Courtesy of Wayne State and Ashland Sports Information
The 2014-15 Capital One Academic All-District® Softball Teams, selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America, have been released to recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom. Wayne State landed a pair of honorees on the list, while Ashland earned the third GLIAC softball student-athlete.
Wayne State senior catcher Emily Bryce and redshirt sophomore pitcher Lyndsay Butler along with Ashland senior center fielder Taylor Menhart advance to the national ballot after being the top vote-getter at each of their respective positions of all the softball student-athletes in Region 4 which consists of all the institiutions in the GLIAC, GLVC and G-MAC plus a few independents.
Bryce, who was named to the All-GLIAC Honorable Mention squad, is a nursing major who recently earned the Athletic Deans' Award for being the WSU student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average in the College of Nursing. This year Bryce has started all 60 games and set career highs in walks (15), sacrifice bunts (9), fielding putouts (472), fielding assists (20) and fielding percentage (.998), while equaling season-bests in home runs.
Butler was voted GLIAC Pitcher of the Year for the second consecutive season. Butler, who helped lead the Warriors to the league's regular-season and tournament titles, led the GLIAC in ERA (0.62) for conference games. She enters the NCAA Tournament with a .398 batting average, 25 extra-base hits, a .592 slugging percentage and 35 RBI. In the circle, Butler has compiled a 22-8 record with four saves and a sparkling 1.03 earned-run average. She has totaled 271 strikeouts in 210.2 innings to only 27 walks with opponents batting just .177 against her.
Menhart, a first-team All-Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference selection, is hitting .423 with 45 runs scored, 16 doubles, seven triples, seven home runs, 41 RBIs, seven stolen bases, a .506 on-base percentage and a .765 slugging percentage. She also has a 3.50 cumulative grade-point average through the fall 2014 semester as a Commercial Art major.
