May 22, 2013

Hefner honored with NFCA All-American status

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman junior shortstop Brittany Hefner (Talbott, Tenn.) has added to her laundry list of honors in 2013 with a first team All-American selection from the NFCA.

Hefner, the SAC and Daktronics' Southeast Region Player of the Year, was the only player from the southeast region on the first team and the only player from the South Atlantic Conference on any of NFCA's three All-American teams.

The Talbott, Tenn. native becomes C-N's seventh NCAA All-American and 12^th when factoring in the Eagles' days in NAIA. Hefner is C-N's fourth first team selection and its first since Zoe Heim and Jessie Howard pulled off the feat in 2008.

She is Carson-Newman's first All-American since 2011 when Brittany Hefner and Leah Price earned second team and third team honors respectively.

Hefner is the third shortstop to earn such honors for C-N, joining Howard and Sammi Hatcher (1992). Only pitchers have been tabbed for All-American status as often as C-N shortstops with three selections – Heather Randolph (1995), Heim (2008) and Carol Zachary (1989-1991).

Hefner was the conference and nation's leader for RBI with 75. That total reset the single season record for both the SAC and Carson-Newman.

Hefner obliterated a school record for home runs in a year with 19 – setting that school record in early March before the season reached its midpoint.

Hefner finished second in the SAC on the single season homerun chart. She nearly won the first ever triple crown in SAC history, she was second in the league in batting average with a .451 figure.

A two-time SAC player of the week – Hefner was just the fifth player in NCAA Division II history to hit three grand slams in a single season. She had a school record 141 total bases this year and matched a Carson-Newman single game record with eight RBI against Lees McRae.

2013 NFCA Division II All-American Teams

First Team
Pos.	Player	School
P	Maddie Holub	Fort Hays State
P	Kayla Cox%	Tampa
P	Kelly Unkrich	Colorado School of Mines
C	Kim Jerrick	Midwestern State
C	Cortney McNett*	Alabama-Huntsville
1B	Chrissy Stalf#	Humboldt State
2B	Lacey McGladrey	St. Martin's
3B	Kelley Schaefer	Midwestern State
SS	Brittany Hefner	Carson Newman
OF	Casey Williamson^	Indianapolis
OF	Emily Dorko	Adelphi
OF	Payton Kornfeind	Colorado-Colorado Springs
DP	Katelyn Vinson	Midwestern State
UT/P	Jennifer DeMotte^	Indianapolis
UT/Non-P	Katie Martin~	Grand Valley State
At-Large/SS	Christina Gelardi!	New Haven

Second Team
Pos.	Player	School
P	Morgan Foley	Indianapolis
P	Mollie Russell	Columbus State
P	Megan Butterworth	Molloy
C	Lindsay Erickson*#	Minnesota State Mankato
C	Alyssa Calderon	Caldwell
1B	Lindsay Reicoff	California (Pa.)
2B	Shelby Lia	California (Pa.)
3B	Adriana Sanchez	Cal State Dominguez Hills
SS	Kate Pratt	Mansfield
OF	Kayla Henry	Grand Canyon
OF	Jen Dixon	Minot State
OF	Courtney Bingham*	Midwestern State
DP	Kacie Edwards*	Central Oklahoma
UT/P	Katie Hines	Texas Woman's
UT/Non-P	Courtney Albritton*	Valdosta State
At-Large/3B	Sarah Broeseker	Barry


Third Team
Pos.	Player	School
P	Hannah Perryman	Missouri-St. Louis
C	Kim McMillan	North Georgia
1B	Siarra Gomez	Arkansas Tech
2B	Kelly Martinez	Barry
3B	Tawny Palmieri	Merrimack
SS	Alyssa Lemos	West Texas A&M
OF	Lindsey Johnson	Palm Beach Atlantic
At-Large/3B	Kacie Patterson	Armstrong Atlantic
At-Large/DP	Abby Jamieson	Massachusetts-Lowell
At-Large/P	Stephanie Jimenez	Cal State Dominguez Hills
At-Large/SS	Taylor Zordel	Emporia State
At-Large/UTL-NP	Morgan Spearman	Angelo State
At-Large/OF	Morgan Johnson%	Valdosta State

Key:
^ 2012 NFCA Division II First-Team All-America
* 2012 NFCA Division II Second-Team All-America
% 2012 NFCA Division II Third-Team All-America
~ 2011 NFCA Division II First-Team All-America
# 2011 NFCA Division II Second-Team All-America
! 2011 NFCA Division II Third-Team All-America