The NCSA is happy to announce Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to Division II for the 2023-24 season!  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will be placed in District 1 North, the teams they will compete against are Merrimack, Rhode Island, Stonehill, and UMass- Lowell. The NCSA is thrilled to have Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the NCSA Division II this season!

After receiving dozens of nominations from NCSA teams across the country, the NCSA has awarded Kassidy Pratt from Sacred Heart University the 2023 Savannah Ahrens Sportsmanship Award.  The Savannah Ahrens Sportsmanship Award, given yearly, is an honor bestowed to a student-athlete who has distinguished themselves through demonstrated acts of sportsmanship and ethical behavior.

The first ever Sportsmanship Award was given out in 2020 to Mikayla Kea from Northern Arizona University then in 2021 to Jackie McNulla from the U.S. Naval Academy.  Claudia Rea from Michigan State won the award in 2022 and Kassidy becomes the newest awardee and well deserving of such an honor.

Sacred Heart’s Head Coach, Ray Mencio, nominated Kassidy, saying, “I have had the unique opportunity to be around a lot of young women who are deserving of being recognized for their sportsmanship but none more so than Kassidy Pratt. Kassidy recently completed her undergraduate degree in 3 years and will moving on to the doctoral program for physical therapy at Sacred Heart in the fall. I believe Kassidy is worthy of the Savannah Ahrens Award as she has shown outstanding sportsmanship throughout her entire career. Kassidy is constantly seen chatting with opponents on the bases or in the field letting them know they had a good hit or making sure that they are okay after a collision and extending her arm to help them up. That exemplifies exactly who Kassidy is as a person. When someone is down, whether it’s a teammate or opponent, she will extend her arm to lift them up. It’s not often that a group is better because of one person but I have seen our team be better because of her attitude and leadership. She will never get down on a teammate who makes a mistake, but she will lift them up. She never takes for granted the game of softball and plays her out each and every play. At Sacred Heart, we run a softball camp over the summer. Each young girl that was in her group as a camper last year, is returning to camp just because of Kassidy. They look up to her as a mentor and someone they want to be like. She has consistently volunteered to represent Sacred Heart and Sacred Heart Club Sports at Open Houses, admissions events, virtual Q&A’s or anything that is asked of her, she has shown up and had a smile on her face. I am extremely proud of everything Kassidy has accomplished and everyone that has been around her is better off because of her.

The NCSA is happy to announce The University of Minnesota to Division II for the 2023-24 season! Minnesota will be placed in District 4 West, the teams they will compete against are The university of Wisconsin DII, Michigan Tech, and University of Wisconsin- Whitewater. The NCSA is thrilled to have the University of Minnesota in the NCSA Division II this season!

The NCSA is excited to announce that Lacie Lautner has been promoted to Director of Division II Softball Operations effective July 1, 2023.

Lacie has been a full time employee with the NCSA since October of 2021 and in her time has exceeded expectations within the organization.  With the first-ever NCSA Division II season getting underway, Lacie is the perfect fit to lead and oversee the NCSA Division II Teams.  In this inaugural year, Lacie will be instrumental in helping create the structure that will be the foundation the Division II League will build off of as it grows year after year.  The teams that make up Division II, will have Lacie as their day-to-day point of contact but she will also assemble a team of District Coordinators to help manage each District on a daily basis.  The Division II Teams are in very good hands with Lacie’s background as a club softball player in the NCSA as well as her NCSA Front Office experience.

Please check out the official Press Release HERE and join me in congratulating Lacie as the new head of the NCSA Division II League.

First and foremost, thank you to all those who tuned into the NCSA Annual League Meeting LIVE last night.  The meeting brought about great questions and comments along with some great rule proposals to add to the Rules Voting Ballot.

If you were unable to attend last nights meeting, or if you’d like a refresher on the information that was discussed, you can view the meeting HERE.

Click HERE to download the NCSA League Meeting Slides and follow along!

The 2023-2024 NCSA Annual League Meeting will be held LIVE on Tuesday, June 27th at 7:00 pm EST on Facebook Live.  Join us on the NCSA Facebook Page to watch the meeting live and ask questions.  Loads of great information will be discussed including rule proposals for the upcoming year.  Download the NCSA League Meeting Invitation HERE to get all the details!

Congratulations to all those who made the 2023 NCSA Rawlings All-American Teams!

The NCSA is thrilled to congratulate all the players that exceled not only on the field, but more importantly, in the classroom.  Congratulations to all those who made the 2023 NCSA Academic All-American Team.

In order to be recognized on this team, each player had to earn at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA at their respective college or university.

Congratulations once again to all those who mad the Academic All-American Team!

For the last few years, the NCSA selects one individual who has distinguished themselves through demonstrated acts of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as the Sportsmanship Award Winner.  This year, the NCSA will do the same but we are happy to announce that the award will now be called, “The Savannah Ahrens Award.”

Savannah dedicated well over a decade to the NCSA, first as a player then most recently as the Vice-President of Operations.  In January of 2022, Savanah made the difficult but honorable decision to retire from the NCSA to spend more time with her young family.  That being said, without Savannah’s dedication, commitment and enthusiasm, the NCSA would not be where it is today.  That is why we are honored to name this distinguished award after her.

In order to nominate a player for the Savannah Ahrens Award, please email a testimonial (500 words maximum) to Christian Smith at [email protected] by the extended deadline of Monday, July 13th.  Information to include in the testimonial is detailed in the nomination form.