BATON ROUGE — After being selected the Southeastern Conference Tournament Most Valuable Player last weekend, pitcher Kristin Schmidt was named to the All-South Region first team as announced by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association on Thursday.
The honor now makes Schmidt eligible for Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-America honors which will be announced prior to the NCAA Women’s College World Series, May 21-26. She was a second-team All-South Region selection last year after transferring from Notre Dame where she was a first-team All-Midwest Region selection in 2001.
A second-team All-SEC selection, the junior from Houston was the SEC Pitcher of the Week on March 10 and a four-time Louisiana Sports Writer’s Association Pitcher of the Week. She has thrown three complete-game no-hitter this season and combined to throw a fourth against Cal Poly.
Against Ole Miss, she recorded a career-high 17 strikeouts, tying her for the second-most in LSU history.
She currently leads the SEC in strikeouts looking and ranks second in the league in wins, earned run average, strikeouts, innings pitched and games started. In addition, she ranks in the top three in opponent’s batting average. She is one of only two pitchers in Tiger softball history to record 30 wins in season, currently sporting a 30-11 overall mark.
Schmidt was one of nine players from the SEC on the first and second teams, joining Alabama’s Jackie McClain, Stephanie VanBrakle and Ashley Courtney, Kentucky’s Nikki Jones, Mississippi State’s Iyhia McMichael, Ole Miss’ DeDe Justice and Tennessee’s Lauren Mattox and Kristi Durant,. She was one of four players from the SEC on the first team.
2003 NFCA All-South Region First Team
P Kristin Schmidt LSU
P Brooke Mitchell UL-Lafayette
C Casey Goodman UL-Monroe
1B Jackie McClain Alabama
2B Shelly Floyd Western Kentucky
3B Becky McMurtry UL-Lafayette
SS Courtney Mitchell Middle Tennessee State
OF Iyhia McMichael Mississippi State
OF Kristen Zaleski Southwest Texas State
OF Danyele Gomez UL-Lafayette
DP Janae Bonin Jacksonville State
UT Stephanie VanBrackle Alabama
2003 NFCA All-South Region Second Team
P Sarah Pauly Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
P Nicole Neuerburg Southwest Texas State
P Katy Cox Texas-Arlington
C Jonelle Csora Eastern Kentucky
1B Kristi Durant Tennessee
2B Krystal Gibson Texas-San Antonio
3B Nikki Jones Kentucky
SS Kristen Glowacz Houston
OF Erin Flater Troy State
OF Ashley Courtney Alabama
OF Stephanie Dallman Texas-Arlington
DP DeDe Justice Ole Miss
UT Lauren Mattox Tennessee