SFA Places Three on Southland Softball All-Academic Teams
6/13/2018 3:54:00 PM | Softball
Seniors Amber Landry, Taylor Fraccastoro and Makayla Sikes become Ladyjack softball’s first Southland All-Academic selections since 2016
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Three Stephen F. Austin senior softball players have been named to the Southland Conference's 2018 Softball All-Academic Teams with the league office's announcement Wednesday afternoon. Third baseman Amber Landry garnered a spot on the first team after earning an automatic selection as an All-Southland First Team member, while both catcher Taylor Fraccastoro and right-handed pitcher Makayla Sikes were selected to the second team.
The trio become Ladyjack softball's first Southland All-Academic honorees since the completion of the 2016 season.
Landry, a native of Ponchatoula, Louisiana (Ponchatoula HS), claimed a spot on the fall 2017 SFA Dean's List and holds an impressive 3.76 GPA as a kinesiology major. On the field, Landry was one of the Ladyjacks' leaders at the plate this spring. She finished with the second-most amount of hits (58) of any SFA player this season and held the Ladyjacks' second-best batting average at .320.
Landry ranked fourth in the Southland in RBI per game (0.87) after tallying a team-best 48 RBI. Her slugging percentage of .552 ranked 10th in the league, while Landry's trio of sacrifice flies tied for sixth-most in the conference. Grabbing 100 total bases, the most of any SFA player and the fourth-most in the Southland, Landry was ranked as the ninth-toughest player to strikeout according to the NCAA's statistical rankings. She cleared nine homers throughout the year, tying for the most among the Ladyjacks.
An All-Southland Second Team selection and native of Orange, Texas (Little Cypress-Mauriceville HS), Fraccastoro graduated in May with a degree in kinesiology and a 3.51 GPA after being named to the fall 2017 SFA Dean's List. On the softball diamond, Fraccastoro's .572 slugging mark led the Ladyjacks and was eighth-best among all players in the 12-team league. Her 45 runs scored were the most of any SFA player in 2018 as she averaged 0.82 runs scored per game, the fifth-highest average in the Southland.
Fraccastoro posted a team-best 14 doubles to tie for the fifth-most in the conference and led the league in hit by pitch with 18 on the year at an average of 0.33 per contest. She also registered an on-base percentage of .409 and totaled 39 RBI, the second-most of any Ladyjack. Knocking out nine home runs to tie for the most on the team, Fraccastoro threw out 16 base runners from behind the dish as SFA's starting catcher.
A native of Gilmer, Texas (Gilmer HS), Sikes received her bachelor's degree in communication disorders with a 3.25 GPA earlier this spring. An All-Southland Second Team selection, Sikes was the Ladyjacks' top pitcher in 2018 and one of the best hurlers in the league. Her 2.36 earned run average ranked fourth in the Southland, while Sikes' four saves were tied for the second-most in the conference and tied for 25th nationally. She accumulated 130 strikeouts, the third-most of any pitcher in the league, after tossing 177 and 2/3 innings. Sikes notched three complete game shutouts on the season, combined for another two and tallied 10 complete game wins.
In order to be eligible for Southland All-Academic consideration, softball players must have a minimum 3.00 cumulative GPA on a 4.00 scale through the fall semester; completed at least one full academic year at the nominating institution prior to the spring; and participated in at least 50 percent of the team's games in the position listed throughout the season, excluding pitchers.
This spring the Ladyjacks posted the most victories in a single season in the last 10 years, reaching the 30-win plateau for just the sixth time in SFA's NCAA Division I history. Achieving one of the largest turnarounds in all of Division I softball, the Ladyjacks completed the season with a 31-24 overall record after finishing tied for second in the final Southland standings with a 18-9 league mark. SFA made just its second national postseason appearance by gaining the conference's automatic berth into the 2018 Postseason National Invitational Softball Championship (NISC).
Stay tuned to SFAJacks.com, as well as SFA's social media platforms, for complete coverage of Ladyjack softball throughout the offseason.
2018 Southland Conference Softball All-Academic Teams
^2018 Southland Softball Student-Athlete of the Year
1All-Conference First Team selection
2Two-time All-Academic Selection
3Three-time All-Academic Selection
#Google Cloud Academic All-District
%Google Cloud Academic All-America
-SFA-
The trio become Ladyjack softball's first Southland All-Academic honorees since the completion of the 2016 season.
Landry, a native of Ponchatoula, Louisiana (Ponchatoula HS), claimed a spot on the fall 2017 SFA Dean's List and holds an impressive 3.76 GPA as a kinesiology major. On the field, Landry was one of the Ladyjacks' leaders at the plate this spring. She finished with the second-most amount of hits (58) of any SFA player this season and held the Ladyjacks' second-best batting average at .320.
Landry ranked fourth in the Southland in RBI per game (0.87) after tallying a team-best 48 RBI. Her slugging percentage of .552 ranked 10th in the league, while Landry's trio of sacrifice flies tied for sixth-most in the conference. Grabbing 100 total bases, the most of any SFA player and the fourth-most in the Southland, Landry was ranked as the ninth-toughest player to strikeout according to the NCAA's statistical rankings. She cleared nine homers throughout the year, tying for the most among the Ladyjacks.
An All-Southland Second Team selection and native of Orange, Texas (Little Cypress-Mauriceville HS), Fraccastoro graduated in May with a degree in kinesiology and a 3.51 GPA after being named to the fall 2017 SFA Dean's List. On the softball diamond, Fraccastoro's .572 slugging mark led the Ladyjacks and was eighth-best among all players in the 12-team league. Her 45 runs scored were the most of any SFA player in 2018 as she averaged 0.82 runs scored per game, the fifth-highest average in the Southland.
