Softball Places Three On C-USA All-Academic Team
May 13, 2010 | Softball
May 13, 2010
IRVING, Texas - East Carolina senior infielders Kaui Tom and Charina Sumner, along with junior pitcher Toni Paisley, were named to the Conference USA All-Academic Team according to an announcement from the league office Thursday. The C-USA honor is the second in the careers of Tom and Sumner while it is Paisley's first. The three selections for ECU are the most in the league.
Last week, Tom and Sumner were selected to the CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District team and are both up for CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America honors.
Tom, a four-time Conference USA Commissioner's Academic Medal and C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll selection, repeats her all-league selection after being named to the 2009 Conference USA All-Academic Team. The Kailua, Hawai'i, native graduated last week with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average in health education and promotion. She was recognized as the top student for the entire department at her graduation. She is a two-time East Carolina Academic Excellence Award winner, four-year Chancellor's List member and 2009 East Carolina PCS Phosphates All-Academic Team honoree.
On the field this season, Tom is tied for second on the team in home runs (5) and runs batted in (22), fourth in hits (32) and fifth in runs scored (22). In C-USA games, she is tied for the Pirate lead in runs scored (10) and RBI (10). She produced a career-long nine-game hitting streak earlier this season and has driven in three game-winning runs. For her career, Tom's 17 home runs put her eighth in ECU program history. The Pirate defense is ranked first in the nation with a .983 fielding percentage and Tom is one of the main reasons. The shortstop has just two errors in C-USA action and five all season.
Sumner earns her second Conference USA All-Academic Team selection after being named as a sophomore. She is a four-time C-USA Commissioner's Academic Medal and C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll member. She graduated last week with a degree in health education and promotion with a 3.94 GPA In the spring of 2009, she was the East Carolina Conference USA Spirit of Service Award honoree. The Kailua, Hawai'i, native is also a two-time East Carolina Academic Excellence Award winner, five-time Chancellor's List selection and four-year Dean's List member.
Earlier this week, Sumner was named to the Conference USA Second Team for the second time in her career. She has been one of the Pirates' main offensive threats in 2010, leading the team in hits (57), doubles (10), triples (5) and runs scored (33) while sitting second in batting average (.328), slugging percentage (.477) and walks (19). In C-USA contests, she leads ECU with a .284 batting average and 19 hits. She has produced a team-best 14 multiple-hit games and has added seven multi-RBI contests. She has 17 career triples, the fourth most in Pirate and third most in C-USA history. In the all-time East Carolina record book, she is seventh in hits and sixth in runs scored.
Paisley is a four-time C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll selection with a 3.45 GPA in social work. This spring, the Lakewood, Calif., native has interned with Pitt County Schools as a case manager, working with students to help them complete probation and graduate from high school
Paisley repeated as the Conference USA Pitcher-of-the-Year and was named to the league's first team earlier this week. Seven times this season, she was selected as the C-USA Pitcher-of-the-Week, tying her own record from last season that she shares with Southern Miss' Courtney Blades (2000). In the national rankings, Paisley is tied for first in shutouts (19), ninth in earned run average (1.05), 11th in strikeouts (320), 13th in hits allowed per seven innings (3.64) and victories (27) and 27th in strikeouts per seven innings (9.3).
East Carolina (39-16, 16-5 C-USA) returns to action Thursday in the first round of the Conference USA Tournament. The Pirates enter as the top seed and play eighth-seeded Southern Miss (25-27, 7-17 C-USA) at 5:30 p.m. at the Cougar Softball Stadium in Houston.
2010 C-USA Softball All-Academic Team
Name - School - Year - GPA - Major
Toni Paisley - East Carolina - R-Junior - 3.45 - Social Work
*Charina Sumner - East Carolina - Senior - 3.94 - Health Education and Promotion
*Kaui Tom - East Carolina - Senior - 4.00 - Health Education and Promotion
Jennifer Klinkert - Houston - R-Sophomore - 3.93 - Nutrition
Katy Beth Sherman - Houston - Junior - 3.93 - Communications
Melanie Stoehr - Marshall - Junior - 3.85 - Sports Management and Marketing
Jill Mathis - Southern Miss - Junior - 3.75 - Community Health
Mandy Lowman - UAB - Sophomore - 4.00 - Secondary Education-Math
Natalie Land - UCF - Sophomore - 3.87 - Athletic Training
*Abby McClain - UCF - Junior - 3.83 - Biology
**Stacie Townsend - UTEP - Graduate - 4.00 - Master's in Business-Economics
*Repeat selection
