INDIANAPOLIS – The Great Midwest Athletic Conference received postseason softball honors from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA), DII Conference Commissioner’s Association (D2CCA) and College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) for the 2018 season.
The conference enjoyed an impressive run by Hillsdale, the eventual Great Midwest tournament champion as the No. 4 seed and the No. 8 seed in the NCAA Championship Midwest Regional.
The Chargers won their opening-round game in the regional over host and top seed Grand Valley State. Cedarville was the regular-season conference champion for the second season in a row.
Earning just the second and third NFCA All-American honors in the Great Midwest’s six-year window of history was Hillsdale junior outfielder Katie Kish and Trevecca sophomore infielder MaKray Odom.
Odom and Kish finished the season as the league’s top two individual hitters with batting averages of .493 and .481, respectively, that rank second and third all-time in single-season conference history.
By the metrics, the All-American pairing was efficient table setters as leadoff hitters in their lineups as Kish’s on-base percentage of .514 ranks third best in conference history and Odom’s .506 is sixth.
Both were first team all-conference selections at their defensive positions and each made the D2CCA All-Midwest Region First Team as well. Odom and Kish headlined the NFCA All-Midwest Region Team as first-team honorees along with Kentucky Wesleyan’s Meredith Daunhauer.
Daunhauer also repeated on the Google Cloud Academic All-District Team as announced by CoSIDA as a first-team selection. The single-season hits record holder and 2017 All-American is already the league's all-time leader in hits and stolen bases and is poised to take over the top position in runs scored as a senior next season.
Two rookies also earned their placement on the NFCA All-Midwest Region Second Team, including Great Midwest Freshman of the Year Jessie Rock (Walsh) and Hillsdale pitching ace Erin Hunt.
Rock was the league leader in both doubles with 19 and slugging percentage (.738). Her slugging percentage and batting average of .433 both rank sixth best in single-season conference history.
Hunt led the conference in strikeouts (197), shutouts (9), opponent batting average (.214) and wins (20) to post some of the best single-season totals since 2013 among the league’s best.
Great Midwest Pitcher of the Year Abby Lamping of Ohio Dominican was also named to the D2CCA All-Midwest Region Second Team with Daunhauer as one of the league’s four selections.
The first Great Midwest NFCA All-American honoree was Cedarville’s Brianne O’Dell, a first-team selection, last spring. Previous D2CCA All-Americans from the Great Midwest include Katie Chryssofos (Salem International – 2016) and Haley Fagan (Trevecca – 2016).
2018 NFCA All-American Team
| Second Team |
Katie Kish |
Hillsdale |
| Second Team |
MaKray Odom |
Trevecca |
2018 NFCA All-Midwest Region Team
| First Team |
Katie Kish |
Hillsdale |
| First Team |
MaKray Odom |
Trevecca |
| First Team |
Meredith Daunhauer |
Kentucky Wesleyan |
| Second Team |
Erin Hunt |
Hillsdale |
| Second Team |
Jessie Rock |
Walsh |
2018 D2CCA All-Midwest Region Team
| First Team |
Katie Kish |
Hillsdale |
| First Team |
MaKray Odom |
Trevecca |
| Second Team |
Meredith Daunhauer |
Kentucky Wesleyan |
| Second Team |
Abby Lamping |
Ohio Dominican |
2018 Google Cloud Academic All-District Team by CoSIDA
| First Team |
Meredith Daunhauer |
Kentucky Wesleyan |