Softball: Elkins and Landry Named All-Americans
LAFAYETTE – A record-breaking season for Lexie Elkins and career-high production by Shellie Landry earned the two members of the 11th-ranked Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns softball team All-American honors, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association announced on Wednesday.
Elkins, who set a new single-season school home run record with 32, was named a first team All-American for the first time in her career. The Victoria, Texas, native was selected at catcher, making her the top honoree in the nation at her position.
It’s the second straight season Elkins has been recognized by the NFCA, adding to her second-team status from a year ago.
Landry had an all-around, career-best showing recording new personal bests for average (.372), runs (49), hits (64), doubles (16), home runs (20) and total bases (142). The production resulted in the Lafayette area native’s first career All-American honor, being placed on the second team as an at large selection.
"It is a high honor whenever our players are chosen to represent our team and community as All-Americans," Louisiana softball head coach Michael Lotief said. "Both Lexie and Shellie are deserving, not only because of their skills and ability to perform, but also because of their leadership, commitment to excellence and desire to get better every day."
It’s the fifth straight season and 24th time in the past 27 seasons, dating back to 1989, that Louisiana has had at least one individual named All-American.
The selection of Elkins and Landry to the 2015 NFCA Division I All-America team increases the total number of All-American selections in program history to 48.
Adding in Landry to the list, there are now 29 different Ragin’ Cajuns that have been bestowed All-American honors. Elkins becomes the 13th in the storied program’s history to garner All-American recognition at least twice in a career.
"Both of those kids started out near the bottom and because of their hard work, persistence and belief in the process are now being recognized as ending up on top," Lotief remarked. "Besides being great competitors, they are both good students and great teammates who would be the first to be thankful to all who believed in them along the way."
Elkins is the first Cajun named to the first team since Christi Orgeron in 2012. Landry is the first Lafayette area native named All-American since Karli Hubbard in 2009.
The two-time reigning Sun Belt Player of the Year, Elkins unseated Danyele Gomez as the Cajuns single-season home run record holder with her 32 home runs surpassing the 30 hit by Gomez in 2006. It marked the second straight season she eclipsed 20 home runs, after hitting 24 in 2014.
She produced seven multiple-home run games and 11 games with three-plus RBI. A slugging percentage of 1.077 allowed her to set another single-season school record.
A Top 26 finalist for USA Softball Player of the Year, Elkins led the nation in RBI per game averaging 1.54 per game. Her 83 RBI represents the third-highest tally in school history and she joins Christi Orgeron as the only players to reach 80 RBI.
Landry ranked Top 20 in the NCAA in total home runs and home runs per game. She was among the nation’s Top 50 in both slugging percentage (.826) and RBI per game (1.09).
The Cajuns’ left fielder produced a base hit in 41 of 54 games played. By posting at least one hit in 25 of the final 31 games her average remained above .350 from March 16 through the season’s end.
Landry collected 18 multiple-hit games and 18 multiple-RBI games reaching three-plus hits five times and three-plus RBI six times. She did not commit an error in 69 chances, tracking down 65 fly ball outs.
The Ragin’ Cajuns finished the 2015 campaign with a 42-12 record. Louisiana claimed its second straight Sun Belt Conference regular championship and 13th in the 15 years of league competition since 2001. The squad hosted an NCAA Regional at Lamson Park for the third time in the past four years and advanced to an NCAA Super Regional for the fourth straight year.
