MARSHALL — Ten players earned awards from the American Southwest Conference for the 2023 season as East Texas Baptist University gained two major awards. Tristen Maddox was named the Player of the Year, and Ashley Croft is the tri-Pitcher of the Year. ETBU won the ASC Tournament Championship for the 11th time in program history and sixth under Head Coach Janae Shirley.
Maddox (Jr., Mission, Texas) becomes the 10th player in program history to be named either the ASC East or ASC Player of the Year and is the second one in two years. Hannah Garcia was the ASC Player of the Year in 2021. This is her third All-ASC award and second-straight first-team award. This year she was the ASC Hitter of the Week on March 20 and is on the NFCA Player of the Year Watchlist. Last year she was a NFCA All-American second team selection along with being on the NFCA All-Region second team and on the NFCA Top 25 Players List. She made the 2021 NCAA All-Tournament team and was the ASC East Hitter of the Week. In the ASC, she leads in batting average (.438), runs (49), hits (63), doubles (16), home runs (8), RBI (45), total bases (103) and is third in stolen bases (27). In 22 games this season, she has two or more hits with three hits in three games.
Croft (Sr., Cypress, Texas) earns her third straight All-ASC award, with two on the first team (2021, 2023) and one on the third team (2022). She is the first pitcher to be the ASC Pitcher of the Year for ETBU since 2019 (Beatriz Lara) and is the fourth player in program history to receive the award. The ASC Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, she is on the NFCA Pitcher of the Year Watchlist, was the ASC Pitcher and Hitter of the Week once, and threw a no-hitter vs. Southwestern on March 7. In 2021, she was on the NFCA All-West Region first team, twice won the ASC Pitcher of the Week and was the NFCA Pitcher of the Week once. She leads the ASC in wins (19) and is third in opponent batting average (.205). Her 19 wins are 14th in NCAA Division III, and she has won her last 11 outings. She has a 1.96 ERA with 58 strikeouts in 20 appearances (110.1 innings pitched) and has four shutouts.
Also earning All-ASC first team were Courtney White (2B), Tauryn Cummings (3B), Mary Frances Ellis (OF) and Delanie Loya (at-large, 1B).
White (Jr., Jonestown, Texas) now has two straight first team awards and is also on the NFCA Player of the Year Watchlist. Last year, she was a NFCA All-American first team selection, the ASC Newcomer of the Year, a NFCA All-Region first teamer, on the NFCA Top 50 and Top 25 Players List and made both the ASC and NCAA Regional All-Tournament teams. She leads the team with 32 stolen bases and is second in batting average (.433), runs (44), and hits (55). She has 32 RBI, 13 doubles and 73 total bases. Post two or more hits in 17 games, she had three hits in five games.
Cummings (Jr., Houston, Texas) has made the All-ASC first team for the third year in a row. She was a member of the 2023 ASC All-Tournament team and was the ASC Hitter of the Week twice. The two-time NFCA All-Region second team selection was a 2021 NFCA All-American third teamer. She was on the NFCA Top 50 Players to Watch List in 2022 and was the ASC Freshman of the Year in 2021. Overall, she has been the ASC Hitter of the Week five times in her career. She has a .355 batting average this year with 31 runs scored, 43 hits, 10 doubles, two triples, four home runs and 40 RBI. In 14 games, she has posted two or more hits.
Ellis (So., Waskom, Texas) now has two All-ASC awards as she is on the first team after being a third team selection in 2022. She finsihed third on the team in batting (.380) recording 35 hits with 11 RBI. In 10 games she had two or more hits with three against Hardin-Simmons on April 14. She then had three RBI vs. Sul Ross State on May 5.
Loya (So., Austin, Texas) is on the first team for the second straight year. Batting .336, she scored 26 runs recording 43 hits, 14 doubles, six home runs and 32 RBI. In 12 games she posted two or more hits and had three RBI vs. Ozarks on April 29. Last year she was a NFCA All-American third team selection and on the NFCA All-West Region first team. Gaining the ASC Hitter of the Week award once, she made the ASC All-Tournament team.
Earning All-ASC second team honors are Corley Carpenter and Hannah Kelley. Carpenter (Gr., La Vernia, Texas) earns her second All-ASC award as she was on the second team in 2019. She is coming off a strong ASC Tournament where she had five hits and three RBI in three games and was named to the ASC All-Tournament team. She is batting .363 with 33 hits, six doubles and 22 RBI. In eight games she posted two or more hits.
Kelley (Sr., Belton, Texas) is now a three-time All-ASC player with her second-straight second team award. She was on the third team in 2021 and is now a five-time ASC Pitcher of the Week. She leads the team in ERA at 1.81 and is 15-2 on the year with five shutouts in 104.1 innings pitched. Appearing in 22 games and starting 19 games, she has 72 strikeouts as teams only batted .182 against her. Against Texas Dallas, she had a season-high nine strikeouts.
In her first year at ETBU, Jalen Perez (Jr., College Station, Texas) made the All-ASC third team. She hit .314 in 32 games starting 29 posting 22 hits, 11 RBI and scoring 20 times. She had two or more hits in five games with a career-high three hits vs. Ozarks on April 29.
Being named to the All-ASC honorable mention list is Mallory Pyle (Fr., Hallsville, Texas). She has a .258 batting average with two doubles, two home runs and 13 RBI while recording 16 hits in 33 games played. On March 9, she recorded a career-high three hits vs. St. John Fisher.
ETBU was set to play SUNY-Geneseo on Thursday in the NCAA Division III Marshall, Texas Regional Tournament.
