2017 CoSIDA Academic All-America® Softball Teams release dates:
College Division Teams: PDF | doc
NCAA Division III Teams: PDF | doc
NCAA Division II Teams: PDF | doc
NCAA Division I Teams: Thurs., May 25
Academic All-America Program Index Page
Maddie Dow of Southern Arkansas Leads CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division II Softball Teams
Maddie Dow
Southern Arkansas
AUSTIN, Texas – Senior first baseman Maddie Dow of Southern Arkansas University headlines the 2017 CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division II Softball team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Dow has been selected as the recipient of the CoSIDA Academic All-America® of the Year award for Division II softball.
The Division II Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division II national governance structure to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2016-17 Division II Academic All-America® teams program.
An athletic training major, Dow has a 3.87 G.P.A. She is now a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-America® selection after earning second team honors a year ago.
A native of Bonham, Texas she led Southern Arkansas to a 46-18 record and a berth in the Central Regional. The Lady Muleriders reached the Great American Conference championship game before losing to top-ranked Harding University.
Dow was named the 2017 GAC Player of the Year and is an NFCA Division II Player of the Year Top-25 finalist. She was previously accorded NFCA and D2CCA All-Central Region honors, and was a first team All-GAC selection. Dow earned D2CCA All-Region honors four times and was a two-time NFCA All-Region choice. In addition, she was an all-conference selection three times.
Dow ended an illustrious career with a record-breaking senior campaign, setting nine single-season records. She hit .423 with 12 doubles, a triple, 22 home runs, and 61 RBI. She led the GAC in six different offensive categories, including batting average, home runs, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage. She became the second player in GAC history to lead the league in batting average, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage.
She ranks in the top ten in the country in home runs (first), on-base percentage (second), slugging percentage (fifth), walks (fifth), total bases (sixth), and home runs per game (seventh).
Dow is now at the top of 12 career records at SAU. She is the all-time leader in batting average (.363), on-base percentage (.522), hits (244), home runs (74), RBI (224), walks (175) and total bases (502), She now ranks in the top-20 all-time in Division II softball in walks (second), home runs (fourth), total bases (tied 10th), and RBI (tied 20th).
Twenty-two of the 34 members of the 2017 CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division II softball teams have at least a 3.80 G.P.A., including five student-athletes who maintain a perfect 4.00 G.P.A. The 11 members of the first team have an average G.P.A. of 3.83.
Dow is joined by five other repeat performers on the 2017 CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division II softball teams. Meghan Luebbert of Concordia (Ore.) University earned first team honors for the second straight year and is a now a three-time CoSIDA Academic All-America®. She was a College Division second team honoree in 2015. Adelphi University’s Brenna Martini also repeated as a first team selection, while Wayne State (Mich.) University’s Lyndsay Butler and Jeanie Perrucci of Young Harris College moved up from the second team to earn a spot on the first team. Ryann Ferguson of Concordia (Calif.) University earned third team CoSIDA Academic All-America® honors after being named to the second team in 2016.
Luebbert, a senior outfielder from Sandy, Oregon, is a nursing major with a 3.80 G.P.A. She was recently named both to the NFCA and D2CCA All-West Region first teams. She was also accorded All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference honors.
This past season, Luebbert led the Cavaliers with a .453 batting average, .703 slugging percentage and .528 on-base percentage. She also had a team high 67 hits, 51 runs scored, 15 doubles and 13 stolen bases. She tied for second on the team with seven home runs.
Luebbert was the 2016 GNAC Player of the Year and a first team All-GNAC selection. She previously was a two-time first team All-CCC choice, along with being named the CCC Newcomer of the Year in 2014 and an honorable mention NAIA All-American in 2015.
Martini is a junior infielder from Fairfield, Connecticut. A physical education major with a 3.79 G.P.A., she helped the Panthers to a 38-13-1 record, winning the Northeast-10 championship and NCAA Division II East Regional before losing to Molloy College in the East Super Regional.
Martini had a team-high .482 batting average, good for eighth in Division II, with 18 doubles, three triples, 17 home runs and 70 RBI. She was named the D2CCA East Region Player of the Year and was the NE10 Player of the Year for the second year in a row. In addition, she was a first team NFCA All-East Region selection. She leads NCAA Division II with a 1.014 slugging percentage while also ranking in the top 10 nationally in on-base percentage (.592), RBI, home runs, and walks. She was an NFCA Top-10 Finalist for the National Player of the Year award.
A native of Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, Butler is a pitcher and one three finalists for the NCAA Division Player of the Year award. The graduate student is a psychology/sports administration major with a 3.55 G.P.A.
