LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY — North Georgia softball standouts Stephanie Hartness and Courtney Poole have both advanced to the 2016 Schutt Sports NFCA Division II National Player of the Year Top 10 List. The award, in its second year of existence, recognizes the most outstanding softball player in the NCAA Division II ranks. Poole won the award last season after a record-breaking season.
In her first year in a Nighthawk uniform, Hartness has made one of the biggest first-year impacts on any team in the country. The Florida State transfer was named Peach Belt Conference Player of the Year following her outstanding season. It is just the second time UNG has received the award with Kim McMillan winning the honor last year. Starting in all 56 games, Hartness is hitting .481 this season, which is on pace for the UNG single season record. The junior from Niceville, Fla., leads the team in home runs, triples, & doubles.
A National Player of the Year campaign a year ago is a tough act to follow, but Poole has stepped up her game yet again in 2016. She currently has the nation's best ERA at 0.64 and the most wins in all divisions of the NCAA with 49. She ranks second in shutouts with 21 and third in strikeouts with 406. The Peach Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year has also allowed the ninth-least hits per seven innings in the nation, allowing fewer than four hits a game. She also leads all active Division II pitchers in career complete games (134), victories (141) and innings pitched (1084.2). Poole is one win away from tying the all-time NCAA DII record for wins in a season.
North Georgia was the only program to land multiple players on the list. It is also the second consecutive year that UNG has put two players on the Top 10 list, with Poole and Kim McMillan both receiving the honor in 2015.
2016 Schutt Sports/NFCA DII National Player of the Year Top 10 Finalists
Kaitlyn Bannister, Alabama-Huntsville
Lyndsay Butler, Wayne State
Morgan Foley, Indianapolis
Stephanie Hartness, North Georgia
Haley Hodges, Southern Indiana
Courtney Iacobacci, Fairmont State
Makayla Kovac, Colorado Mesa
Hannah Perryman, UMSL
Courtney Poole, North Georgia
Kat Zabielski, NYIT
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/5/396357/hartness-poole-named-top-10-finalists-for-national-player-of-the-year