Brittany Fowler Named Sun Belt Softball Player of the Year; Eight Jaguars Earn All-Conference Honors

South Alabama senior Brittany Fowler was named the Sun Belt Conference Softball Player of the Year on Tuesday, becoming the first Jaguar to win the award. Eight South Alabama players in all were named to the All-Sun Belt team.

The honors were announced Tuesday night at Troy’s Family Night, on the eve of the Sun Belt Conference Softball Tournament, which begins Wednesday at Troy. The selections were made by a vote of the conference’s nine head coaches.

Fowler Led the League at the Plate

Fowler, a native of Jacksonville, Fla., led the Sun Belt in conference games with a .518 batting average and a .645 on-base percentage.

For the season, she is batting .406 with a .648 slugging percentage, 48 runs scored, eight home runs and 31 RBI. She is also a perfect 5-for-5 on stolen base attempts. Fowler was named Sun Belt Player of the Week on March 18.

Fagan Named Freshman of the Year

Third baseman Haley Fagan was named Sun Belt Freshman of the Year. The Dunnellon, Fla., native led the conference in slugging percentage (.883), home runs (7), RBI (30) and total bases (53) in league play, while batting .433 against conference opponents.

Fagan also earned a Sun Belt weekly award on April 22.

All-Conference Selections

Fowler and Fagan headed a group of six Jaguars named to the All-Sun Belt first team. They were joined by:

• Hannah Campbell
• Blair Johnson
• Julie Moss
• Kaitlyn Griffith (at-large selection)

Farish Beard and Britany Campbell were named to the second team.

Other Conference Awards

Western Kentucky’s Emily Rousseau was named Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year, and WKU head coach Tyra Perry was named Coach of the Year.

South Alabama, coached by Becky Clark, turns its attention to the Sun Belt tournament, with NCAA Regional play to follow for teams that advance.