AUSTIN, Texas – The 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-America® Softball teams were announced over a four-day period in June. Each of the four teams- NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and College Division – along with their respective Academic All-America® of the Year recipent, were selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
This year’s Academic All-America® of the Year awardees were Florida’s Kelly Barnhill (DI), Texas A&M University-Commerce’s Mariah Jameyson (DII), Saint Mary’s College’s (Ind.) Makenzie Duncan (DIII) and Baker University’s Olivia Brees (College).
The Division II and III Google Cloud Academic All-America® programs are financially supported by the NCAA Division II and III national governance structures to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2017-18 Division II and III Academic All-America® teams.
Division I | Division II | Division III | College
A public relations major with a 3.92 GPA, Barnhill was one of four finalists for the 2018 USA Softball Collegiate National Player of the Year award, which she earned last year. She also was named Southeastern Conference (SEC) Pitcher of the Year for the second consecutive season and received National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) all-region honors for the third year in a row. She has thrown seven no-hitters this season (five solo, two combined), including her first career perfect game on Feb. 25 against Georgia Southern.
No less than 29 of the 33 members of the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-America® Division I Softball Team have at least a 3.90 G.P.A., with 19 student-athletes maintaining a 4.00 GPA (or better) as either undergraduate or graduate students. The 11 members of the first team have an average GPA of 3.97.
A kinesiology and sport studies major with a 3.77 GPA, Jameyson departs Texas A&M-Commerce as the most decorated player in school history, while playing just two years after transferring from Odessa College.
As a senior, Jameyson was named the NFCA/Diamond Sports Catcher of the Year, was the D2CCA National Player of the Year, along with being named an NFCA First Team All-American and D2CCA First Team All-American. She was the D2CCA South Central Region Player of the Year and Lone Star Conference Player of the Year. As a junior, she was accorded NFCA Second Team All-American, D2CCA Second Team All-American, and FPN Second Team All-American honors. She was the first All-American in program history.
Twenty-two of the 33 members of the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-America® Division II Softball teams have at least a 3.90 G.P.A., with 12 student-athletes maintaining a perfect 4.00 GPA. The 11 members of the first team have an average GPA of 3.93.
An integrative biology major with a 4.0 cumulative GPA, Duncan has been selected as the recipient of the Academic All-America® of the Year award for Division III softball. She was also a chemistry minor and was one of the Class of 2018’s valedictorians at Saint Mary’s.
A first-team selection to the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-America® Division III Team, Duncan was a National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Central Region second-team and Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) first-team selection this spring. She helped the Belles to a 36-7 overall record and a 15-1 conference mark for the program’s first MIAA regular-season championship and NCAA Tournament appearance. Duncan was named to the Notre Dame (Ind.) Regional All-Tournament team.
Twenty-five of the 33 members of the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-America® Division III softball teams have at least a 3.90 GPA, with 11 student-athletes maintaining a perfect 4.00 GPA. The 11 members of the first team have an average GPA of 3.97.
Brees, a junior from Meriden, Kansas, boasts of a 3.85 cumulative GPA majoring in elementary education. Brees allowed 43 earned runs in a 229 innings of work for a 1.31 earned-run average, ranking her 15th in the NAIA. She collected a school-record 29 wins and had 24 complete-games and three saves.
The Wildcats’ pitcher earned 2018 NAIA All-America First Team honors after helping the team to its best season in program history. Baker set a school record for most wins in a season in finishing 41-16 overall and made its first-ever NAIA National Championship Opening Round appearance. Brees led the NAIA in strikeouts with 331, averaging 10.12 per game. She finished as one of only two hurlers in the NAIA to fan over 300 batters this season.
The Google Cloud Academic All-America® College Division Softball Team, which includes student-athletes from NAIA, Canadian and two-year institutions, produced an average GPA of 3.91 with the first team combining for an average GPA of 3.97. The team includes eight student-athletes with 4.0 GPA and two graduate students.
Courtesy of CoSIDA