Softball Sees Six Honored with MAC Postseason Awards

CLEVELAND, Ohio - - The Ball State softball team saw its run to a program record 31 Mid-American Conference victories rewarded Thursday (May 20), with six student-athletes earning MAC postseason honors as voted on by the league's 11 head coaches.

Leading the charge were a trio of All-MAC First Team selections in junior outfielder Faith Hensley, senior outfielder Haley Dominique and senior catcher Stacy Payton. Earning recognition on the All-MAC Second Team were sophomore pitcher Deborah Jones and freshman shortstop Kayla Lissy. Rounding out Ball State's honorees was senior center fielder Kennedy Wynn who was named to the MAC All-Defensive Team.

"I am very proud of the accomplishments that Faith, Haley, Stacy, Deborah, Kalya and Kennedy had on the field this year," first-year head coach Lacy Wood said. "There are some very strong athletes in the conference this year, which bodes well for the future of the MAC. It's a very competitive conference now, and will only get stronger moving forward. These individual awards are only a reflection on the team as a whole and it's accomplishments this year."

Ball State's six MAC award winners in 2021 are the most for the team since the 2014 season, when the Cardinals also had six different student-athletes honored by the league's head coaches. In addition, the three First Team All-MAC selections are the most for the Cardinals since the 2018 squad also had three.

FIRST TEAM ALL-MAC: Faith Hensley
Hensley earns All-MAC honors for the first time in her career after leading the Ball State offense with a .390 batting average, including 17 doubles, seven home runs and a pair of triples. Her 17 doubles ranked third in the league this season, are currently 10th nationally and tie as the sixth-most in a single season in program history. Hensley's team-leading 51 RBI were also third in the league and 24th nationally, while her 38 runs scored were 10th in the MAC. She also ranked 11th in the conference with 11 stolen bases. One of Ball State's most clutch batters throughout the season, Hensley drove in what proved to be the game-winning RBI in eight games, while crossing the plate for what stood to be the game-winning run six times. On three occasions, she drove herself in for the winning run courtesy of the long ball, including her first career grand slam versus Alcorn State (March 6).

FIRST TEAM ALL-MAC: Haley Dominique
Dominique earns First Team All-MAC honors for the second time in her career, as she also picked up the award in 2018 and was a member of the 2017 MAC All-Freshman Team. The only player to start in all 55 games for the Cardinals this season, Dominique was third on the team with a .368 batting average, including eight doubles and three home runs. She tied for fourth in the MAC with a team-high 63 total hits on the year, while driving in 35 RBI and scoring 24 runs. Dominique had three game-winning RBI on the season, as well as two game-winning runs scored.

FIRST TEAM ALL-MAC: Stacy Payton
Payton earns First Team All-MAC honors for the second straight awards season, as she was also a first team honoree in 2019. She ranked second on the team with a .369 average, 14 doubles and 43 RBI. Overall, 21 of her 58 hits when for multiple bases, including six home runs and a triple. Payton also scored 29 runs on the year, including what stood to be the game-winning run in three contest. She also had what stood as the game-winning RBI with a two-run home run in the opening game at NIU (May 12). Defensively, Payton was one of the league's hardest catchers to steal against as she threw out eight of the 24 runners attempting to steal with her behind the plate.

SECOND TEAM ALL-MAC: Deborah Jones
Jones earns All-MAC honors for the first time in her career after leading the Ball State pitching staff with a 3.64 ERA and producing a 12-7 overall record. Over a team-high 111.2 innings of work, Jones struck out 79 batters and limited opposing teams to a .261 average. She also threw six complete games, including shutout wins over Kent State (April 9) and at Buffalo (May 15). Jones also pitched three innings of the complete game shutout at Akron (April 18). She recorded a season-high eight strikeouts in a complete game effort in the 5-1 win at Central Michigan (April 3), while logging at least one strikeout in 25 of her 30 appearances. Jones also ranked third in the MAC and 40th nationally with four saves.

