ROCK HILL, S.C. – Carson-Newman softball outfielder Abby Fiessinger has capped her C-N career with the South Atlantic Conference's highest academic honor for a softball player.
The league office announced Fiessinger as the Softball Scholar-Athlete of the Year Wednesday.
"This is a tremendous honor for a very deserving young lady," Carson-Newman head softball coach Michael Graves said. "Abby is just as dedicated in the classroom as she is on the field. You couldn't ask for a better role model for someone to look up to. She comes from a very supportive family who deserves a lot of credit for raising their child the right way."
Fiessinger is the program's sixth Carson-Newman honoree for the league's honor and the first since Elayna Siebert won in 2016. Prior to that Haley Allen won it in 2004 with Carson-Newman and SAC Hall of Fame Marci Mitchell (now Whiteside) winning three straight from 2001-03.
The Benton, Ky.-native wrapped up her mathematics degree with a 3.85 GPA. She is a four-time Eagle Scholar and will be a four-time member of the SAC Commissioner's honor roll. Last year she earned CoSIDA Academic All-America honors.
On the field, Fiessinger goes down as one of Carson-Newman's all-time greats. She is just the second two-time All-American for the program since it transitioned to Division II. She earned All-America honors as a freshman at second base from the D2CCA before being recognized as an outfielder as a junior unanimously by the NFCA and D2CCA. She was also named the Southeast Region Player of the Year for her efforts last season.
She closed out her career as an Eagle ranked in the top-five in several Carson-Newman statistical categories including, being second in total bases with 381, second in intentional walks with four, fourth in home runs with 29, fourth in sacrifice flies with five, fifth in on-base percentage at .473, fifth in hits with 225, and fifth in hit by pitch having been hit 28 times.
Fiessigner is also an active member of the community. She works with the Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church to send care packages to people in need and troops overseas, while also taking time once a month to read to the children at the Jefferson City Elementary School. She is also a member of the Kappa Mu Epsilon, has worked at the annual Carson-Newman youth softball camp, and has worked with Bags of Love, making goodie bags for service members overseas.
