Three Alabama Softball Players Named NFCA All-American
6/1/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - Three Alabama softball players have been selected as NFCA All-Americans, with Haylie McCleney winning first team honors and Sydney Littlejohn and Leona Lafaele winning second team honors.
Alabama has had at least three players earn All-America honors in nine of the last 10 seasons. McCleney is now the program's sixth four-time All-American, earning first team honors in each of the last three seasons. The second team honors for Littlejohn and Lafaele are the first of their careers. Overall, the SEC led all conferences with 18 selections, with nine of the league's 13 schools represented.
McCleney is Alabama's career leader in batting average (.447), on-base percentage (.570), walks (198) and triples (16) and owns top-five marks in runs (2nd, 279), stolen base percentage (2nd, .944), slugging percentage (3rd, .690), hits (4th, 310) and stolen bases (5th, 118). This season, she became the fourth player in program history and the 21st in NCAA history to surpass 300 career hits, 200 runs and 100 stolen bases.
Littlejohn leads the pitching staff in wins (23) and ERA (2.32) this season, was a top 25 finalist for USA Player of the Year and second team All-SEC selection. She earned national pitcher of the week honors following a pair of road wins over then-top ranked Florida. Alabama has had at least one pitcher earn All-America honors every year since 2005.
Lafaele is sporting career number in her senior year, leading the team with 15 home runs and 61 RBIs. She was named first team All-South Region, second team All-SEC and SEC All-Defense. Heading into the Women's College World Series, she has hit 11 home runs and driven in 24 runs over her last 19 games.
