Saint Mary's Duncan Named CoSIDA Division III Softball Academic All-American of the Year

Saint Mary's College standout student-athlete Makenzie Duncan headlines the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-America® Division III softball teams June 5, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

An integrative biology major with a 4.0 cumulative GPA, Duncan has been selected as the recipient of the Academic All-America® of the Year award for Division III softball. She was also a chemistry minor and was one of the Class of 2018's valedictorians at Saint Mary’s. A first-team selection to the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-America® Division III Team, Duncan was a National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Central Region second-team and Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) first-team selection this spring. She helped the Belles to a 36-7 overall record and a 15-1 conference mark for the program’s first MIAA regular-season championship and NCAA Tournament appearance. 

Duncan becomes the 14th player in MIAA history to garner Academic All-America of the Year honors in their respective sport award designation.

Joining Duncan on the Academic All-America First Team is fellow MIAA standout Hayley Reitsma, who was tabbed the top catcher academically and athletically for the 2018 campaign. Reitsma recently graduated from Hope after majoring in biology. She plans to work as an aide in a physical therapy clinic while applying to graduate school. 

On the field, Reitsma hit a career-high .413 this season — tops among Flying Dutch starters. She set a school record with 13 home runs and finished second on Hope this season with a career-high 44 RBIs. She also broke an MIAA record with 11 home runs. Reitsma helped the Flying Dutch win a school-record 34 games this season along with claiming MIAA Tournament and NCAA Regional titles. She earned All-MIAA and all-region first team honors. 

The Division II and III Google Cloud Academic All-America® program is partially financially supported by the NCAA Division II and III national governance structures, to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2017-18 DII and DIII Academic All-America® teams.