May 9, 2012
="" alt="Twitter Logo" border="0" class="imported"> ="" alt="Facebook Logo" border="0" class="imported"> UCF Athletics Social Media Directory
By Andrew Jennette
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - UCF softball standout freshman Mackenzie Audas was named the Conference USA Co-Pitcher of the Year Wednesday, and was one of seven Knights who were recognized by the conference Wednesday for their accomplishments on the field.
Senior Natalie Land earned C-USA All-Academic Team recognition for the third consecutive year. Land is one of only three softball student-athletes in C-USA who earned all-academic honors for three seasons. An athletic training major, she has posted a 3.7 cumulative GPA while leading the Knights in several offensive categories, including batting average and home runs.
Land and Audas earned recognition on the All-C-USA First Team. Senior Vanessa Perez and freshman Farrah Sullivan garnered spots on the All-C-USA Second Team.
Senior Ali Schmidt earned C-USA Newcomer of the Year honors, and Audas, Sullivan, Kahley Novak and Hayley Barrow were honored with the C-USA All-Freshman team.
Land has twice been named to the Capital One Academic All-District III Team, and she has earned three C-USA Commissioner's Academic Medal s. She has been named to the Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll each of her four seasons. Her selection marks the ninth time a Knight has been named to softball all-academic team since UCF began playing in C-USA in 2006.
Land has started all 222 games of her college career. She set UCF school records for stolen bases in a season (41) and a career (100) in 2012. Land is just five stolen bases away from breaking the C-USA all-time record. She also leads the Knights this season in batting average (.341), runs (51), hits (62), triples (5), home runs (8) and slugging percentage (.560).
Audas was spectacular in her first season with the Knights, as she broke school freshman records for wins (21), ERA (1.04), complete games (28), shutouts (10), strikeouts (254) and opposing batting average (.170). Audas also led C-USA in each of those categories while winning C-USA Pitcher of the Week a UCF-record three times this season. This is the first Pitcher of the Year award for the Knights program.
Schmidt, a senior transfer from Philadelphia College, won Conference USA Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 27 and set the single-season school record for saves in a year with three. Her 1.61 ERA in 2012 is the fifth-best single season ERA in school history. This is the first Newcomer of the Year award for UCF.
Since 2006, 19 Knights have been named to All-C-USA Teams and 10 have been named to the league's all-freshman team.
No. 4 UCF will face No. 5 Houston in the opening round of the C-USA Championship at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at UAB. All of the tournament games will be streamed live on UCFAthletics.com via Knights All-Access Player, and fans can also listen to the games live and follow the Black and Gold on Gametracker.