SECOND TEAM ALL-MAC: Kayla Lissy
Lissy earns All-MAC honors for the first time in her career after leading the MAC and currently tying for the NCAA Division I lead with nine triples. The speedster also recorded an inside-the-park home run in the opening game of the March 27 doubleheader versus Bowling Green. Lissy was just as fast on the base paths, ranking fifth in the MAC with 18 stolen bases. Two of those stolen bases were swipes of home, including what proved to be the game-winning run at Jacksonville State (March 9). Overall, Lissy scored three game-winning run one the season, while driving in a pair of game-winning RBI. She also blasted her first career grand slam in the opening-game win at Buffalo (March 15).

MAC ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM: Kennedy Wynn
Wynn earns conference honors for the second time in her career, after also being named to the 2017 MAC All-Freshman Team. She earned a spot for her defensive play in center field, boasting perhaps the best arm in the league to limit runners advancing on any ball she made a play on. Wynn finished the season with a .981 fielding percentage, with just one error in 52 chances. She also had an outfield assist on the year. At the plate, Wynn tied for team-high honors with seven home runs, while adding eight doubles and one triple. She drove in 29 RBI and scored 29 runs, while batting .248 on the year. Wynn had three game-winning RBI on the season, while crossing the plate to score the eventual winning run five times.

ABOUT THE 2021 BALL STATE SOFTBALL TEAM
The 2021 Ball State softball team set the program record with 31 MAC wins, produced the longest single-season MAC winning streak in program history at 16 games, and tied a program record with an 11-game winning streak.

The team's 37 overall wins tied as the fourth-most in a single season in program history, while the Cardinals set program records for batting average (.329), on base percentage (.415) and doubles (101).

The 2021 season also saw senior pitcher Alyssa Rothwell become the greatest closer in NCAA Division I history with her 33rd career save in last Friday's (May 14) 6-3 win at Buffalo. In all, Ball State's pitchers finished 2021 ranked in the top 10 nationally with 10 total saves.

All-MAC First Team
Stacy Payton, Catcher, Ball State*
Haley Dominique, Outfield, Ball State*
Faith Hensley, Outfield, Ball State
Payton Gottshall, Pitcher, Bowling Green
Madi McCoy, Shortstop, Bowling Green
Anna Aguon, Outfield, Buffalo
Alexis Lucyshyn, Util-P, Buffalo
Holly Blaska, First Base, Miami
Courtney Vierstra, Pitcher, Miami
Karli Spaid, Second Base, Miami
Allie Cummins, Util-F, Miami
Katie Keller, Catcher, Northern Illinois
Katie Yun, Shortstop, Ohio*
Dayna Denner, Third Base, Toledo
Mackenzie Swinehart, Outfield, Western Michigan

All-MAC Second Team
Kayla Lissy, Shortstop, Ball State
Deborah Jones, Pitcher, Ball State
Alexis Matheney, Outfield, Buffalo
Abbey Tolmie, Outfield, Central Michigan*
Megan Turner, First Base, Kent State
Brooklyn Whitt, Outfield, Kent State
Jessica Lebeau, Pitcher, Kent State
Kennadie Goth, Outfield, Kent State
Kaitlyn Miller, Util-F, Kent State
Riley Coyne, Catcher, Miami
Brianna Pratt, Pitcher, Miami
Mackenzie Moore, Third Base, Miami
Adriana Barlow, Shortstop, Miami*
Mikenzie Vaughn, Second Base, Ohio
Allie Englant, Outfield, Ohio*
Sydney Stefanick, Util-P, Western Michigan

*At Large Selections

All-Defensive Team
Kennedy Wynn, Ball State
Greta L'Esperance, Bowling Green
Emily Bracamonte, Central Michigan
Carlee Selle, Kent State
Morgan Lott, Miami
Holly Blaska, Miami
Katie Keller, NIU
Caroline Spacek, Ohio
Leah Munson, Toledo

Coach of the Year
Kirin Kumar, Miami

Freshman Pitcher of the Year
Payton Gottshall, Bowling Green

Freshman Player of the Year
Karli Spaid, Miami

Nan Harvey Award
Katie Keller, NIU

Pitcher of the Year
Courtney Vierstra, Miami

Player of the Year
Dayna Denner, Toledo

NOTE: The MAC All-Defensive team replaced the MAC All-Freshman team for the 2021 season.

Softball Sees Six Honored with MAC Postseason Awards

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Players Mentioned

Haley Dominique

Faith Hensley

Deborah Jones

Kayla Lissy

Stacy Payton

Alyssa Rothwell

Kennedy Wynn

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