LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Fifty-five student-athletes from 40 different schools have been voted to one of three 2026 NFCA Division III All-America teams, the Association revealed on Wednesday afternoon.
All eight of the teams who advanced to the NCAA Division III World Series had players earn All-America status, including No. 1-ranked and top tournament seed Virginia Wesleyan, which had the most honorees nationally with six. Fellow finalist and defending national champion Trine, as well as Super Regional participant Texas Lutheran and Regional finalist Worcester Polytechnic all had three recipients.
Another finalist, Linfield, plus Bethany Lutheran, Pfeiffer and Tufts had two selections apiece, while 32 more schools each had one All-American.
Region VI had the most selections of any region with 12, followed by Region X with eight, Region VII with seven, and Regions I and IX with six. Region IV and V each had four, Region III and VIII got three, and Region II received two.
There are 23 seniors, 19 juniors, seven sophomores and six freshmen on the All-America squads.
This is the third time in the four years since the renaming of the first-team Utility/Pitcher award to honor late NFCA Hall of Famer and pioneer of women’s sports Joan Joyce, that Trine’s Debbie Hill has been the recipient. Last season, she was the second-team Utility/Pitcher, with Saint Mary’s Makayla Steffes earning the first-team nod.
Hill is batting .436 this season, with 38 runs, 11 doubles, a triple, 16 home runs and 58 RBI. The senior also went 12-1 in the circle over 64 innings and 18 appearances, with a 1.53 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, two complete games, a shutout, 13 walks, 69 strikeouts and a .221 opponent batting average.
In the winner-take-all third game of Trine’s Super Regional with Muhlenberg, Hill hit a two-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the 10th inning to send the Thunder back to the World Series.
Linfield senior Ashlyn Aven earned the Diamond Sports/NFCA Division III Catcher of the Year, after being voted the first-team All-American at that position. She boasted a .977 fielding average with just six errors in 266 defensive chances for the Wildcats. Aven also batted .430, with 46 runs, 65 hits, 17 doubles, 24 home runs, 88 RBI, a 1.020 slugging average, .492 on-base percentage and 1.512 OPS across Linfield’s first 48 games. She walked 23 times and only struck out four times in 151 at-bats.
Texas Lutheran senior second baseman Caelee Clark won her third New Balance/NFCA Golden Shoe award in four seasons after becoming the NCAA’s all-divisions stolen base leader this year. She has 306 steals in four years, including a career-best 89 in 92 attempts (.967 success rate) this season. Clark also won the award in 2023 and 2024. Her Bulldog teammate Annie Kay nosed her out for the accolade last year.
Hill and Williams’ Sadie Leonard led 18 repeat winners, with that duo collecting their fourth straight All-America honors. Clark, Wisconsin-Platteville’s Melissa Dietz, Bowdoin’s Anika Ewert, Trine’s Tyra Marcum, Rowan’s Emily McCutcheon, Simpson’s Ashlyn Steen and the Cardinals’ Steffes all earned their third award.
Linfield’s Ashlyn Aven, Virginia Wesleyan’s Laci Campbell, Moravian’s Sarah DeStefano, Redlands’ Katlyn Gandara, Swarthmore’s Lilly Goldberg, East Texas Baptist’s Avery Holland, Rochester’s Riley Laygo, Christopher Newport’s Candace Slaw and Saint Benedict’s Olivia Tautges were all recognized for the second time.
The NFCA All-America teams are voted on by the Association’s All-America Committees. In Division III, the committee is comprised of one member head coach from each of the NCAA’s 10 regions. All student-athletes who were nominated by a member head coach and voted to the first, second or third team All-Region squads were eligible for All-America consideration.
The NFCA is the professional organization for fastpitch softball coaches. Known for its highly-regarded All-America awards, the NFCA also educates and supports softball coaches on a variety of different levels: from podcasts to awards, to in-person events and National Convention
.
Learn more about the NFCA and consider joining our lineup of over 7,000 coaches today!
