LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Oct. 2, 2019) – Seven Oklahoma Christian softball players were among the more than 8,000 student-athletes on the Easton/National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-America Scholar-Athlete list, which was released Wednesday.
To qualify for the honor, a player must have posted a grade-point average of 3.5 or higher for the 2018-19 academic year. Doing so for the Eagles were
Kali Crandall (Artesia, N.M.),
Daelyn Denny (Owasso, Okla.),
Kayla Eichler (Edmond, Okla.),
Madison Hagood (Comanche, Texas),
Logan Menzies (Harper, Texas),
Kaylie Upton (Pauls Valley, Okla.) and
Caitlin Young (North Richland Hills, Texas).
It was the third All-America Scholar-Athlete award for both Eichler and Hagood and the second for Upton. All three earned All-Heartland Conference honors, with Eichler receiving All-South Central Region first-team honors and Hagood being named as the Heartland's Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year and Woman of the Year.
Those three seniors also helped lead OC to a 40-16 record, the Heartland Conference regular-season and post-season titles and a runner-up finish in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional, the program's first Division II postseason appearance.
The NFCA said 8,161 players – from both the collegiate and high school ranks – earned the All-America Scholar-Athlete honor.
OC also was one of 87 Division II programs that posted a team GPA above 3.0 for 2018-19. The Eagles' 3.28 GPA ranked 79th among nearly 300 softball teams in Division II.
