Hensley garners All-American honor from Daktronics
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman softball leftfielder Kelli Hensley (Knoxville, Tenn.) has been named to the Daktronics’ honorable mention All-American team.
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman softball leftfielder Kelli Hensley (Knoxville, Tenn.) has been named to the Daktronics' honorable mention All-American team.
Daktronics' All-American teams are voted on by college's sports information directors nationwide.
Hensley only set the South Atlantic Conference and school records for hits in a single season with 92. In the process, she batted .492, the third highest single season total in SAC history and the second highest in school history.
Hensley was a first team All-SAC selection and C-N softball's 13th conference player of the year. She leads the nation in triples with 10 and is eighth in the nation in batting average. She produced a prodigious 27 multi-hit games including four with four hits. Outside of Hensley, you won't wind four other four-hit games for C-N in the last five years.
The sophomore also pounded out inside-the-park home runs against Belmont Abbey and Georgia College.
The Knoxville, Tenn. native becomes C-N's eighth NCAA All-American and 13th 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 fourth All-American since 2011. Bri Shoemake and Leah Price earned second team and third team honors, respectively that year. Brittany Hefner was a first team All-American a year ago.
An All-American outfielder is a bit of a rarity for C-N softball. The bulk of C-N's All-American's have come at shortstop and pitcher. Hefner, Howard and Sammi Hatcher (1992) earned such honors at short. 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).
