Grace College softball standouts Brooke Shell and Clarissa Knight were honored following a sterling campaign in 2015.
Shell was named NCCAA First Team All-American for the second straight season to close out her remarkable career. She also earned her second straight appearance to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Team, a prestigious award honoring both academic and athletic accomplishments.
Knight was hailed as an NCCAA Second Team All-American for her first national award. The sophomore infielder led Grace from the plate with a .425 batting average. She pounded out 76 hits, including 10 doubles, 6 triples and 5 home runs while tallying 51 RBIs. She had the highest slugging percentage (.631) and on-base percentage (.540) on the team, helping Grace to 6.1 runs per game.
Shell graduates from Grace as the most prolific offensive player in program history. After a three-year career, she leaves Grace ranked No. 1 in career batting average (.434), career hits (260), career doubles (32), career triples (19) and career stolen bases (73). She also holds single-season records for the most hits, triples, runs and steals by a Lady Lancer.
Shell, along with Amanda Bowman, Chelsea Whitesell and Maribeth Strong were honored as Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes for maintaining a 3.5 GPA. Grace’s four Scholar-Athletes were fourth-most in the Crossroads League.
Under the guidance of head coach Heather Johnson, the Lady Lancers (32-27) enjoyed their first winning season in 18 years. They also eclipsed the 30-win plateau for the first time in 21 years. The 2014 and 2015 campaigns marked the first consecutive national tournaments in program history, and Grace also tied the program record with 19 league victories.