DENVER, Colo—University of Southern Indiana sophomore outfielder Mackenzie Bedrick (Brownsburg, Indiana) has been named the recipient of the prestigious NCAA Elite 90 award for Division II softball in an announcement at the NCAA II Softball Championship banquet Wednesday evening.

Bedrick is the third USI student-athlete to earn the award, which goes to the student-athlete with the highest grade point average at each of the NCAA’s 90 championships.

Past Screaming Eagles to garner the award include Men’s Tennis’s Ben Boesing (2013) and Baseball’s Brad Wannemuehler (2014).

Bedrick, who is up for Academic All-America honors after collecting Academic All-District IV plaudits, has compiled a perfect 4.00 GPA. The nursing major was a second-team All-Midwest Region and Great Lakes Valley Conference honoree in 2022 after earning honorable mention All-America honors as a freshman in 2021.

In addition to being the third USI student-athlete to garner the Elite 90 award, Bedrick is the 21st student-athlete in GLVC history and the first softball player in league history to collect the award.

USI (49-11) opens the NCAA II Softball Championship today at 2:30 p.m. (CDT) when it takes on nationally No. 4-ranked Rogers State University (Oklahoma). The nationally No. 10-ranked Eagles are the No. 4 seed, while the Hillcats (53-10) are the No. 5 seed.