NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Six Notre Dame Softball student-athletes earned NFCA All-Region honors for the Mid-Atlantic region Thursday, with five first-team selections.
Junior Payton Tidd, freshman Karina Gaskins, graduate student Katie Marino, senior Abby Sweet and junior Emma Clark were named to the first team, and senior Alexis Holloway was awarded second-team honors. Notre Dame boasts the most first-team selections of all the Mid-Atlantic programs.
The five first-team selections are the most for the Irish since 2016, when Micaela Arizmendi, Ali Wester, Melissa Rochford, Karley Wester and Cait Brooks achieved the feat. With six total all-region selections in 2021, it is the most for Notre Dame since seven in 2016.
Tidd and Marino previously were tabbed All-Region first team in 2019, and Holloway earned first-team honors in 2018. Sweet was selected third team All-Region in 2018.
ABBY SWEET – FIRST TEAM ALL-REGION
Sweet has led the ACC in batting average for eight-straight weeks, ending the regular season with a .466 average. Sweet’s .463 avg. leads the ACC and ranks 12th in the nation, while her 62 total hits are tied for second in the ACC. A Top 25 Finalist for the USA Softball Player of the Year, Sweet boasts 16 doubles on the season, which leads the conference and ranks T-14th in the nation. She was selected All-ACC First Team, and leads the conference in on-base percentage (0.556 – 15th nationally), is the second-toughest player to strike out in the ACC (16.8 at-bats per strikeout) and ranks third in slugging percentage (0.739), T-fifth in total bases (99) and second in runs-per-game (0.93).
KARINA GASKINS – FIRST TEAM ALL-REGION
An ACC All-Freshman team and All-ACC second team selection, true freshman Gaskins leads the Irish with 10 home runs, which ranks 11th in the conference. Her .680 slugging percentage is ninth in the ACC, while she notes RBI at a clip of 0.92 per game, which ranks third in the conference. In the doubleheader at Georgia Tech, she hit four home runs on four-consecutive at-bats. Three of those home runs came in the same game, matching a program record and the NCAA Division I single-game high for 2021.
EMMA CLARK – FIRST TEAM ALL-REGION
Junior Clark consistently ranks in the Top 10 in the ACC in batting, currently fifth in avg. (.406) and seventh in total hits (56). A second-team All-ACC selection, she also ranks fifth in the ACC in stolen bases (24), and wrote her name in the history books against North Alabama, stealing four bases to match a single-game program record. She joined Ruth Kmak as the only two players in Irish history to steal four bases in a game. Kmak’s record came vs. Loyola-Chicago (April 16, 1990).
KATIE MARINO – FIRST TEAM ALL-REGION
Graduate student Marino has perennially been recognized as one of the conference’s top second basemen, and was selected third-team All-ACC in 2021. She leads ACC in sacrifice bunts per game and ranks fourth in sacrifice flies. Marino, one of the first two graduate students in program history, ranks in Top 10 in Irish records in walks (third, 102), assists (third, 431), home runs (ninth, 31) and runs scored (T-eighth, 158).
PAYTON TIDD – FIRST TEAM ALL-REGION
Junior pitcher Tidd (15-5) ranks in Top 10 in the ACC in ERA (2.16, eighth) and leads the Irish in innings pitched with 126.2. She has pitched nine complete games on the season and been part of four shutouts, with one complete game shutout. Also adding a save, Tidd has joined with Irish pitchers Holloway and Morgan Ryan for two combined no-hitters in 2021. At bat, Tidd has totaled 12 hits, including eight extra-base hits (five doubles, three home runs) with 10 RBI, and was named third team All-ACC this season.
ALEXIS HOLLOWAY – SECOND TEAM ALL-REGION
Senior pitcher Holloway (13-7) has continuously fooled batters in the circle all season, ranking ninth in the ACC in strikeouts (105) and ninth in hits allowed per seven innings (5.57). A candidate for the Senior CLASS Award, Holloway has pitched 11 complete games on the season with two individual shutouts and one combined shutout. Through her 115.2 innings pitched in 2021, she has held batters to a .217 average. Up to bat, Holloway has totaled 13 hits, with two doubles, three home runs and 10 RBI. Holloway was named ACC Pitcher of the Week for her performance in the sweep of then No. 15/13 Virginia Tech.