Albany, NY–Senior catcher Kristen Beikirch (Brockport, NY/Brockport) has been named to the 2015 Capital One Academic All-District ® Softball Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America. She becomes the College's first-three time all-district honoree and is now in the running for a selection as a Capital One Academic All-American, an honor she has earned in 2013 and 2014.
Beikirch has a .407 batting average this season with eight doubles, two triples, and three home runs, while combining for a .602 slugging percentage this spring. She is also a perfect 11-11 on stolen bases with 32 starts this year. On her career, Beikirch owns several career marks as well. Among them, she is the program's career stolen base leader with 64, while also leading the Gators with her 164 runs scored. She also became the all-time career hit leader and now has 219 hits. She has played in a program-best 156 games with 156 starts. She ranks first at Sage in most at-bats (526) as well as total bases (325), while standing No. 2 in doubles (37), No. 4 in triples (9), No. 2 in home runs (17), and No. 3 in RBI's (85). She owns a .416 career batting average as well in her time as a Gator with a .618 career slugging percentage. She was honored in the fall of 2014 as the 2013-2014 ECAC Division III Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, becoming the first Sage softball player honored with the award. A candidate for the 2015 CoSIDA Academic All-America team this season, she is looking to become a three-time Academic All-American.
A biology and pre-medicine major at Sage, she sports a 3.94 grade point average and is a two-time member of Sage's Athletic Honor Society and is also a candidate for the 2014-2015 NCAA Woman of the Year. The 2012-2013 Sage Female Athlete of the Year as a sophomore, she earned the award again this year as the 2014-2015 Sage Co-Female Athlete of the Year, while also earning her second citation as the softball team's Gator of the Year as the Most Valuable Player.
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.
Sage head softball coach, Jamie Brown said of Beikirch's selection, "Kristen is so well deserving of this award." Brown added, "She works extremely hard on and off the field. She is always striving towards achieving her ultimate goals of being a doctor and of being the best softball player she can be. Her Gator softball family is very proud of her!"
The 2014-15 Capital One Academic All-District ® Softball Teams, selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America, have been released to recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom. Capital One has been the entitlement rights holder to CoSIDA's Academic All-America teams programs since 2011.
The Academic All-District ® teams include the student-athletes listed on the following pages and are divided into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada. This is the fourth year of the expanded Academic All-America® program as CoSIDA moved from recognizing a University Division (Division I) and a College Division (all non-Division I) and has doubled the number of scholar-athletes honored. The expanded teams include NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III participants, while the College Division Academic All-America ® Team combines NAIA, Canadian and two-year schools.
The Capital One Division II and III Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division II and III national governance structures, to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2014-15 DII and DIII Academic All-America® teams program.
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.