VALDOSTA, GA – For the third consecutive year, a Valdosta State softball player has been selected as one of the Gulf South Conference’s “Top Ten” student-athletes. Courtney Albritton, representing Valdosta State as one of ten 2014 selections, follows in the footsteps of Morgan Johnson, who received “Top Ten” honors and went on to win the GSC Commissioner’s Trophy in both 2012 and 2013.
Each year, the GSC selects the top five male and top five female student athletes for the “Top Ten” award. The honorees are chosen based on athletic, academic, and extracurricular achievements during the athletic season, and the top male and top female are then awarded the Commissioner’s Trophy, the conference’s most prestigious honor. The 2014 Commissioner’s Trophy winners will be revealed on Thursday night in Birmingham, Ala..
The honor for Albritton comes on the heels of a record setting junior season in which the center fielder led the Blazers to their third straight appearance in the NCAA Division II National Championship Tournament and a No. 2 ranking in the final National Fastpitch Coaches Association rankings after an appearance in the 2014 championship game.
The slugger out of Sycamore, Ga. was named a First Team All-GSC selection in a season in which she set new single season marks atop the GSC record books for home runs (27), runs (83), and total bases (200). In addition, her career numbers have now placed her at the top of the conference in slugging percentage (.830), total bases (538), and home runs (63). Remarkably, she now holds these career marks with a full season of eligibility remaining.
Her efforts on the diamond did not go unnoticed at the national level, as she received an NFCA Player-of-the-Week award during the 2014 season and was named an All-American by the NFCA for the third straight year, this time as a member of the elite First Team.
Albritton’s accomplishments reach further than the field, however. Thus far in her academic career, she holds an unblemished 4.00 GPA as a Middle Grades Education major, and was recently named to the GSC All-Academic Team for the second consecutive season. Her accomplishments in the classroom also earned her the NCAA Elite 89 award at the 2014 NCAA Division II Softball Championship Tournament, an award given to the student-athlete with the highest GPA of all participating players at each of the NCAA’s 89 championship sites.
Rounding out Albritton’s growing list of accomplishments are a host of community service projects that include gathering toys for the Marine Corps Toys for Tots program, volunteering time to feed shut-ins and the homeless at Thanksgiving, participating in a church mission trip to Kentucky, and helping organize the second-largest blood drive in south Georgia.
Five seniors from throughout the GSC join Albritton as female selections for the “Top Ten” award. The list of female honorees include Alabama Huntsville softball player Mary Kelley, Delta State cross-country runner Annalee Pierce, West Florida cross-country runner Renea Porsch, West Alabama softball player Anna Shartzer, and Christian Brothers volleyball player, Alison Welch.
The 2014 men’s honorees are Delta State baseball player Jordan Chovanec, Alabama-Huntsville baseball player Drew Eiland, West Florida golfer Gary Buffington III, Christian Brothers basketball player Trey Casey, and West Alabama baseball player Mitch Holgate. Chovanec and Eiland represent the only two seniors among the men’s winners, while juniors Buffington and Casey join sophomore Holgate to round out the list of honorees.
Source: Valdosta State University Athletics
