Courtesy of the A-Sun
MACON, Ga. – USC Upstate capped off a dominating regular season by winning four of the league’s five individual awards, announced by the league office on Tuesday. Shellie Robinson became the fourth player in Atlantic Sun Softball history to earn back-to-back Player of the Year Awards, while Lexi Shubert claimed the Pitcher of the Year honor, both by unanimous vote.
Robinson becomes just the 11th player in league history to be voted to the first team All-Conference in four consecutive seasons. She broke USC Upstate’s single-season home run record with 21 this season, while also moving up the A-Sun career lists in several categories. She has ranked among the top-10 in the country in home runs and home runs per game. She hit .449 in conference play and slugged .890 for the season.
Joining her as a unanimous first team All-Conference selection is teammate Lexi Shubert. Shubert adds the Pitcher of the Year award to her Scholar-Athlete of the Year award she received on Monday. She became only the second Spartan pitcher ever to reach 30 wins, tied for the fourth-highest in a single-season in A-Sun history. She struckout 190 batters this year and led the league with a 1.56 ERA overall, 1.12 in conference play. She also was the winning pitcher in Upstate’s biggest non-conference win of the year, going the distance at No. 11-ranked Georgia.
The duo was joined by three Spartan teammates in infielder Kendall Settlemyre, outfielder Aly Schneider and utlity player Karla Beasley, who was also voted the 2015 Freshman of the Year. Settlemyre had a career-high 17 home runs this season and only committed three errors while playing the hot corner at third base. Schneider hit .398 on the season, .464 in conference play to raise her game.
Beasley started 46 games for the Spartans as a freshman this season. She slugged 11 home runs and added 39 RBIs for the season. She batted .395 for the season and raised her average to .400 during league play. Beasley also produced timely hits as she collected the game-winning hit at No. 11 Georgia in Upstate’s biggest non-conference win of the season.
Kennesaw State, Lipscomb and North Florida all tied for the second-most members selected to the first team as each saw two student-athletes honored. Owls’ center fielder Natalie Rhodes led the A-Sun in triples this season with eight, good for second most in the NCAA. Rhodes hit .399 for the year and stole 17 bases. Her teammate Courtney Sutter earns her first all-conference team recognition after a magnificient season with the Owls. Sutter had 10 doubles on the year, while also catching eight runners stealing this season. She increased her batting average in league play to .435 and led the league with seven doubles.
The Ospreys were represented on the All-Conference First Team by two infielders in Stacy McClelland and Kelly Wilson. Wilson ranked second in the league in stolen bases with 30 while batting leadoff and setting the table for the Ospreys. She also showed some power with five home runs and 20 extra-base hits. McClelland, a first-year member of the Ospreys, made an immediate impact in the middle of the UNF lineup. She led the team in batting average (.403), home runs (12) and RBIs with 43. She had 16 multi-hit games on the season leading North Florida into the conference tournament.
The final team with two members on the first team were Lipscomb teammates Paige Neely and Kelly Young. For Neely, it marks the third-straight selection to the First Team All-Conference, while Young celebrates her first. Neely led the A-Sun with 17 doubles, which ranked her in the top-40 nationally. She drove in 30 runs and batted .444 in league play. Young made an instant impact in the circle for the Lady Bisons. She was voted A-Sun Pitcher of the Week on four occasions and led the team with 16 wins. She also was the only A-Sun pitcher to surpass 200 strikeouts coming on the final weekend of the regular season.
The final two First Team All-Conference selections were Northern Kentucky’s Dani Devlin and Jacksonville’s Lexie Ballard. Devlin led the Norse offense this season with 12 home runs and 30 RBIs. She also scored 22 runs and batted .389 in conference play. Ballard collected 50 hits this year with eight of them being home runs. She ranked third during conference play in batting average hitting .455 and had a slugging percentage of .727, good for sixth in the A-Sun.
Spartan Head Coach Chris Hawkins earned back-to-back A-Sun Coach of the Year honors after guiding the Spartans to a 40-8 record including 18-2 in league play and the regular season title. He becomes only the third coach in league history to win two-straight awards. The Spartans are the top-seed in this week’s A-Sun Championship in Fort Myers, Fla.
Full List of Honors and Awards
Player of the Year: Shellie Robinson, USC Upstate
Defensive Player of the Year: Demi Meza, Stetson
Pitcher of the Year: Lexi Shubert, USC Upstate
Freshman of the Year: Karla Beasley, USC Upstate
Coach of the Year: Chris Hawkins, USC Upstate
First Team All-Conference
P – Lexi Shubert, USC Upstate
P – Kelly Young, Lipscomb
C – Courtney Sutter, Kennesaw State
C – Dani Devlin, Northern Kentucky
IF – Lexie Ballard, Jacksonville
IF – Paige Neely, Lipscomb
IF – Stacy McClelland, North Florida
IF – Kelly Wilson, North Florida
IF – Kendall Settlemyre, USC Upstate
OF – Shellie Robinson, USC Upstate
OF – Natalie Rhodes, Kennesaw State
OF – Aly Schneider, USC Upstate
UTIL/DP – Karla Beasley, USC Upstate
Second Team All-Conference
P – Tanner Sanders, Lipscomb
P – Kaylie Wallace, North Florida
C – Jessica Griffin, Stetson
IF – Megan Veringa, Kennesaw State
IF – Cheyenne Griffin, USC Upstate
IF – Dana Landers, USC Upstate
IF – Demi Meza, Stetson
OF – Brittany Elmore, Lipscomb
OF – Shelby Duncan, North Florida
OF – Hayley Reinfeld, USC Upstate
UTIL/DP – Taylor Denton, Kennesaw State
All-Freshman Team
UTIL – Karla Beasley, USC Upstate
OF – Kelsey Huff, FGCU
OF – Kriten Griffith, Jacksonville
C – Abby Fenichel, Lipscomb
IF – Caitlin Plocheck, Lipscomb
P – Chelsea Hostetler, Stetson
OF – Jazz Vazquez, Stetson
IF – Danielle Baker, Jacksonville
C – Alex Arciola, North Florida
IF – Sydney Ferrante, Northern Kentucky
P – Amanda Storch, USC Upstate
