University of Southern Indiana freshman pitcher Jennifer Leonhardt (Louisville, Kentucky), senior catcher Haley Hodges (Portage, Indiana) and junior first baseman Marleah Fossett (Brownsburg, Indiana) each earned All-America honors Wednesday in announcements by the National Fastpitch Coaches’ Association and the Division II Conference Commissioner’s Association.
Leonhardt and Hodges were awarded second and third-team honors, respectively, at the NFCA Awards Banquet Wednesday night, while Leonhardt and Fossett were respectively named third-team and honorable mention by D2CCA in a release earlier in the day.
The D2CCA Midwest Region Pitcher of the Year and the Great Lakes Valley Conference Freshman of the Year, Leonhardt enters the NCAA Division II Softball Championship Thursday with a 27-2 record, a 1.46 ERA and 189 strikeouts.
Leonhardt becomes the first pitcher in program history to earn All-America honors. She broke the program record for wins in a single-season and her 11 shutouts is two shy of the program’s single-season mark.
Hodges earns All-America honors for the second straight year after earning first-team accolades by the NFCA, D2CCA and Herosports.com a year ago. She leads the Screaming Eagles in batting average (.414), doubles (14), home runs (11) and RBIs (52).
In 2017, Hodges became the program’s all-time career leader in home runs (44) and RBIs (174); and is the first player in program history with two seasons of 50-plus RBIs. A year ago, Hodges set the program’s single-season marks for home runs (22) and RBIs (72).
Fossett is earning her first All-America award and is the eighth player in program history to collect the honor. She is currently second on the team with a .405 batting average and tied for first with 14 doubles.
In 2017, Fossett has racked up five home runs and 32 RBIs and leads the team with a .527 on-base percentage. She set the single-season program record by being hit by a pitch 21 times this year.
The All-America awards marks the first time in program history that USI Softball has racked up three All-Americans in one year and the first time since 1995 that USI has had multiple All-Americans.
USI, ranked No. 9 in the nation, takes on No. 6 Minnesota State University-Mankato Thursday, with a new start time of 4 p.m. (CDT), to begin the NCAA II Softball Championship.
