Hensley Garners All-American Honor from Daktronics

Carson-Newman softball leftfielder Kelli Hensley (Knoxville, Tenn.) has been named to the Daktronics’ honorable mention All-American team. 

Daktronics’ All-American teams are voted on by college’s sports information directors nationwide.   

Hensley only set the South Atlantic Conference and school records for hits in a single season with 92.  In the process, she batted .492, the third highest single season total in SAC history and the second highest in school history. 

Hensley was a first team All-SAC selection and C-N softball’s 13^th conference player of the year.  She leads the nation in triples with 10 and is eighth in the nation in batting average.  She produced a prodigious 27 multi-hit games including four with four hits.  Outside of Hensley, you won’t wind four other four-hit games for C-N in the last five years. 

The sophomore also pounded out inside-the-park home runs against Belmont Abbey and Georgia College. 

The Knoxville, Tenn. native becomes C-N’s eighth NCAA All-American and 13^th when factoring in the Eagles’ days in NAIA.  Hefner is C-N’s fourth first team selection and its first since Zoe Heim and Jessie Howard pulled off the feat in 2008.

She is Carson-Newman’s fourth All-American since 2011.  Bri Shoemake and Leah Price earned second team and third team honors, respectively that year.  Brittany Hefner was a first team All-American a year ago. 

An All-American outfielder is a bit of a rarity for C-N softball.  The bulk of C-N’s All-American’s have come at shortstop and pitcher.  Hefner, Howard and Sammi Hatcher (1992) earned such honors at short. Only pitchers have been tabbed for All-American status as often as C-N shortstops with three selections – Heather Randolph (1995), Heim (2008) and Carol Zachary (1989-1991).