Three SAC Softball Players Named To ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Team

May 6, 2010

BRISTOL, Conn -- Wingate University junior Allison Smith, Mars Hill College senior Rebekah Huff and Newberry College junior Chelsie Hilbourn have been named to the 2010 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District III softball team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Smith and Huff were named to the first team (college division), and Hilbourn was named to the second team. Both Smith and Huff will advance to the national ballot.

The District III College Division consists of all-non NCAA Division I colleges and universities in Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina and Virginia. To be nominated, a student-athlete must be at least a sophomore with a 3.30 cumulative grade point average. In addition, the student-athlete must be a starter or a significant reserve on her team.

Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.

Rebekah Huff

Huff, is a 5-5, senior second baseman from Mars Hill, N.C. (Madison County High School). Huff boasts a perfect 4.00 grade point average. She will graduate on May 8, 2010, with a degree in Mathematics.

Huff has helped lead the Lions to a possible NCAA Regional bid for the first time in the program's history. The regional participants will be announced on May 10. Currently MHC is ranked seventh in the Southeast Region. Eight teams from each region will be selected. MHC finished tied for third in the South Atlantic Conference regular season standings. The Lions ended the regular season with a 28-16 overall record and a 9-7 mark in the SAC.

During the 2010 campaign, Huff is hitting .331 with 38 runs scored, 49 hits, three doubles and a triple. She is 9-10 in stolen base attempts and has a .973 fielding percentage that includes 179 chances.

Huff received the SAC Scholar-Athlete award for softball this year. That award goes to one student-athlete in each sport based on academics, athletics and leadership and community service.

Head Coach David Williams stated, "Rebekah is very deserving of this award. She resembles the term "student-athlete" in her approach to academics and athletics. The coaching staff and her teammates are very proud of her accomplishments."

Allison Smith

Smith (Daleville, Va.), a junior right-handed pitcher, is the number two starter for the Bulldogs (35-15 overall). On the season, she is 16-7 overall with a 1.97 ERA. Smith has 17 complete games and a team-best seven shutouts. She twirled a no-hitter against NCAA Division II top 25 team Augusta State University on Feb. 11, 2010.

In 2009, she helped Wingate to the NCAA Division II play-offs and a South Atlantic Conference regular season title with SAC statistical champion totals in strikeouts per game (7.13) and ERA (0.94). Opponents hit a paltry .188 against her last season.

An NFCA All-American Scholar-Athlete, Smith is very active on the Wingate campus. She is the copy editor for The Weekly Triangle, Wingate's campus newspaper. Smith helped organize the softball team's participation in the CROP Walk. In addition, she serves as the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee representative for the softball team.

Smith is a member of Lambda Pi Eta, the communications fraternity on campus. She is an active volunteer through SAAC and softball team activities.

"Allison is well respected not only by me, but by my coaching staff, as well as her peers," Wingate head coach Michelle Caddigan said. "She approaches all of her tasks, both academic as well as extra curricular, in a mature and responsible manner. I have every expectation that she will achieve all that she sets her sights on."

Chelsie Hilbourn

Hilbourn, a junior infielder from Loris, S.C., carries a perfect 4.00 grade point average. She earned a .255 batting average in 30 games this season as the scarlet and gray finished third in the South Atlantic Conference for one of the best seasons in program history.

2010 ESPN THE MAGAZINE ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT III
SOFTBALL TEAMS (COLLEGE DIVISION, AS SELECTED BY CoSIDA)

FIRST TEAM
P-Allison Smith, Wingate
P-Kari Walsh, Tampa
P-Michaela Wolf, Francis Marion
C-Dominica Jordan, SCAD
INF-Rebekah Huff, Mars Hill
INF-Lauren Lopez, Nova Southeastern
INF-Emily Monteith, Anderson (S.C.)
INF-Ashley Plaugher, Shenandoah
OF-Lauren Duguay, Lynchburg
OF-Katrina Lavadan, Lynn
OF-Meredith Knox, Anderson (S.C.)
DP-Emily Morris, Bridgewater

SECOND TEAM
P-Dani Caron, Nova Southeastern
C-Emily Cheek, Piedmont
INF-Leah Cossentino, Bridgewater
INF-Chelsie Hilbourn, Newberry
INF-Noemi Luciani, Nova Southeastern
INF-Angela Spinelli, Bridgewater
OF-Brittany Gross, Lynn
OF-Brittany Nichols, N.C. Wesleyan
OF-Cassie Walsh, Emory
DP-Caitlin Fitzgerald, Emory