Hefner honored a SAC Player of the Year, three others make first team
ROCK HILL, S.C. – Carson-Newman shortstop Brittany Hefner (Talbot, Tenn.) has been named the South Atlantic Conference’s player of the year. Meanwhile, Bri Shoemake (Ooltewah, Tenn.), Kelli Hensley (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Elayna Siebert (Knoxville, Tenn.) joined Hefner on the first team.
ROCK HILL, S.C. – Carson-Newman shortstop Brittany Hefner (Talbot, Tenn.) has been named the South Atlantic Conference's player of the year. Meanwhile, Bri Shoemake (Ooltewah, Tenn.), Kelli Hensley (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Elayna Siebert (Knoxville, Tenn.) joined Hefner on the first team.
Carson-Newman now has 137 all-conference selections all-time, 81 of those have been to the first team.
Both totals are the most in the SAC.
Hefner led the conference and the nation with RBI with 75 – a SAC and school record. Hefner obliterated a school record for homeruns in a year with 19 – she set the school record in early March. She leads the league in that statistical category as well and is fourth nationally.
More than half of Hefner's 68 hits are for extra bases (37) and her 147 total bases leads the SAC by 37. A two-time SAC player of the week, Hefner's helped turn 12 double plays, 3rd in the SAC. A prolific hitter with runners on base, she hits .527 with runners, .508 with runners in scoring position and .833 with a runner on third and less than two out.
She's also batting .636 with the bases loaded. She is a grand slam away from tying the national record (4) for most grand slams in a single season. Hefner's turned in 21 multi-hit games and 17 multi-RBI games. Hefner has a Carson-Newman best 23-game reached base streak to her name this year and she matched a Carson-Newman single game record with eight-RBI against Lees McRae.
Bri Shoemake collected her second all-SAC first team honor of her career after coming in fifth in the league and third on her team with a .369 batting average. Shoemake raised that average to .400 in conference play only. Shoemake is top 10 in the league in hits (52) and runs scored (33).
Shoemake has successfully caught runners stealing 50 percent of the time and has thrown out 18 runners – the best figure in the league. She is second on the team with 15 multi-hit games and is one of two Eagles this year to pound out four hits in a single contest. Shoemake has ranked the 14th toughest player to strikeout in the nation and the most difficult to fan in the SAC
In spite of a late season injury, Hensley turned it on in conference play. Hensley bats .386 in all games, which is fifth in the league, but has raised it 40 points to .426 in just conference games – the third best tally in the league. The freshman gets on base 42 percent of the time in all games and 46 in conference only (15th and 12th in the league respectively).
Hensley has 12 multi-hit games, including three, four-hit days. Hensley hits an Eagle best .595 as a leadoff hitter, which has been crucial to getting her aboard to steal 13 bases on 14 attempts
Siebert is fifth in the nation and first in the league with six triples. She also has a double and home run to her name with a .351 batting average. As a utility player, she has a .980 fielding percentage with one error playing second base and the outfield.
Siebert ranks eighth in conference play alone with 21 hits. When just factoring in conference games. She's ninth in OBP with a .481 mark and 12th in slugging percentage at .562.
All of Carson-Newman's all-conference selections will be on display when the Eagles open the SAC tournament at 9:30 a.m. Thursday in Salisbury, N.C. against Catawba.
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