Softball Receives NFCA All-Academic Award in 2015
Nov 4, 2015
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Student-athletes who achieve a 3.5 or better GPA on a 4.0 scale are recognized as National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Scholar Athletes. The NFCA recognizes the top academic teams (by overall GPA) each fall through its academic team program based on previous school year. The University of Dubuque softball team was named a 2014-15 NFCA Division III All-Academic Team and ranked 20th in the country with a team cumulative GPA of 3.470.
The Spartans were the highest ranked Iowa Conference team and were honored with 12 Spartans being named scholar athletes. Alexandria Brown, Rebecca Diffenderfer, Kelli Gerace, Carlee Gunder, Gabrielle Kroeger, Kayleigh Leddy, Megan Loes, Laura Melville, Megan Schlueter, Meggie Schmidt, Andrea Smith, and Victoria Woltz all were named to the prestigious academic award.
The Iowa Conference included five teams: UD (20th - 3.470), Wartburg College (29th - 3.424), Luther College (tied for 54th - 3.310), Coe College (84th - 3.156), and Loras College (85th - 3.144) with a total of 49 student-athletes being honored as 2014-15 NFCA Division III Scholar Athletes.
The National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) is the professional growth organization for fastpitch softball coaches from all competitive levels of play.
The idea for a softball coaching association first developed from discussions at the National Collegiate Women's Softball Championships in the early 1980s. Although mostly collegiate coaches comprised the organization's membership in the early days, today's college coaches are joined by high school and travel ball/club coaches, umpires, as well as other fans of fastpitch softball. In 1997, the Association's membership reached the 2,000 mark, and today there are more than 4,300 members.
Besides services offered to the membership, the NFCA works with USA Today in producing polls for NCAA Division I and high school softball. In addition, NCAA Division II and Division III polls are produced. The NFCA also conducts collegiate tournament competitions, as well as recruiting camps and tournaments throughout the nation. An annual NFCA National Convention is held every November or December.
