Hefner honored with NFCA All-American status

Carson-Newman junior shortstop Brittany Hefner (Talbott, Tenn.) has added to her laundry list of honors in 2013 with a first team All-American selection from the NFCA.

Hefner, the SAC and Daktronics’ Southeast Region Player of the Year, was the only player from the southeast region on the first team and the only player from the South Atlantic Conference on any of NFCA’s three All-American teams.

The Talbott, Tenn. native becomes C-N’s seventh NCAA All-American and 12^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 first All-American since 2011 when Brittany Hefner and Leah Price earned second team and third team honors respectively.

Hefner is the third shortstop to earn such honors for C-N, joining Howard and Sammi Hatcher (1992). 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).

Hefner was the conference and nation’s leader for RBI with 75. That total reset the single season record for both the SAC and Carson-Newman.

Hefner obliterated a school record for home runs in a year with 19 – setting that school record in early March before the season reached its midpoint.

Hefner finished second in the SAC on the single season homerun chart. She nearly won the first ever triple crown in SAC history, she was second in the league in batting average with a .451 figure.

A two-time SAC player of the week – Hefner was just the fifth player in NCAA Division II history to hit three grand slams in a single season. She had a school record 141 total bases this year and matched a Carson-Newman single game record with eight RBI against Lees McRae.