Baylor Softball Lands Record Six, on NFCA All-Region Teams
Five Bears named second team, one on third
WACO, Texas – The Baylor softball team put a program record six players on the NFCA All-Region softball teams Thursday. Five players were named NFCA All-Central Region Second Team with one Bear earning a third-team nod.
A day after being named All-Big 12 First team, Baylor's Shleby Friudenberg, Ari Hawkins and Heather Stearns all earned second-team all-region. The trio was joined on the all-region team by junior designated player Linsey Hays and sophomore right fielder Lindsey Cargill.
Kaitlyn Thumann, a senior outfielder, was named to the third team. Hays and Thumann each repeat-award winners by the NFCA All-Region teams, the former was a first-team selection in 2014 and the latter a second-teamer.
Friudenberg, a freshman first baseman, led Baylor with 16 homers and 41 RBI in the regular season while hitting .373. Hawkins, a sophomore second baseman, led the Bears with a .417 batting average and ranked fifth in the Big 12 in that category. She did not commit an error in Big 12 play and led the Bears in the regular season with a .500 on-base percentage. Stearns, a junior pitcher, posted a 19-11 record in the circle with a 2.46 ERA and six shutouts on the season; she pitched two one-hit shutouts on the season and combined with Kendall Potts for another one-hitter.
Hays was second on the team with eight home runs and 39 RBI in the regular season, she also moved to third place all-time on the school's career RBI list during the season. Cargill led the Bears with six outfield assists in rightfield, hit .344 in the regular season, and swiped a team-high 27 stolen bases on 28 attempts.
Thumann hit .344 on the year with a team-leading 14 doubles, she hit four triples and drove in 18 runs. The senior has moved her way up the top 10 career list for Baylor's record books in hits, runs, walks, doubles, total bases and stolen bases in her final season.
The six honorees surpasses the previous high of five Baylor players honored by NFCA all-region teams back in 2006.
Baylor takes on Mississippi State in Lafayette, La. Friday to kickoff the Lafayette Regional at 5:30 p.m. in a double elimination tournament featuring Mississippi State, Weber State and Louisiana-Lafayette to determine who will advance to the NCAA Super Regionals.
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