The National Fastpitch Coaches Association announced today the all-American teams for the 2016 season.
2016 National Player of the Year Sierra Romero leads the group with her fourth-consecutive selection. This marks the first time she has gained the honor with recognition as a second baseman - she was a shortstop for the first half of her career and earned an at-large first-team selection a season ago.
Joining Romero on this year's first team are her fellow POTY finalists Kasey Cooper of Auburn and Aleshia Ocasio of Florida. Romero was also joined by her Wolverine teammates Tera Blanco and Sierra Lawrence on the first team.
All eight teams in the Women's College World Series are represented on the all-American roster. Twenty-two players in all represent the octet of teams.
The SEC led all conferences with eighteen selections, while the PAC12 (ten) and Big Ten (eight) followed. The other two Power Five conferences, the Big 12 and ACC, as well as the Sun Belt and Colonial Athletic Association all placed multiple athletes on the list.
Conference USA, Southland, Big West, American Athletic, and Mid-American (MAC) all earned recognition via a single player.
Three so-called mid-major players earned first team honors in Louisiana-Lafayette's Lexie Elkins and James Madison's Megan Good and Jailyn Ford.
Fourteen of the newly-minted all-Americans were seniors selected in this year's NPF draft, including Elkins; Ford; Romero; Kristen Brown; Haylie McCleney; Emily Crane; Kelsey Nunley; Emily Carosone; Lindsey Stephens; Cheridan Hawkins; Bianka Bell; Sami Fagan; Allexis Bennett; and Kiki Stokes.
A pair of sisters shared all-American honors this season in Nebraska's MJ Knighten and her younger sister Shay of the Oklahoma Sooners.
The full list of the 2016 NFCA All-Americans can be found here.
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