NFCA RELEASE | ALL-REGION TEAMS

URBANA, Ill. – The accolades continued to roll in for the Illinois softball team with a quartet of Illini collecting National Fastpitch Coaches Assocation (NFCA) All-Midwest Region honors, the organization announced on Thursday (May 16). Redshirt-senior Carly Thomas, senior Kiana Sherlund and sophomore Bella Loya were each named to the First-Team, while redshirt-senior Annie Fleming was selected to the Third-Team.

It is the third-straight season that the Illini have garnered three selections on the First-Team, with all four players nabbing their second all-region accolade of their career after Thomas and Sherlund repeated as first-team selections. Loya was previously named to the second-team as a freshman and Fleming garners her second third-team honor after picking up the same award in 2017.

The awards honor softball student-athletes from the Association's 10 regions with first, second and third-team selections. NFCA member coaches from each respective region voted on the teams, and all the honorees now become eligible for selection to the 2019 NFCA Division I All-American squads. The 2019 NFCA Division I All-America teams will be announced at approximately 4 p.m. CT on Wednesday, May 29, via NFCA.org.

Thomas has been racking up the awards in her final season with the Illini and was most recently named to the Google Cloud CoSIDA Academic All-District First-Team. An All-Big Ten Second-Team and All-Defensive team honoree, Thomas leads the nation with 24 doubles on the season and broke both the program's single season and career doubles record in 2019. Thomas owns a .364 batting average and leads the team with 116 total bases, while sitting second on the team with 68 hits, 49 runs, 44 RBI and 21 walks.

Just the fourth Illini to collect multiple conference first-team honors after being named an All-Big Ten First-Team honoree earlier in the season, Sherlund has been one of the most versatile players in the conference and for the Illini. She sits just behind Loya with a .376 batting average, while leading the team with 70 hits, 53 runs, four triples and 11 stolen bases, while also adding 20 RBI, 17 doubles and four home runs on the season.

An All-Big Ten First-Team selection, Loya has consistently led the Illini at the plate all season and leads the team with a .387 batting average, 48 RBI, 12 home runs and 27 walks. The 2019 Illinois Eddleman Female Athlete of the Year was also strong defensively and turned in a 1.000 fielding percentage behind the plate with 138 putouts and 12 assists.

Fleming, who became the first-ever three-time Academic All-District honoree for the Illini after her selection to the First-Team last week, owns the third-highest batting average on the team at .374 and is second with 68 hits and 49 runs. She has also contributed 28 RBI, 10 doubles, eight home runs and 104 total bases on the year.  

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