Ten players named WAC Scholar-Athletes

PROVO- Ten BYU softball players have been named Western Athletic Conference Scholar-Athletes, with eight of the ten having also previously earned Academic All-WAC honors for the 2012 season.

Seniors Tiffany Messerschmidt and Stacie Toney, juniors Bailie Hicken and Alexandra Hudson, sophomores Tori Almond, Carly Duckworth, Jenna Goar and Lacey Millett, and freshmen Anna Hudson and Caroline Umphlett each earned the honor.

“We are extremely grateful to have these wonderful and talented student-athletes represent our program,” head coach Gordon Eakin said. “They exemplify the standards of BYU and BYU softball. They are what makes our program great.”

To be eligible for the award players need to have participated in softball, had at least two semesters at BYU and currently have a GPA of 3.0 or better.

Messerschmidt ended the season as No. 3 in sacrifice bunts, No. 4 in on base percentage and No. 9 in batting average among WAC players and also earned academic All-WAC honors for her 3.11 GPA. Toney added this honor to her academic All-WAC, CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team, NFCA All-Region Second Team and CoSIDA Academic All-District 8 First Team honors for the season. Toney is an elementary education major with a 3.77 GPA.

Also earning academic All-WAC honors, Hicken, who is majoring in applied physics, has an overall GPA of 3.39 and hopes to go to medical school. Hudson, who was a scholar-athlete all four years of high school, was an academic All-Mountain West Conference athlete her freshman year and academic All-WAC in 2012.

The sophomores make up the biggest group of the BYU softball scholar-athletes. Almond ended the 2012 season with 20 wins and ranked first in the WAC for strikeouts per game with 7.72.  A business major, Duckworth was on the MWC All-Academic roll her freshman year and earned academic All-WAC honors in 2012 for her 3.6 GPA. Goar, who has an overall GPA of 3.77, was the team academic Player of the Year for her 3.97 GPA in 2012.  Rounding out the sophomores, Millett is majoring in exercise and wellness and has a 3.34 GPA.

Freshman Anna Hudson joins her sister Alexandra as both an academic All-WAC athlete and a WAC Scholar-Athlete with a 3.36 GPA. Umphlett, who went 4-0 with one save to start her BYU career, has a 3.14 GPA.