Louisville, KY –Russell Sage College's softball superstar Arianna Papas (Castleton, NY/Maple Hill) was revealed as part of the 2023 Tucci/NFCA Division III Player of the Year Watch list for Region III.
In the midst of a career season, the Gators' centerfielder has deservedly earned the honor to represent RSC on the national watch list. Papas finds herself as part of one hundred forty one student-athletes from around the country to make the 2023 Tucci/NFCA Division III Player and Pitcher of the Year watch list.
RSC Head Softball Coach Erica Li noted, "This is another well deserved recognition for Arianna." She added, "She continuously tracks down balls in the outfield, while being one of our regions biggest threats at the plate. In just two and a half seasons she is climbing her way up many categories in our record book. I'm excited to see what the rest of this season brings!"
New for 2023, the list is broken down into regions, with student-athletes representing one of the 10 NCAA regions. This list is compiled by the elected members of the NFCA Division III All-America Committee, who will also vote to choose the Player and Pitcher of the Year honorees at the conclusion of the season. Official announcements will be made on June 9th.
The Player of the Year award was created in 2016 to honor the outstanding softball achievement in NCAA Division III. In 2019, the Association expanded the award to include separate Player and Pitcher of the Year honors.
Papas, who was a NFCA First Team All-Region pick in both 2021 and 2022, now has 124 career hits and is ninth. She is also 10th with her 32 career doubles, while her nine triples is tied for fourth and her 10 career home runs is ninth and her 66 RBI's is 15th at RSC. Voted the 2022 Empire 8 Conference Player of the Year, she also earned first-team All-E8 honors and also tapped as the E8 Conference Player of the Week on two occasions and also saluted this spring one time thus far.
On the 2023 season, she leads the Gators with her.406 batting average, while connecting for a team-best 28 hits on nine doubles, with two triples and 20 home runs. She also has a team-leading 20 RBI's with 47 total bases and a .681 slugging percentage having also swiped seven stolen bases on eight attempts. She is also perfect in the field on 51 total chances. As of April 10, she is second in the Empire 8 in batting, slugging percentage, hits, triples, at-bats, while ranking third in both doubles and RBI's.
RSC returns to action on April 13 travelling to MCLA for a non-conference double header with the Trailblazers at 3 p.m. Thursday.
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