University of North Carolina Athletics
Three Tar Heels Earn All-ACC Honors
May 8, 2014 | Softball
GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) - The 2014 All-Atlantic Coast Conference Softball Teams and individual awards were announced today by the conference office, as voted on by the league's 11 head coaches.
Carolina's Kristen Brown was named to the All-ACC First Team, earning conference honors for the second time in her career after being named to the Second Team in 2013. Jenna Kelly and Aquilla Mateen were both named to the All-ACC Second Team.
Florida State's Maddie O'Brien was named the ACC Player of the Year, while the Seminoles' Lacey Waldrop and Lonni Alameda were named Pitcher of the Year and Coach of the Year, respectively. Notre Dame's Karley Wester was tabbed the ACC Freshman of the Year.
O'Brien, a junior from Palm Harbor, Florida, finished the regular season second in the league in batting average (.440) and topped the charts in slugging percentage (.953), on-base percentage (.556), home runs (20) and RBI (74). O'Brien becomes the sixth Florida State student-athlete to win the award, joining Toni Gutierrez (1992), Cindy Lawton (1995), Shamalene Wilson (1996), Leslie Malerich (2001) and Jessica van der Linden (2003, 2004).
Waldrop, who became the second student-athlete from Florida State to win the league's top softball pitcher award, held opponents to a .171 batting average and posted an ERA of 0.86 in 204.1 innings of work. The junior from Chester, Virginia, registered a NCAA-high 31 wins during the regular season.
Notre Dame's Wester, a native of Huntington Beach, California, led the ACC in batting average (.461) and was third in the league with an on-base percentage of .525. In addition, Wester drove home 28 runs during the regular season and topped the league's charts in stolen bases with 25.
Alameda earned ACC Coach of the Year honors for the second consecutive season after leading the Seminoles to the top spot in the ACC regular season standings. Florida State enters postseason play with a 47-6 record, 24-3 against conference opponents and is ranked No. 4 in the most recent USA Today/NFCA poll.
Ten schools were represented on the 2014 All-ACC Teams, led by Florida State and Notre Dame with five representatives apiece. North Carolina, Virginia Tech and Syracuse had three, while Boston College, Georgia Tech, NC State, and Pitt each had two. Maryland rounded out the field with one representative.
| Individual Award Winners | |||
| Player of the Year - Maddie O'Brien, Florida State | |||
| Pitcher of the Year -Lacey Waldrop, Florida State | |||
| Freshman of the Year - Karley Wester, Notre Dame | |||
| Coach of the Year - Lonni Alameda, Florida State | |||
|
All-ACC First Team |
|||
| Lacey Waldrop | Jr. | P | Florida State |
| Maddie O'Brien | Jr. | SS | Florida State |
| Karley Wester | Fr. | OF | Notre Dame |
| Micaela Arizmendi | So. | 1B | Notre Dame |
| Courtney Senas | Sr. | OF | Florida State |
| Kristen Brown | So. | SS | North Carolina |
| Emily Weiman | Jr. | P | NC State |
| Laura Winter | Sr. | P | Notre Dame |
| Sydney O'Hara | Fr. | P | Syracuse |
| Maddie Lionberger | So. | 2B | Georgia Tech |
|
All-ACC Second Team |
|||
| Ashley Thomas | Sr. | SS | Georgia Tech |
| Jessica Burroughs | Fr. | P | Florida State |
| Emilee Koerner | Jr. | OF | Notre Dame |
| Renada Davis | Jr. | SS | NC State |
| Candice Beards | Sr. | 1B | Maryland |
| Jenna Kelly | So. | 1B | North Carolina |
| Lauren Gaskill | Jr. | SS | Virginia Tech |
| Aquilla Mateen | So. | OF | North Carolina |
| Tory Speer | Sr. | C | Boston College |
| Carly Thea | Jr. | OF | Pitt |
|
All-ACC Third Team |
|||
| Jasmine Watson | Sr. | 1B | Syracuse |
| Victoria East | So. | 1B | Florida State |
| Cassidy Whidden | Jr. | C | Notre Dame |
| Shirley Daniels | Sr. | OF | Syracuse |
| Tori Nirschl | So. | OF | Pitt |
| Kylie McGoldrick | Jr. | 2B | Virginia Tech |
| Nicole D'Argento | Sr. | P | Boston College |
| Megan Cooley | So. | OF | Boston College |
| Briana Hamilton | Sr. | 3B | Florida State |
| Katey Smith | So. | C | Virginia Tech |
