Ball State University Athletics
Cihlar Earns Capital One Academic All-District First Team Accolades
May 08, 2015 | Softball
AKRON, Ohio - - Ball State senior outfielder Loren Cihlar (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North) has been named to the 2015 Capital One Academic All-District V Softball First Team as announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Thursday afternoon.
A health science major with a 3.896 grade-point average, Cihlar has been instrumental in the Cardinals run to a fourth consecutive Mid-American Conference West Division title. With her help, Ball State finished the 2015 regular season with a 29-23 (14-5 MAC) record and earned the No. 2 seed in this week's MAC Softball Championship at Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio.
Cihlar entered the 2015 MAC Softball Championship with a .324 batting average and ranked sixth in the conference with 40 runs scored. Her 55 hits were 12th among all league batters, while her 12 stolen bases led the Ball State offense. Over the course of the 2015 season, Cihlar strung together a career-best 10 game hitting streak and reached base safely in a career-high 22 consecutive games. She scored four game-winning runs during the year, while also driving in what proved to be the game-winning run in the Cardinals' 19-9 (5) victory over instate rival Indiana (April 21).
Cihlar is the first Ball State softball player to be honored by CoSIDA since the 2011 season, when then senior Alicia Barkley (2008-11) was named to the Capital One Academic All-America University Division Softball Third Team. That season also saw both then sophomore pitcher Audra Sanders (2010-11, 13) and then senior Alyssa Collins (2008-11) earn All-District second team honors.
First-team Academic All-District honorees advance to the Capital One Academic All-America Team ballot, where first-, second- and third-team All-America honorees will be selected later this month and in early June.
To be eligible for Academic All-America consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 20,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all CAA championship sports.
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