# 2017 NCAA Division I softball season

The 2017 NCAA Division I softball season, play of college softball in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level, began in February 2017. The season progressed through the regular season, many conference tournaments and championship series, and concluded with the 2017 NCAA Division I softball tournament and 2017 Women's College World Series. The Women's College World Series, consisting of the eight remaining teams in the NCAA Tournament and held annually in Oklahoma City at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium, ended on June 4, 2017.

## Conference standings

2017 American Athletic Conference softball standings :
| 2017 American Athletic Conference softball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT No. 22 Tulsa ‍†‍‡‍$^y$ 15–3 .83337–15 .712 Houston ‍‍‍ 12–6 .66728–24 .538 UCF ‍‍‍ 11–7 .61129–22 .569 South Florida ‍‍‍ 9–8 .52932–23 .582 Memphis ‍‍‍ 7–11 .38928–26 .519 East Carolina ‍‍‍ 5–13 .27825–29 .463 UConn ‍‍‍ 3–14 .17617–30 .362 † – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of May 23, 2017 Rankings from Today/NFCA Coaches | 2017 Big 12 Conference softball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT No. 1 Oklahoma ‍†‍‡‍$^y$ 17–1 .94461–9 .871 No. 7 Baylor ‍‍‍$^y$ 13–5 .72248–15 .762 Oklahoma State ‍‍‍$^y$ 12–6 .66738–25 .603 Texas ‍‍‍$^y$ 7–10 .41233–26 .559 Iowa State ‍‍‍ 6–12 .33323–35 .397 Texas Tech ‍‍‍ 4–14 .22219–36 .345 Kansas ‍‍‍ 3–14 .17624–28 .462 † – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament Rankings from NFCA | 2017 Big Ten Conference softball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L T PCTW L T PCT No. 2 Minnesota‡ ‍‍‍ 22–1–0 .95751–3–0 .944 No. 17 Michigan ‍‍‍ 20–3–0 .87041–10–1 .798 Ohio State ‍‍‍ 15–8–0 .65233–15–0 .688 Illinois ‍‍‍ 14–8–0 .63636–17–0 .679 Nebraska ‍‍‍ 13–10–0 .56524–29–0 .453 Wisconsin ‍‍‍ 11–11–0 .50033–14–0 .702 Michigan State ‍‍‍ 11–12–0 .47830–21–0 .588 Northwestern ‍‍‍ 10–13–0 .43525–28–0 .472 Indiana ‍‍‍ 9–14–0 .39123–31–0 .426 Iowa ‍‍‍ 9–14–0 .39119–32–0 .373 Purdue ‍‍‍ 9–14–0 .39120–36–0 .357 Penn State ‍‍‍ 8–15–0 .34823–32–0 .418 Rutgers ‍‍‍ 5–18–0 .21714–37–0 .275 Maryland ‍‍‍ 4–19–0 .17411–39–1 .225 ‡ – Tournament champion As of May 9, 2017 Rankings from NFCA |
| 2017 Ohio Valley Conference softball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT Jacksonville State ‡ ‍‍‍ 15–1 .93840–10 .800 SIU Edwardsville ‍‍‍ 13–5 .72241–13 .759 UT Martin + ‍‍‍ 13–5 .72240–22 .645 Eastern Illinois ‍‍‍ 10–5 .66728–21 .571 Murray State + ‍‍‍ 11–7 .61136–20 .643 Eastern Kentucky ‍‍‍ 11–9 .55027–31 .466 Tennessee Tech ‍‍‍ 8–8 .50016–30 .348 Belmont ‍‍‍ 10–12 .45535–22 .614 Southeast Missouri State ‍‍‍ 8–14 .36423–27 .460 Morehead State ‍‍‍ 6–12 .33326–22 .542 Austin Peay ‍‍‍ 5–15 .25017–31 .354 Tennessee State ‍‍‍ 2–19 .09512–37 .245 ‡ – OVC Tournament}] champion += to NICS As of May 22, 2017 Rankings from USA Today/NFCA Coaches | 2017 Southeastern Conference softball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT No. 1 Florida ‍†‍‍$^y$ 20–3 .87053–7 .883 No. 7 Auburn ‍‍‍$^y$ 17–7 .70849–10 .831 No. 9 Tennessee ‍‍‍$^y$ 16–7 .69647–10 .825 No. 11 Texas A&M ‍‍‍$^y$ 16–7 .69645–10 .818 No. 15 Alabama ‍‍‍$^y$ 12–11 .52245–16 .738 No. 21 LSU ‍‍‍$^y$ 12–12 .50045–19 .703 No. 18 Kentucky ‍‍‍$^y$ 12–12 .50039–17 .696 No. 19 Ole Miss ‍‍‡‍$^y$ 10–14 .41743–18 .705 Mississippi State ‍‍‍$^y$ 10–14 .41736–22 .621 No. 24 South Carolina ‍‍‍$^y$ 8–15 .34834–25 .576 Missouri ‍‍‍$^y$ 7–16 .30429–28 .509 Arkansas ‍‍‍$^y$ 7–17 .29231–24 .564 No. 25 Georgia ‍‍‍$^y$ 6–18 .25035–23 .603 † – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of May 22, 2017 Rankings from NFCA | 2017 Southland Conference softball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT McNeese State ** ‍‍‡‍$^y$ 24–3–0 .88943–18–0 .705 Abilene Christian * ‍‍‍ 20–7–0 .74133–22–0 .600 Nicholls ‍‍‍ 19–8–0 .70437–20–0 .649 Lamar ‍‍‍ 17–10–0 .63034–31–0 .523 Sam Houston ‍‍‍ 14–13–0 .51924–27–0 .471 Central Arkansas ‍‍‍ 14–13–0 .51925–34–0 .424 Southeastern Louisiana ‍‍‍ 12–15–0 .44426–29–0 .473 Northwestern State ‍‍‍ 12–15–0 .44423–33–1 .412 Stephen F. Austin ‍‍‍ 9–15–0 .37517–33–0 .340 Houston Baptist ‍‍‍ 8–19–0 .29617–26–0 .395 Incarnate Word * ‍‍‍ 6–21–0 .22213–40–0 .245 Texas A&M–Corpus Christi ‍‍‍ 4–20–0 .16710–36–0 .217 † – Conference champion ‡ – SLC Tournament Champion *ineligible for postseason play due to Div. I transition **Southland Tournament #1 seed and regular season champion y – Invited to the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship As of May 30, 2017 Rankings from USA Today/NFCA Coaches |
| 2017 Sun Belt Conference softball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L PCTW L PCT No. 19 Louisiana–Lafayette ‍†‍‡‍$^y$ 23–1 .95847–8 .855 RV Texas State ‍‍‍$^y$ 18–8 .69242–17 .712 Georgia State ‍‍‍$^y$ 18–9 .66736–25 .590 South Alabama ‍‍‍ 15–12 .55635–20 .636 UT Arlington ‍‍‍ 14–13 .51932–28 .533 Georgia Southern ‍‍‍ 12–15 .44424–29 .453 Louisiana-Monroe ‍‍‍ 11–16 .40733–30 .524 Coastal Carolina ‍‍‍ 10–16 .38532–23 .582 Troy ‍‍‍ 8–19 .29620–34 .370 Appalachian State ‍‍‍ 2–22 .08314–34 .292 ‡ – Tournament champion As of March 4, 2019 Rankings from NFCA | 2017 West Coast Conference softball standings vteConfOverall TeamW L T PCTW L T PCT No. 20 BYU ‍†‍‍$^y$ 14–1–0 .93345–11–0 .804 Pacific ‍‍‍ 10–5–0 .66727–24–0 .529 San Diego ‍‍‍ 8–7–0 .53322–22–0 .500 Loyola Marymount ‍‍‍ 6–9–0 .40020–31–0 .392 Santa Clara ‍‍‍ 4–11–0 .26712–37–0 .245 Saint Mary's ‍‍‍ 3–12–0 .20017–31–0 .354 † – Conference champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of May 18, 2017 Rankings from USA Today/NFCA Coaches |

