DiVittorio Named Southland Softball Student-Athlete of the Year

Courtesy of the Southland Conference

FRISCO, Texas – McNeese State senior Alanna DiVittorio has been named the Southland Conference Softball Student-Athlete of the Year, the league office announced Wednesday in conjunction with the release of the All-Academic Softball Teams.

DiVittorio, a native of Harahan, La. (Mt. Carmel Academy H.S.), graduated with a 3.81 grade-point average in civil engineering and is the first McNeese player to earn this distinction. She was named to the Capital One Academic All-America Second Team, becoming the first Cowgirl to garner the honor since 2010. The Cowgirl outfielder was named the conference’s player and hitter of the year after leading the league in runs scored (61), walks (47), stolen bases (46) and on-base percentage (.533) and ranking fourth in batting average (.391) and sixth in hits (63). DiVittorio was also named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) South All-Region First Team after breaking a combined nine school and conference records. She had a 23-game on-base streak, which included a 10 game hitting streak. She finished the season ranked sixth in the NCAA in stolen bases, 13th in walks and 18th in runs scored and on base percentage. DiVittorio earned all-tournament honors after leading the Cowgirls to the championship game of the Southland tournament.

Eleven student-athletes make a return appearance to the all-academic teams, including DiVittorio, Stephen F. Austin senior Elizabeth Arana, Sam Houston State graduate student Alyssa Coggins and McNeese State senior Katie Roux, all of whom are making their third consecutive showing. Northwestern State senior Cali Burke and junior Brittany Virgoe, McNeese State junior Lauren Langner and Sam Houston State senior Shelby Lancaster return to the all-academic team for the second time.

Eleven members received automatic selections by virtue of being either a first-team all-conference selection or voted to the CoSIDA academic all-district team.

Seven student-athletes were selected to the CoSIDA academic all-district team. McNeese State’s sophomore Jamie Allred, along with DiVittorio and Roux, were named to the All-District 6 team while Abilene Christian senior Ashley Nolan and UIW junior Taylor Johnson joined Arana and Coggins on the All-District 7 team. DiVittorio and Arana were named second- and third-team Academic All-America, respectively. Houston Baptist sophomore Kirsten Schwirtlich, Lamar senior Tina Schulz and Stephen F. Austin junior Shalie Day joined Virgoe on the team after picking up first-team all-conference honors. Allred and DiVittorio were also named to the first-team all-conference team to go along with their CoSIDA academic all-district selection.

McNeese State led all schools with five student-athletes on the all-academic teams followed by Northwestern State and Stephen F. Austin with four. Abilene Christian and Houston Baptist had three while Sam Houston State collected two. UIW, Lamar and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi had one apiece.

Established in the 2002-03 academic year, the conference honors one student-athlete from each of the 17 championship sports who achieves excellence in academics, athletics and community/campus service.

The student-athlete of the year, selected by the league’s awards committee, will have attained athletics achievement for at least two years at the nominating institution, possess at least a 3.20 cumulative GPA and demonstrated extracurricular service at her campus and or community.

The all-academic teams are voted on by the head coaches, sports information directors and academic/compliance administrators from each Southland university. Student-athletes must possess a 3.0 cumulative GPA, have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution and participated in at least 50 percent of the team’s competition to qualify for the all-academic squad.


2014 Southland Conference Softball All-Academic Teams

First Team
Name	University	Class	Hometown		GPA		Major
Alanna DiVittorio^,1,3,#,%	McNeese State	Sr.	Harahan, La.		3.81		Civil Engineering
Elizabeth Arana1,3,#,%	Stephen F. Austin	Sr.	The Woodlands, Texas		4.00		Community Health
Alyssa Coggins1,3,#	Sam Houston State	Gr.	Sealy, Texas		4.00		Business Administration
Katie Roux1,3,#	McNeese State	Sr.	Denham Springs, La.		4.00		Health Education
Brittany Virgoe1,2	Northwestern State	Jr.	Anaheim, Calif.		3.78		Nursing/Psychology
Jamie Allred1,#	McNeese State	So.	Hallsville, Texas		3.87		Accounting
Shalie Day1	Stephen F. Austin	Jr.	Ashdown, Ark.		3.63		Kinesiology
Kirsten Schwirtlich1	Houston Baptist	So.	Corpus Christi, Texas		3.84		Kinesiology/ Wellness Management
Tina Schulz1	Lamar	Sr.	Spring, Texas		3.44		Hospitality Management
Taylor Johnson1,#	UIW	Jr.	Schertz, Texas		3.99		Biology
Ashley Nolan1,#	Abilene Christian	Sr.	Coppell, Texas		3.87		Early Childhood Education
Tara McKenney3	Northwestern State	Sr.	Red Oak, Texas		3.41		Communications
Second Team
Name	University	Class	Hometown		GPA		Major
Lauren Langner2	McNeese State	Jr.	Pearland, Texas		3.50		General Studies
Carlie Thomas	Stephen F. Austin	Sr.	Huntington, Texas		3.43		Nursing
Kaylee Guidry	Northwestern State	Sr.	Walker, La.		3.30		Communications
Cali Burke2	Northwestern State	Sr.	Mesquite, Texas		3.36		Psychology and Addiction Studies
Shay Orsak	Houston Baptist	So.	Katy, Texas		3.54		Management
Shelby Lancaster2	Sam Houston State	Sr.	Tomball, Texas		3.44		Kinesiology
Cadie Weaver	Stephen F. Austin	Sr.	Splendora, Texas		3.88		Professional Accountancy
Dani Tefft	A&M-Corpus Christi	So.	Sugar Land, Texas		3.78		English
Kendall Stiefel	Houston Baptist	Sr.	Katy, Texas		3.84		Education/ Composite Social Studies
Anna Jones	Abilene Christian	So.	Wortham, Texas		3.83		Biology
Emily Vincent	McNeese State	So.	Sulphur, La.		3.28		Health and Human Performance
Lyndi Smith	Abilene Christian	Sr.	Uvalde, Texas		3.24		Psychology

^2014 Southland Softball Student-Athlete of the Year
¹Automatic Selection
²Two-time all-academic selection
³Three-time all-academic selection
^#Capital One Academic All-District
^%Capital One Academic All-America