LOUISVILLE – Carson-Newman freshmen Lacie Rinus (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) and Abby Fiessinger (Benton, Ky.) have been lauded with National Fast Pitch Coaches Association All-Region honors, the organization announced Wednesday afternoon.
Rinus made the first team as a utility/pitcher. Fiessinger made the second team as a second baseman.
They are the first freshmen to earn all-region honors since Elayna Siebert did as a utility player in 2013.
Rinus adds all-region accolades to a prolific year where she has already stuffed her trophy case with placards for SAC Freshman of the Year, SAC Pitcher of the Year and SAC Tournament MVP.
Rinus is the just the second player in the league's history to take both Freshman and Pitcher of the Year honors in the same season. She joins Catawba's Carly Tysinger (2013) as the only other player to receive that distinction.
She becomes the second Carson-Newman pitcher to earn the league's top honor for hurlers, joining Megan Elliot, who did it in 2005.
Rinus is the fifth Carson-Newman player recognized as the league's freshman of the year and the most recent since Elliot was lauded in 2003. She joins Elliot and SAC Hall of Famer Marci Mitchell as the only two C-N pitchers to receive the accolade.
The Murfreesboro, Tenn.-native led the conference in strikeouts (224), batting average against (.200), earned run average (1.34) and wins (26).
She also led the league in shutouts, overtaking first place with back-to-back scoreless outings to clinch C-N the SAC tournament title.
On three occasions this year, Rinus garnered AstroTurf South Atlantic Conference and Tennessee Sportswriters Association Pitcher of the Week accolades. She was lauded with recognition as the Fastpitch News National Pitcher of the Week on April 5th. She did not allow an earned run from March 22 – April 5th, a streak of 35 consecutive innings.
Rinus pitched a season-high 12 strikeouts against Erskine on Feb. 22. She has hit double digit strikeouts on seven occasions this season. Perhaps more impressive is her strikeout to walk ratio, which sits at 6.75:1. There have been 13 starts this year where Rinus has not issues a base on balls.
At the plate, Rinus has also proved to be an asset. She hit .366, the second highest average among regulars on the team. Her 12 doubles and three triples are both second on the team. She hit an inside-the-park home run against Brevard. She has collected 12 multi-hit games this year, the third most on the team. She has a staggering seven, three-hit efforts, which is tied for the second most in a single season for a Carson-Newman player in the last seven seasons.
Fiessinger became the fifth Carson-Newman softball player in the last seven seasons to hit better than .400. Her .408 average is the sixth highest in the South Atlantic Conference. She hit a team-best nine home runs, five triples and 71 base hits. She is 14 hits away from breaking into the top seven for a single season in conference history.
The Benton, Ky.-native started the year on an 18-game hitting streak, the fourth longest in school history.
Her top single-game effort came March 27 against Brevard. She tied the single-game school record with two triples against Tornados. The two triples were a part of a four-hit day for Fiessinger. Combined with a home run and a single, she had 11 total bases on the day, the second most in school history. She drove in seven RBI against Brevard, including six in one inning. The seven runs batted in runs batted in are the third most in school history.
She has scored 51 runs this season, 11 away from the eighth most in league history.
Rinus, Fiessinger and the rest of the Eagles will be in action against No. 8 Pfeiffer at 2:30 Thursday in the first round of double elimination play in the NCAA Southeast Regional.
