LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Five Tennessee softball players received All-Region accolades for the 2018 season, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association announced Wednesday.
Senior Meghan Gregg and junior Aubrey Leach collected first-team honors in the Southeast region, while Sophomore Jenna Holcombwas selected to the second-team and sophomores Caylan Arnold and Chelsea Seggern earned third-team nods.
The awards honor softball student-athletes from the Association’s 10 regions with first, second and third-team selections. NFCA member coaches from each respective region voted on the teams, and all the honorees now become eligible for selection to the 2018 NFCA Division I All-American squads.
Gregg, the program’s career leader in home runs and RBIs, once again showcased her offensive prowess in her senior year. The Williamson, Ga. native recorded 67 hits during the season, with 30 going for extra bases. She leads the Lady Vols with a .760 slugging percentage, and her 67 runs batted rest atop the SEC leaderboard. Gregg hit 16 long balls in 2018, good for second most in the conference.
While many expected such a campaign from the reigning SEC Player of the Year, Gregg is joined on the first-team by perhaps the Lady Vols’ breakout star of the season in Leach. In her third season on Rocky Top, Leach increased her runs scored and hits totals by more than 10 each compared to the previous two years. Her 74 total runs are the most in the SEC, and she ranks second in the conference in batting average (.435), on base percentage (.562), and hits (74). From Feb. 24 to Mar. 25, Leach recorded at least a hit in 18 consecutive games. Last week, she was named to the All-SEC first team for the first time in her career.
After a strong showing as a freshman in 2017, Holcomb followed up this season by finishing fourth in the SEC in batting average (.499) and recording 59 hits. On the defensive side, the versatile outfielder caught 61 fly balls this season while not committing a single error.
Arnold answered her own impressive freshman campaign by establishing herself as one of the conference’s best pitchers in 2018. She finished in the top five in the SEC in wins (24, T-3rd), strikeouts (207, 3rd), games started (30, 1st), and saves (3, 5th). A member of the SEC All-Freshman team a year ago, Arnold is already up to 351 career strikeouts in just 88 total appearances. She earned conference pitcher of the week honors three times this season, sharing the recognition with Florida’s Kelly Barnhill and Alabama’s Alexis Osorio on Feb. 26 before being named again on Mar. 20 and May 1.
Like Leach, Seggern spent the spring asserting herself as one of the college game’s top offensive talents. In three less total games played than her freshman year, Seggern recorded 19 more hits and 32 more runs batted in. Her 62 total RBIs trail only Gregg for the conference lead and rank 10th nationally. She has hit 16 doubles, good for third in the SEC, and is also second on the team with a .571 slugging percentage.
What’s Next? First team All-Region choices are eligible for selection to the NFCA All-America team, which will be announced the evening of May 23 online at NFCA.org and in person at the NCAA Division III Championship banquet in Oklahoma City.
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