Click here for complete 2007 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Softball Teams as selected by CoSIDA Senior center fielder Lindsay Schutzler of the University of Tennessee and senior second baseman Laura Kot of Mount Vernon Nazarene University head the 2007 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Softball Teams, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
University Division for the second consecutive year. A three-time Academic All-America selection, Schutzler posted a 3.88 cumulative grade point average in psychology. In 2007, she has led the nation's top-ranked team to a 57-5 record. Schutzler, who is batting .409 with 51 runs, 18 extra-base hits, 37 stolen bases and 49 RBI, has been voted to the NFCA All-South Region and Southeastern Conference (SEC) first teams. Schultzer, a first-team NFCA All-America selection last year, is one of 12 players in NCAA Division I history to combine for 300 hits, 200 runs and 100 stolen bases in a career.
Kot, from Tallmadge, Ohio, was selected as the College Division Academic All-America of the Year, as she concluded a four-year career as a starter. This season she hit .462 for Mount Vernon Nazarene's 22-14 team. In addition to leading the team in batting, she also led the team in hits (60) and stolen bases (17-for-17) and shared the team lead in runs scored (27) while producing a 4.00 grade point average in mathematics. A second-team Academic All-America selection in 2006, Kot finished her career at Mount Vernon Nazarene ranked in the school's top five in career batting average, stolen bases, hits and runs scored.
Joining Schutzler on the University Division Academic All-America first team were pitchers Kasi Carroll (Georgia) and Angela Tincher (Virginia Tech); catcher Kaleigh Rafter of Detroit Mercy; infielders Garland Cooper (Northwestern), Elana Meyers (George Washington), Sara Dyer (Tulsa) and Adrienne Repsher (Temple); outfielders India Chiles (Tennessee) and Lillian Hammond (Tennessee); and designated player Laura Hill of Winthrop.
Schultzer, Carroll and Meyers repeated as first-team selections, while Tincher was a member of the 2006 second team. Cooper received third-team honors last year. Joining Kot on the Academic All-America first team were pitchers Megan Brown (Florida Southern) and Maria Bye (St. Thomas, Minn.); catcher Samantha Borgeson (Abilene Christian); infielders Sarah Morse (Emory), Renee Steffen (Defiance) and Molly Coers (Illinois Wesleyan); outfielders Lynndi Decker (Minnesota State, Mankato), Nicole Barker (Saint Xavier), and Beth Cann (Elmhurst); and designated player Jenny Hess (Alabama-Huntsville).
Brown and Bye are first-team Academic All-America selections for the second straight year, while Morse and Barker were third-team selections a year ago.
The Academic All-America program annually honors over 1600 student-athletes who have succeeded at the highest level on the playing field and in the classroom. Individuals are selected through voting by CoSIDA (the College Sports Information Directors of America), a 2,000-member organization consisting of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.
To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director.
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For more information about the Academic All-America Teams program, please visit
www.cosida.com or e-mail
rlipe@bentley.edu.