## National Invitational Softball Championship

Liberty Flames defeated the Lamar Cardinals in the inaugural championship; Tori Zavodny was named MVP for the series.

## Women's College World Series

The 2017 Women's College World Series began on June 1–4 in Oklahoma City.
| First round | First round | First round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | | | Finals | Finals | Finals | Finals | Finals | |
| 1 | Florida | 8$^{(5)}$ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 9 | Texas A&M | 0 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 9 | Texas A&M | 0 | 1 | Florida | 7 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | 13 | LSU | 0 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 13 | LSU | 2 | 13 | LSU | 0 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 5 | UCLA | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 5 | UCLA | 1 | | | | 1 | Florida | 5 | — | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | 6 | Washington | 2 | — | | | | | | | | |
| 9 | Texas A&M | 2 | | | | | | | | 6 | Washington | 2 | — | | | | | | | | |
| 5 | UCLA | 8 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 5 | UCLA | 8 | 6 | Washington | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | 5 | UCLA | 0 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | Florida | 5 | 4 | — | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | 10 | Oklahoma | 7$^{(17)}$ | 5 | — | |
| 3 | Oregon | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 10 | Oklahoma | 7$^{(17)}$ | 5 | — |
| 6 | Washington | 3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 6 | Washington | 3 | 6 | Washington | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | 10 | Oklahoma | 3 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 15 | Baylor | 3 | 10 | Oklahoma | 3 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 10 | Oklahoma | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 10 | Oklahoma | 6 | | | | 10 | Oklahoma | 4 | — | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | 3 | Oregon | 2 | — | | | | | | | | |
| 3 | Oregon | 7 | | | | | | | | 3 | Oregon | 2 | — | | | | | | | | |
| 15 | Baylor | 4 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 15 | Baylor | 4 | 13 | LSU | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | 3 | Oregon | 4 | | | | | | | | | | | | |

