BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Southwestern Athletic Conference announced its 2014 All-SWAC Softball teams and individual award winners on Tuesday prior to its postseason tournament.
Alabama State's Meagan Dixon landed Player and Hitter of the Year honors. Jackson State highlighted the individual honors with Breea Jamerson voted Pitcher of the Year, Kelsey Townsend tabbed Newcomer of the Year and head coach Rick Fremin earning Coach of the Year honors. Krystalani Yockman of Texas Southern and Deja Talton of Mississippi Valley State shared this season's Freshman of the Year award.
Dixon completed a senior campaign at ASU in which she ranked among the conference's top 10 in several statistical categories. She led the conference in slugging (.939), runs scored (46), total bases (107), home runs (13) and RBI (48), while her .456 batting average ranked second this year.
Jamerson was JSU's ace allowing an earned run average of 2.74 pitching 133 innings. She held opponents to a league best .245 batting average while leading the SWAC in wins (12) and saves (3). She finished the regular season ranked second in total strikeouts (83) and strikeouts looking (30). Jamerson was selected SWAC Pitcher of the Week on three occasions through the course of the season.
On the year, Townsend pitched 146.2 innings tallying nine wins in 24 starts. She finished in the top ten in earned run average (4.49) allowing 115 runs while striking out 53 batters. During the 2014 campaign, she was consecutively named SWAC Pitcher of the Week.
Yockman and Talton share the top freshman award after making contributions to their respective teams. TSU’s Yockman was fourth in the league with a .670 slugging percent. She scored 27 runs, 34 RBI, eight home runs while covering 61 total bases. She started 34 games played and her .374 batting average ranked in the top 10 in the conference. Talton carried MVSU with 22 RBI, six doubles, and four home runs. She collected 53 total bases and a slugging percent of .438 with a batting average of .273. Defensively, she registered 49 assists.
Fremin led JSU to a 16-1 in the SWAC and the most wins in conference play while head coach of the Lady Tigers. JSU sits atop the SWAC in ERA (3.67), stolen bases (113), putouts (1,035), and assists (495). On March 25, JSU highlighted its non-conference slate with a 3-1 win over Arkansas.
Dixon and Jamerson were each named first-team All-SWAC performers and were joined on the 11-member squad by Thomasina Garza (Texas Southern), Kendall Core (Alabama State), Lauren Aikens (Jackson State), Alisa Navarro (Prairie View A&M), Monica Castillo (Texas Southern), Sydney Wesley (Southern), Canessa Swanson (Jackson State), Sammantha Jimenez (Texas Southern) and Angela Perez (Grambling State).
Texas Southern led all teams with nine selections overall while tying JSU with three selections on first team. JSU followed with four selections while MVSU (3), Alabama State (2), and Alcorn State (2) rounded out the most picks per team. Prairie View A&M, Southern and Grambling State each had a player on the all-conference squads.
ALL SWAC SOFTBALL - FIRST TEAM
1B Meagan Dixon (Alabama State)
2B Thomasina Garza (Texas Southern)
3B Kendall Core (Alabama State)
SS Lauren Aikens (Jackson State)
OF Alisa Navarro (Prairie View A&M)
OF Monica Castillo (Texas Southern)
OF Sydney Wesley (Southern)
C Canessa Swanson (Jackson State)
P Breea Jamerson (Jackson State)
P Sammantha Jimenez (Texas Southern)
P Angela Perez (Grambling State)
ALL SWAC SOFTBALL - SECOND TEAM
1B Brianna Parker (Texas Southern)
2B Natalia Covarrubias (Mississippi Valley State)
3B Haley Smith (Texas Southern)
SS Alexandria Harris (Alcorn State)
Princess Daniels (Texas Southern)
OF Krystalani Yockman (Texas Southern)
OF Yasmin Battle (Mississippi Valley State)
OF Omeshia Moffett (Mississippi Valley State)
C Chelsea Guenther (Texas Southern)
P Jeniece Tillman (Texas Southern)
P Kelsey Townsend (Jackson State)
P Jazmin Castillo (Alcorn State)
PLAYER OF THE YEAR / HITTER OF THE YEAR
Meagan Dixon (Alabama State)
PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Breea Jamerson (Jackson State)
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Kelsey Townsend (Jackson State)
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Krystalani Yockman (Texas Southern)
Deja Talton (Mississippi Valley State)
COACH OF THE YEAR
Rick Fremin (Jackson State)
Courtesy: SWAC.org