2015 NFCA DIVISION I ALL-AMERICA TEAM
| First Team |
|
|
| Pos. |
Player |
School |
| P |
Cheridan Hawkins |
Oregon |
| P |
Miranda Kramer |
Western Kentucky |
| P |
Shelby Turnier |
UCF |
| C |
Lexie Elkins |
Louisiana |
| 1B |
Lauren Chamberlain |
Oklahoma |
| 2B |
Emily Carosone |
Auburn |
| 3B |
Kasey Cooper |
Auburn |
| SS |
Bianka Bell |
LSU |
| OF |
Haylie McCleney |
Alabama |
| OF |
Allexis Bennett |
UCLA |
| OF |
Kelly Christner |
Michigan |
| UT/P |
Lauren Haeger |
Florida |
| DP or UT/Non-Pitcher |
Amber Freeman |
Arizona State |
| At-Large/2B |
Sierra Romero |
Michigan |
| At-Large/2B |
Kelsey Stewart |
Florida |
| At-Large/UT/P |
Ally Carda |
UCLA |
| At-Large/SS |
Shelby Pendley |
Oklahoma |
| At-Large/OF |
Alaynie Page |
South Carolina |
| |
|
|
Second Team |
|
|
| Pos. |
Player |
School |
| P |
Paige Parker |
Oklahoma |
| P |
Megan Good |
James Madison |
| P |
Alexis Osorio |
Alabama |
| C |
Ivie Drake |
Georgia State |
| 1B |
Kayla Bonstrom |
Stanford |
| 2B |
Alex Hugo |
Georgia |
| 3B |
Jenna Lilley |
Oregon |
| SS |
Delaney Spaulding |
UCLA |
| OF |
Bailey Landry |
LSU |
| OF |
Cheyenne Cordes |
California |
| OF |
Janie Takeda |
Oregon |
| UT/P |
Sara Groenewegen |
Minnesota |
| DP or UT/Non-Pitcher |
Sahvanna Jaquish |
LSU |
| At-Large/P |
Megan Betsa |
Michigan |
| At-Large/UT/P |
Rainey Gaffin |
Tennessee |
| At-Large/OF |
Shellie Landry |
Louisiana |
| At-Large/C |
Chelsea Goodacre |
Arizona |
| At-Large/DP or UT/Non-Pitcher |
Stephany LaRosa |
UCLA |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| Third Team |
|
|
| Pos. |
Player |
School |
| P |
Carley Hoover |
LSU |
| P |
Lacey Waldrop |
Florida State |
| P |
Allie Walljasper |
LSU |
| C |
Erika Piancastelli |
McNeese State |
| 1B |
Shelby Friudenberg |
Baylor |
| 2B |
Demi Turner |
Alabama |
| 3B |
Marisa Runyon |
Alabama |
| SS |
Kellie Fox |
Arizona |
| OF |
Tiffany Howard |
Auburn |
| OF |
Sierra Lawrence |
Michigan |
| OF |
Katiyana Mauga |
Arizona |
| UT/P |
Jailyn Ford |
James Madison |
| DP or UT/Non-Pitcher |
Cortni Emanuel |
Georgia |
| At-Large/OF |
Emilee Koerner |
Notre Dame |
| At-Large/P |
Haylie Wagner |
Michigan |
| At-Large/SS |
Kristen Brown |
North Carolina |
| At-Large/3B |
Missy Taukeiaho |
Cal State Fullerton |
| At-Large/P |
Aleshia Ocasio |
Florida |
| At-Large/OF |
Kiki Stokes |
Nebraska |
RAGIN’ CAJUNS SOFTBALL ALL-AMERICANS ARCHIVE
1989: Stefni Whitton
1990: Stefni Whitton (1st)
1991: Dorsey Steamer
1992: Dorsey Steamer (1st), Cathy Sconzo, Kyla Hall
1993: Kyla Hall (1st), Lynn Britton
1994: Kyla Hall (1st), Kathy Morton (1st), Stephanie DeFeo (1st), Lynn Britton, Alyson Habetz, Lana Jimenez
1995: Cheryl Longeway (1st), Kathy Morton (1st), Lynn Britton, Stephanie DeFeo, Lana Jimenez, Tiffany Whittall
1996: Cheryl Longeway (1st), Lynn Britton
1997: Stephanie DeFeo, Tiffany Clark
1999: Tiffany Clark, Kelli Bruce
2000: Tiffany Clark (1st), Jana Mower
2001: Alana Addison
2002: Becky McMurtry
2003: Danyele Gomez, Becky McMurtry
2004: Brooke Mitchell (1st)
2005: Danyele Gomez
2006: Danyele Gomez (1st)
2008: Holly Tankersley (1st)
2009: Karli Hubbard
2011: Gabriele Bridges, Christi Orgeron
2012: Christi Orgeron (1st), Nerissa Myers, Katie Smith
2013: Brianna Cherry, Sarah Draheim
2014: Lexie Elkins, Christina Hamilton
2015: Lexie Elkins (1st), Shellie Landry
#GeauxCajuns
