McMichael Named SEC Softball Athlete Of The Year
PLANT CITY, Fla. -- Junior all-American Iyhia McMichael captured Mississippi State's first-ever Southeastern Conference Softball Athlete of the Year award and the Bulldogs sent two athletes to all-SEC honors for the seventh-straight season to highlight the league awards announced Wednesday afternoon here at the SEC Softball Tournament.
McMichael became the first junior in league history to garner the conference's most prestigious honor, while also nabbing a spot on the first team all-SEC roster, marking the third-straight season that the Nacogdoches, Texas, product has captured league laurels. Weatherford, Texas, native Jennifer Nelson earned second team all-SEC honors to give MSU multiple all-SEC honors for the seventh time since the inaugural season of SEC Softball in 1997.
"This is a great honor for these two players as well as for the Mississippi State softball program," said MSU head coach Jay Miller. "It's nice to see Jennifer Nelson finish her career with an all-SEC award. We're very proud for her."
"Obviously, this is a great honor for Iyhia, as she earned our first player of the year award," Miller added. "We are expecting big things from her for the remainder of the season as well as next year."
McMichael, who was, last week, named as a top 10 finalist for Collegiate Player of the Year by the Amateur Softball Association, hit .419 (72-for-172) for the Maroon and White during the regular season to go along with 10 doubles, five triples and a school record 18 home runs. She completed the regular season with an .849 slugging percentage and a .516 on-base percentage, while scoring 60 runs and finishing 34-of-35 on stolen base attempts.
McMichael paced the SEC in six offensive statistical categories, while finishing second in three others. She captured two of the three legs in the league's triple crown, topping the conference with 18 home runs and 63 RBI, while culminating the regular season with a close second-place finish in batting average behind Georgia's Nicole Barber. Her first team all-SEC award marked the third time in as many years that she has been named to an all-SEC squad, capturing second team honors as a freshman and first team honors last season.
Nelson, a high-octane threat in MSU's lethal outfielding corp, finished third on the Bulldog squad with a .339 (65-for-192) average to accompany 10 extra-base hits, 23 RBI and 45 runs scored. She was successful on 10 of 12 stolen base attempts and turned in a .438 slugging percentage and .401 on base percentage. The award marked the first such honor for Nelson who, along with Brooke Best and Courtney Frank, was honored on Senior Day just two weeks ago.
State (33-26) will begin 2003 SEC Softball Tournament play Thursday evening when the Maroons lock horns with top-seeded and seventh-ranked Georgia (54-10) in the nightcap of the opening round at 8 p.m. EDT. An MSU victory would land them in Friday's 8 p.m. winner's bracket contest against the winner of the contest between fourth-seeded South Carolina and fifth-seeded Florida. A loss to Georgia would send State into a 2 p.m. loser's bracket game on Friday against the loser of the South Carolina/Florida matchup.