June 2, 2010
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Junior shortstop Katie Fleury was named to the 2010 Louisville Slugger / National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division I All-American third team, it was announced Wednesday by the NFCA. Fleury earned first team all-BIG EAST Conference and first team NFCA all-region honors earlier this season.
The San Jose, Calif., native led the BIG EAST with a .460 batting average in league play while ranking second with a .561 on-base pct. and eight doubles.
Overall, the team co-captain batted .372 with 15 doubles, two triples and four home runs. Fleury slugged at a .571 clip with an on-base pct. of .472, tying for third on the program’s single-season list in the latter category.
Fleury also had 58 hits and scored a school-record 54 runs. Her 0.95 runs-per-game average is currently 33rd nationally.
Her career numbers are quite indicative of the steady progress she has made in three seasons with the Irish. The .300 career hitter had 14 total doubles entering 2010 and now has 29 to her name. She has struck out only 38 times over the last two seasons after fanning on 33 occasions as a freshman. She doubled her sacrifice total (10) from 2009 and stole six more bases (13) than she did as a sophomore. Fleury had 18 more putouts (96) than a season ago and after committing 23 errors in 2008 and 14 in 2009, she faulted just nine times in 163 chances this past season for a personal single-season career-best .945 fielding pct.
Fleury was an integral part of Notre Dame’s run to the BIG EAST regular season title and the program’s 12th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Irish finished the 2010 campaign with a 47-12 mark and set single-season records for batting average (.343), runs (369), doubles (103), home runs (75), RBI (337), total bases (878), slugging pct. (.590), on-base pct. (.409) and fielding pct. (.978).
Christine Lux was the last softball All-American for the Irish, earning third-team honors in 2009. The program now boasts 18 All-American accolades.
Fifty-four student-athletes from 35 different institutions representing 13 conferences earned the honor of being named to one of the three 2010 Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I All-American teams. Institutions from the Pacific-10 and Southeastern conferences were featured prominently throughout all three teams, accounting for nearly half of this season’s selections.
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