Alison Wright is Softball's Academic AA of the Year

May 27, 2009

St. Thomas junior outfielder Alison Wright was named the 2009 College Division Academic All-America® of the Year as the top achiever of the 35 honorees on the ESPN the Magazine CoSIDA Academic All-America team. The College Division includes players from NCAA Division II and III and NAIA.        

Wright is the second consecutive St. Thomas softball player to be named as Academic All-America® of the Year in the College Division. Last year, former teammate Maria Bye earned the award. She's also one of two Division III players named first team All-America and first team Academic All-America.      

A Business and Financial Management major with a 3.91 gpa, Wright was named as a first team All-American outfielder in 2008 and 2009. She ranked among the top hitters in NCAA Division III with a .500 average.        

A native of Pewaukee, Wis., Wright led the Tommies to a 40-6 record and the MIAC playoff championship and was named the playoff Most Valuable Player.

Wright, an All-American as a junior, is on pace to be a four-time All-MIAC honoree and the conference career hits leader. She had a 34-game hitting streak earlier this season -- the third longest in D-III history) -- from April 2008-April 2009. That included hits in her first 23 games this season. In all 46 games she had 76 hits, 49 runs, 16 doubles, 10 home runs, 59 RBI, 10 walks and 13 steals. the 76 hits were four shy of the MIAC season record set in 2006 by UST's Carrie Embree.

Wright hit .493 last season with 68 hits, 45 runs, 37 RBI, nine HRs, 17 doubles. On her three-year career, she's helped UST post a 124-15 record (73-2 vs. conference teams). She's batting .465 on her career with 197 hits, 119 runs, 126 RBI, 23 homers, 44 doubles and two triples in 136 games. Wright has 65 career multi-hit games. Her 23 career HRs ranks sixth in MIAC history. She was named MVP of the April 30-May 1 conference tournament.

Wright made her third straight appearance on the All-MIAC team after leading the conference in runs scored with 31 and finishing third in the conference with a batting average of .500. In 22 conference games she notched 36 hits, 21 runs, seven doubles, three homers, 29 RBI and five walks.

In only three seasons, Wright has had 65 multi-hit games. In 2009, she belted 10 home runs and ranked eighth in NCAA Division III with 59 RBI in 46 games. She also scored 49 runs and hit 16 doubles. Her .803 slugging percentage ranked her among the national leaders.

Click here to view complete CoSIDA Academic team: http://www.cosida.com/documents/2009/5/27/2009AAASoftballTeam.pdf