 regions. To be eligible, student-athletes must come from an NFCA-member institution.
Virginia schools Christopher Newport and Virginia Wesleyan are the only programs to win Freshman of the Year twice. Pitchers Kandis Kresinske (2016) and Hanna Hull (2017) earned the first two honors for the Marlins, while third baseman Kaitlyn Hasty (2019) and pitcher Jamie Martin (2022) got the nod three years apart for the Captains. This year’s winner will be announced May 26 at NFCA.org and on the Association’s social media accounts.
NFCA Division III National Freshman of the Year winners
2025 – Lilly Goldberg, Pitcher, Swarthmore
2024 – Tyler McNeley, P, Linfield
2023 – Debbie Hill, Utility/Pitcher, Trine
2022 – Jamie Martin, P, Christopher Newport
2021 – Kenzie Dore, DP, Husson
2020 – (no award)
2019 – Kaitlyn Hasty, 3B, Christopher Newport
2018 – Ashley Perez, C, UT Tyler
2017 – Hanna Hull, P, Virginia Wesleyan
2016 – Kandis Kresinske, P, Virginia Wesleyan
The National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) is the professional organization for fastpitch softball coaches. Known for its highly-regarded 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.
Learn more about the NFCA and consider joining nearly 6,700 coaches today!