Butler is the only person in NCAA softball history (Divisions I, II and III combined) to have over 300 career hits (338) and over 1,000 strikeouts (1,053). She is the Warriors’ all-time career leader in slugging percentage (.648), on-base percentage (.454), games played and started (237), at bats (801), runs scored (190), hits (338), triples (22), total bases (519), intentional walks (9) and times reached base on an error (37), while ranking second in batting average (.422), home runs (27) and RBI (150), fourth in doubles (56), and ninth in stolen bases (20).
In terms of pitching, Butler is first in wins (102), saves (17), appearances in the circle (159), pitching starts (130), complete games (112), games finished (29), shutouts (51), walks/seven innings (0.98), innings pitched (925.2), strikeouts (1,053), batters faced (3,585), ground outs (1,303), while ranking second in strikeouts/seven innings (7.96) and combined shutouts (8), third in opponent batting average (.174) and fourth in ERA (0.92).
This past season, Butler led Wayne State to a 40-16 record as the Warriors advanced to the NCAA Division II Midwest Super Regional for the second straight season.
Butler was named the NFCA Division II Player of the Year, and was also named the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and D2CCA Midwest Region Player of the Year for the second straight season. She hit a team-high .450 with 10 doubles, five triples, seven home runs and 39 RBI. In the circle, Butler was 24-11 overall with four saves, a 0.68 ERA and 211 strikeouts in 237 innings. She allowed just 151 hits and walked only 30 batters.
Perrucci is an interdisciplinary studies major with a 3.94 G.P.A. The senior outfielder is from Duluth, Georgia, and led Young Harris to a 43-14 record and a berth in the Southeast Regional for the second straight year. The 43 wins were a program-best (NCAA era).
Perrucci tied for the team lead with a .350 batting average, with six doubles, four triples, and 15 RBI. She scored a team-high 59 runs and had 12 stolen bases without being thrown out. As a pitcher, she finished with a 17-6 record and a 2.24 ERA with 130 strikeouts in 146.2 innings.
She was recently named to the D2CCA All-Southeast Region second team. The three-time All-Peach Belt performer is ranked 25th in NCAA Division II in runs per game (1.05). She is currently ranked first in the PBC in at-bats (203) and plate appearances, second in runs scored (59) and games started (28), third in hits (71), fourth in triples (4) and pitching appearances (34), fifth in wins (17) and ERA (2.24), sixth in strikeouts (130), and 10th in innings pitched (146.2).
Ferguson, a junior outfielder from Yorba Linda, California, is an exercise sports science major with a 3.94 G.P.A. She led the Eagles to a 36-15-2 record while hitting .353. good for second on the team. She had 12 doubles, two triples, a homer, and 17 RBI. In addition, Ferguson stole 16 bases in 18 attempts.
Ferguson was accorded second team All-PacWest Conference honors in 2017 after earning first team accolades in 2016. In 2016, she was the GSAC Player of the Year and was an NAIA All-American.
The rest of the 2017 CoSIDA Academic All-America® first team includes pitcher Coley Ries of Minnesota State University, Makato, catcher Tori Collet of the University of Central Oklahoma, infielders Shea Ibrahim of West Texas A&M University, and Grand Valley State University’s Jenna Lenza, outfielders Ally Farrah of Ashland University, and designated player Allie Smith of West Texas A&M.
The 11-member second team includes pitchers Olivia Gumbita of Gannon University and Pittsburg State University’s Emmie Robertson, catcher Marisa Monasseri of Caldwell University, infielders Courtney Case of LeMoyne College, Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s Hannah Mercer, Emily Price of California University of Pennsylvania, and Millersville University’s Brittney Smith, outfielders Abi Corbett of Missouri Southern State University, Texas Woman’s University’s Nicole Nordie, and Missouri Western State University’s Morgan Rathmann, and designated player Kassidy Simons of Embry-Riddle (Fla.) University.
In addition to Ferguson, the rest of the third team is comprised of pitchers Stephanie Adkins of Saint Leo University, West Texas A&M’s Kilee Halbert, and Caldwell’s Sydney Ponto, catcher Amanda Gosbeth of the University of Illinois Springfield, infielders Hannah Coursey of Georgia College, Sara Ercolani of West Chester University, Alex Stupek of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and Merrimack College’s Alyssa Williamson, outfielders Laura Lawson of Mansfield University, and Truman State University’s Christa Reisinger, and designated player Megan Jahoda of California (Pa.).
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Michael MacEachern, Young Harris College
Academic All-America® Co-Director for Publicity
mfmaceachern@yhc.edu
(706) 379-5106
Bob Shreve, Edinboro University
Academic All-America® Coordinator of Publicity
rsherve@edinboro.edu
(814) 732-1834