Sophomores Kim McMillan and Taylor Merritt were named to the first team and were two of 19 total Peach Belt Conference players to be named to the first and second teams. The South Atlantic Conference placed 11 players on the teams while the Conference Carolinas placed three.
Catawba College's Carley Tysinger was named Southeast Region Pitcher of the Year, while Carson-Newman College's Brittany Hefner took Player of the Year Honors. Tysinger is 25-9 with a 1.21 ERA and 324 strikeouts over 237 1/3 innings this season. Hefner, a shortstop, hit .451 this season adding 19 home runs and 75 RBI.
McMillan came in and provided immediate fire power for the Saints' offense as well as offering solid defense at multiple positions as she started all 50 games for North Georgia. On offense, McMillan is currently in the top-10 in the PBC in 10 different offensive categories including leading the conference with 28 extra base hits, 114 total bases and is tied for tops in the conference with 15 doubles. For the season, McMillan collected 61 hits, 43 runs, 42 runs batted in and 13 home runs. She recorded multiple hits in a game 13 times this season including five games with three hits. Defensively, she played three different positions this season starting the season in left field while also playing some at first base before moving behind the plate late in the season. McMillan has recorded 160 putouts and 22 assists with a fielding percentage of .978 and was a two-time PBC Player of the Week (Mar. 18 & Mar. 25).
Merritt is currently in the top-10 in the conference in four offensive categories including tied for seventh in sacrifice hits, seventh in batting average, sixth in runs scored and seventh in on-base percentage. Merritt, who played in 44 games, is second on the team with a .360 batting average and is second with 45 hits while her 36 runs scored has her second on the squad in the category. For the season, she boasted an on-base percentage of .441 and slugged .416. She collected multiple hits in a game 13 times this season and scored two or more runs in 10 games. She is third on the team with eight stolen bases and has 17 runs batted in.
McMillan and Merritt will move on to the All-America ballot as will the rest of the first team selections. The Daktronics All-America programs honor student-athletes in Division II athletic programs. The voting, nomination and calculations are all conducted by the school's sports information directors.
The D2SIDA All-America softball team is sponsored by Daktronics, Inc., an acknowledged world leader in scoring, timing and programmable display systems for virtually every sport at every level of competition. The teams are voted on by the members of D2SIDA, NCAA Division II Sports Information Directors Association. The online nomination and voting processes are powered by Sidearm Sports. Headquartered in Syracuse, N.Y., Sidearm Sports is the official provider of college athletic websites for over 600 sports organizations at all levels of competition.
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