11 MAC Student-Athletes Named NFCA All-Region
View All-Region Teams
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The National Fastpitch Coaches Association announced 11 Mid-American Conference student-athletes to the 2017 NFCA Division I All-Region Teams
The awards honor softball student-athletes from the Association’s 10 regions with first, second and third team selections. NFCA member coaches from each respective region voted on the teams, and all the honorees now become eligible for selection to the 2017 NFCA Division I All-American squads.
In the Great Lakes Region, Ball State's Rachel Houck, Central Michigan's Rachael Knapp and Allison Curtis, Northern Illinois' Kayti Grable, Toledo's Chandler Rice and Western Michigan's Kelsea Cichocki were named Second Team All-Region. Eastern Michigan's Michelle Kriegshauser was named Third Team All-Region, respectively.
A starter in all 58 games for the Cardinals this season, Houck led the Ball State offense with a .319 batting average. She finished first in the MAC and 20th nationally with 17 doubles, while ranking third in the league and 48th nationally with 13 home runs. Houck's 51 runs scored paced all MAC players, while her 35 RBI were a team high and ranked ninth in the league. She produced 17 multiple hit games over the course of the season, including a four-hit effort versus Holy Cross (March 8). She provided the game-winning RBI in three contests, while scoring the game-winning run four times.
Knapp, a senior from St. Joseph, wrapped up a phenomenal collegiate career by becoming the first Chippewa since 2004 to earn the Mid-American Conference Pitcher of the Year Award. She finished 22-10 on the season with a 1.44 earned run average and 256 strikeouts, the second-highest total in program history. She leaves CMU as one of the very best in program history, ranking first in career appearances (138), complete games (83), and innings pitched (752 2/3). She is second in career strikeouts (823), tied for second in career saves (6), is third in career wins (69), and is fifth with 25 career shutouts.
Curtis, a sophomore outfielder from Tucson, Ariz., led the Chippewa starters and ranked fourth in the MAC with a .377 batting average. She finished the season with a team-best 63 hits and ranked second on the team with 11 stolen bases. Curtis was named to the All-MAC First Team for the second consecutive season.
A three-time second-team all-region honoree, Grable has made her mark on the NIU softball program. The school's all-time leader in home runs with 40 and RBIs with 179 for her career, Grable is NIU's only four-time first-team All-MAC selection and was named the 2014 MAC Freshman of the Year. A lifetime .386 hitter, Grable has amassed 242 hits, placing her second on the school's all-time list. Grable has started all 214 games she has played in during her four-years at NIU, including career-high 57 as a freshman. Her best season came in 2015 when she established career bests in batting average, hits and home runs.
Rice, the recently graduated Rocket, led Toledo this year in batting average (.392), at bats (194), runs (49), hits (76), doubles (16), triples (2), home runs (12), RBI (39), total bases (132), slugging percentage (.680), on-base percentage (.454), stolen bases (21) and fielding percentage (.992). She was a first-team All-MAC selection in 2014 and 2016, an All-Freshman Team selection in 2014, and a five-time MAC Player of the Week.
Cichocki led the Mid-American Conference with a .405 batting average this season, becoming just the second ever Bronco to hit over .400 in a season. Cichocki ends her career at Western Michigan with a .355 lifetime batting average, which also ranks second highest in school history. She is the first WMU player to record more than 100 career RBIs, setting the program record with 116 and owns top two single-season RBI marks with 39 in 2016 and a school record 46 this season.
For the Mideast Region, Kent State's Ronnie Ladines and Maddy Grimm were named First Team All-Region. Ohio's Savannah Jo Dorsey was named Second Team and Miami's Michaela Schlattman Third Team.
Grimm is Kent State's only player to be named All-Region in all four seasons and is the only three-time NFCA All-Region First Team honoree in program history. The 2017 Mid-American Conference Player of the Year set the conference record for walks (49) and broke her own school single-season record for RBIs (55) and matched her single-season home run record (19). Grimm is also the MAC leader in slugging percentage (.813) and on-base percentage (.507) in addition to ranking second in runs scored (50) and total bases (122). She leads the Flashes with a .340 batting average and 12 doubles on the season.
Ladines won 19 games in the circle with an impressive 2.00 ERA and threw 75.2 innings against teams in the RPI top-75. She was the MAC leader in innings pitched (231.0) and complete games (28) and ranked third in ERA and strikeouts (210). Ladines threw three shutouts, including a perfect game at Buffalo on April 29. Offensively, Ladines had a .292 batting average and ranked sixth in the MAC in RBIs (39), 10th in slugging percentage (.584) and tied for 11th in home runs (11). She was named MAC Tournament MVP after launching four homers and driving in seven runs over the Golden Flashes' six games.
Dorsey wrapped up the regular season with a 1.13 ERA and an overall record of 25-9, which has helped the Bobcats to a 42-18 season which helped the Bobcats win a program high 42 wins and help them get off to their best start since 1995 while winning the Mid-American Conference East Division title. Dorsey allowed only 40 earned runs in 247.0 innings and struck out 360 batters, which is second in the nation. Her 360 strikeouts broke her own record for strikeouts in a season.
Schlattman posted a .337 batting average and led the team in at-bats (166), runs (41), hits (56), doubles (16), RBI (38) and slugging percentage (.608). Additionally, she ranked second on the team in home runs with nine, while posting a .403 on-base percentage.
Schlattman finished the season with 20 career home runs, placing her in a three-way tie for second place in school history. Earlier in the season, she was named to the All-Tournament Team at the Carolina Classic in Chapel Hill, N.C. This accolade joins previous individual honors of MAC All-Freshman Team and First Team All-MAC in 2016.
2017 NFCA Division I All-Region
Great Lakes
Second Team
Rachael Knapp, Central Michigan
Kayti Grable, NIU
Chandler Rice, Toledo
Kelsea Cichocki, Western Michigan
Allison Curtis, Central Michigan
Rachel Houck, Ball State
Third Team
Michelle Kriegshauser, Eastern Michigan
Mideast
First Team
Ronnie Ladines, Kent State
Maddy Grimm, Kent State
Second Team
Savannah Jo Dorsey, Ohio
Third Team
Michaela Schlattman, Miami
