OKLAHOMA CITY | University of North Georgia softball pitcher
Courtney Poole has been honored as the Daktronics/NCAA Division II Collegiate Commissioners Association Ron Lenz Pitcher of the Year. She and teammate
Kim McMillan were also tabbed as first team All-Americans. Poole joins North Georgia greats
Sarah Phillips (2010) and Jessica Coan (2011) as Pitcher of the Year honorees from Daktronics.
West Texas A&M's Renee Erwin was named the Ron Lenz Player of the Year after leading NCAA Division II in home runs.
Poole is the third player from North Georgia to land the Ron Lenz Pitcher of the Year award in a 2015 campaign that has seen her record a national-high 42 wins. Heading into the Division II World Series, the junior from Watkinsville, Ga. is 42-3 with a 0.95 earned run average – the second-best in Division II – and 335 strikeouts in just over 300 innings of work in the circle. Her 42 wins in tops in all three NCAA divisions.
North Georgia had a second selection to the first team, as McMillan earned the spot after hitting .446 with 17 home runs and 51 runs batted in. The senior from Powder Springs, Ga. has also recorded a .584 on-base percentage, the fourth-best in Division II as she has reached base by hit or walk on 117 occasions this season.
Erwin is the second player to earn the Ron Lenz Player of the Year award on two occasions and first to do so in back-to-back years after a season in which she belted 23 home runs and drove in 71 while hitting .424. Erwin, who hit 62 career home runs for the Lady Buffs and finished her career with an .830 slugging percentage, was one of three West Texas A&M players named to the first team.
West Texas A&M was also represented on the first team by catcher Lacey Taylor, who hit .458 with 63 batted in for the nation's top offensive team (.363 team batting average with an average of nine runs per game) and designated player Allie Smith, who batted .393 in her freshman season with 63 runs batted in.
Augustana was also represented by three players on the first team, including its left side of the infield of shortstop Sarah Kennedy and third baseman Caitlin Nichol. Kennedy was the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference's "Player of the Year" with a .470 batting mark and 70 runs batted in for the Vikings, while Nichol shares the national home run lead with Erwin with 23 and hit .433 for the season.
The third Viking on the first team is utility/pitcher Jenelle Trautman, who went 32-4 in the circle with a 1.85 ERA and also hit .407 with 20 home runs while driving in 72, tied for the most in Division II.
Carson-Newman was the fourth team with multiple members on the first team in outfielder Bre Lockett, a .452 hitter and utility player Elayne Siebert, who hit .440 while playing three different positions for the Eagles in 2015.
The remaining members of the 2015 Daktronics/Division II CCA team include Southern New Hampshire pitcher Ali Maloof (24-4 with 207 strikeouts in 188 1/3 innings), Southern Indiana second baseman MacKenzi Dorsam (.427 average with 15 home runs) and Notre Dame (Ohio) outfielder Kelsey Coleman, who is second in the nation with her .487 batting average.
The 2015 team is co-sponsored by Daktronics, Inc., an acknowledged world leader in scoring, timing and programmable display systems for virtually every sport at every level of competition and the Division II Collegiate Commissioners Association.
The team is voted on by the members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). This is the ninth season of the All-America program which is selected by CoSIDA members from NCAA Division II schools.