Fraccastoro posted a team-best 14 doubles to tie for the fifth-most in the conference and led the league in hit by pitch with 18 on the year at an average of 0.33 per contest. She also registered an on-base percentage of .409 and totaled 39 RBI, the second-most of any Ladyjack. Knocking out nine home runs to tie for the most on the team, Fraccastoro threw out 16 base runners from behind the dish as SFA's starting catcher.
A native of Gilmer, Texas (Gilmer HS), Sikes received her bachelor's degree in communication disorders with a 3.25 GPA earlier this spring. An All-Southland Second Team selection, Sikes was the Ladyjacks' top pitcher in 2018 and one of the best hurlers in the league. Her 2.36 earned run average ranked fourth in the Southland, while Sikes' four saves were tied for the second-most in the conference and tied for 25th nationally. She accumulated 130 strikeouts, the third-most of any pitcher in the league, after tossing 177 and 2/3 innings. Sikes notched three complete game shutouts on the season, combined for another two and tallied 10 complete game wins.
In order to be eligible for Southland All-Academic consideration, softball players must have a minimum 3.00 cumulative GPA on a 4.00 scale through the fall semester; completed at least one full academic year at the nominating institution prior to the spring; and participated in at least 50 percent of the team's games in the position listed throughout the season, excluding pitchers.
This spring the Ladyjacks posted the most victories in a single season in the last 10 years, reaching the 30-win plateau for just the sixth time in SFA's NCAA Division I history. Achieving one of the largest turnarounds in all of Division I softball, the Ladyjacks completed the season with a 31-24 overall record after finishing tied for second in the final Southland standings with a 18-9 league mark. SFA made just its second national postseason appearance by gaining the conference's automatic berth into the 2018 Postseason National Invitational Softball Championship (NISC).
Stay tuned to SFAJacks.com, as well as SFA's social media platforms, for complete coverage of Ladyjack softball throughout the offseason.
2018 Southland Conference Softball All-Academic Teams
| First Team | ||||||||
| Name | University | Class | Hometown | GPA | Major | |||
| Megan Landry^12#% | Nicholls | Jr. | Pierre Part, La. | 4.00 | Secondary Education - English | |||
| Brianna Barnhill#% | Abilene Christian | Sr. | Rhome, Texas | 4.00 | Kinesiology | |||
| Hannah Null13 | Abilene Christian | Sr. | Highland Village, Texas | 3.75 | Journalism | |||
| Kate Myers2#% | Central Arkansas | Sr. | Tulsa, Okla. | 4.00 | Biology | |||
| Demi Janak#% | Houston Baptist | Sr. | Spring, Texas | 4.00 | Accounting | |||
| Erika Piancastelli13# | McNeese | Sr. | Carlsbad, Calif. | 3.55 | Exercise Science | |||
| Morgan Catron1 | McNeese | Sr. | Mineola, Texas | 3.00 | Health and Human Performance | |||
| Amanda Gianelloni12 | Nicholls | Jr. | Napoleonville, La. | 3.86 | Marketing | |||
| Moriah Strother1 | Nicholls | Sr. | Suwanee, Ga. | 3.72 | Athletic Training | |||
| Lindsey McLeod2#% | Sam Houston State | Sr. | Austin, Texas | 4.00 | Public Health | |||
| Amber Landry1 | Stephen F. Austin | Sr. | Ponchatoula, La. | 3.76 | Kinesiology | |||
| Peyton Hedrick3 | Abilene Christian | Sr. | Forney, Texas | 3.80 | Kinesiology | |||
| Second Team Name |
University |
Class |
Hometown |
GPA |
Major |
|||
| Taylor Fraccastoro | Stephen F. Austin | Sr. | Orange, Texas | 3.51 | Kinesiology | |||
| Bailey White | Sam Houston State | So. | Burleson, Texas | 3.94 | General Business | |||
| Tiffany Thompson | Sam Houston State | Jr. | Montgomery, Texas | 3.78 | Public Health | |||
| Alli Daigle | Southeastern La. | Sr. | Rayne, La. | 3.80 | Psychology | |||
| Makayla Sikes | Stephen F. Austin | Sr. | Gilmer, Texas | 3.25 | Communication Disorders | |||
| Kelly Meeuwsen2 | Lamar | Jr. | Hillsboro, Ore. | 3.34 | Biology | |||
| Sidney Salmans2 | Northwestern State | Sr. | The Woodlands, Texas | 3.61 | Education | |||
| Maddie Edmonston | Southeastern La. | Sr. | St. Amant, La. | 3.70 | Kinesiology | |||
| Kaitlyn St. Clair | Northwestern State | So. | Cypress, Texas | 3.78 | Health and Exercise Science | |||
| Mahalia Gibson | Southeastern La. | Sr. | Hattiesburg, Miss. | 3.22 | Kinesiology | |||
| Morgan Felts | Central Arkansas | Jr. | Conway, Ark. | 3.81 | Psychology | |||
| Katie Andrie | Sam Houston State | Sr. | China Spring, Texas | 3.97 | Finance | |||
^2018 Southland Softball Student-Athlete of the Year
1All-Conference First Team selection
2Two-time All-Academic Selection
3Three-time All-Academic Selection
#Google Cloud Academic All-District
%Google Cloud Academic All-America
-SFA-
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