## Season leaders

Batting
* Batting average: .487 – Kacie Burnett, Idaho State Bengals
* RBIs: 82 – DJ Sanders, Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
* Home runs: 29 – DJ Sanders, Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Pitching
* Wins: 38-3 – Megan Good, James Madison Dukes
* ERA: 0.50 (14 ER/193.2 IP) – Kelly Barnhill, Florida Gators
* Strikeouts: 412 – Megan Betsa, Michigan Wolverines

## Records

NCAA Division I consecutive plate appearances reaching base: 26 – Amber Schisler, Campbell Fighting Camels; May 5–17, 2017
Freshman class single game RBIs: 10 – Braxton Burnside, Missouri Tigers; March 18, 2017

## Awards

* USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year:
Kelly Barnhill, Florida Gators
* Honda Sports Award Softball:
Kelly Barnhill, Florida Gators
* espnW National Player of The Year:
Kelly Barnhill, Florida Gators
* Best Female College Athlete ESPY Award
Kelly Barnhill, Florida Gators
| YEAR | W | L | GP | GS | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA | WHIP |
| 2017 | 26 | 4 | 37 | 30 | 17 | 13 | 3 | 193.2 | 79 | 22 | 14 | 39 | 359 | 0.50 | 0.61 |
* NFCA National Player of the Year:
Megan Good, James Madison Dukes
| YEAR | W | L | GP | GS | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA | WHIP |
| 2017 | 38 | 3 | 44 | 39 | 22 | 14 | 1 | 244.2 | 125 | 33 | 22 | 35 | 271 | 0.63 | 0.65 |
| YEAR | G | AB | R | H | BA | RBI | HR | 3B | 2B | TB | SLG | BB | SO | SB | SBA |
| 2017 | 60 | 180 | 34 | 69 | .383 | 58 | 12 | 0 | 11 | 116 | .644% | 28 | 12 | 0 | 0 |
* NFCA National Freshman of the Year:
Rachel Garcia, UCLA Bruins
| YEAR | G | AB | R | H | BA | RBI | HR | 3B | 2B | TB | SLG | BB | SO | SB |
| 2017 | 60 | 169 | 17 | 55 | .325 | 29 | 8 | 0 | 12 | 91 | .538% | 21 | 14 | 0 |
| YEAR | W | L | GP | GS | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA | WHIP |
| 2017 | 23 | 9 | 45 | 25 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 202.2 | 152 | 69 | 54 | 52 | 212 | 1.87 | 1.01 |
* NFCA Catcher of the Year:
Kendyl Lindaman, Minnesota
* NFCA Golden Shoe Award:
Elicia D'Orazio, Marshall

## All America Teams

The following players were members of the All-American Teams.
First Team
| Position | Player | Class | School |
| P | Kelly Barnhill | SO. | Florida Gators |
| P | Sara Groenewegen | SR. | Minnesota Golden Gophers |
| P | Danielle O'Toole | SR. | Arizona Wildcats |
| C | Kendyl Lindaman | FR. | Minnesota Golden Gophers |
| 1B | Jessie Harper | FR. | Arizona Wildcats |
| 2B | Hannah Flippen | SR. | Utah Utes |
| 3B | Jessica Warren | JR. | FSU Seminoles |
| SS | DJ Sanders | JR. | ULL Ragin' Cajuns |
| OF | Bailey Landry | SR. | LSU Tigers |
| OF | Aleah Craighton | JR. | ULL Ragin' Cajuns |
| OF | Amanda Lorenz | SO. | Florida Gators |
| UT | Megan Good | JR. | James Madison Dukes |
| UT | Sahvanna Jaquish | SR. | LSU Tigers |
| AT-L | Meghan Gregg | JR. | Tennessee Lady Vols |
| AT-L | Alexis Osorio | JR. | Alabama Crimson Tide |
| AT-L | Jessica Burroughs | SR. | FSU Seminoles |
| AT-L | Delanie Gourley | SR. | Florida Gators |
| AT-L | Nikki Udria | SR. | Oregon Ducks |
Second Team
| Position | Player | Class | School |
| P | Megan Kleist | SO. | Oregon Ducks |
| P | Megan Betsa | SR. | Michigan Wolverines |
| P | Randi Rupp | JR. | Texas State Bobcats |
| C | Jenavee Peres | JR. | San Diego State Aztecs |
| 1B | Shay Knighten | SO. | Oklahoma Sooners |
| 2B | Caleigh Clifton | SO. | Oklahoma Sooners |
| 3B | Katiyana Mauga | SR. | Arizona Wildcats |
| SS | Morgan Zerkle | SR. | Marshall Thundering Herd |
| OF | Lea Foerster | JR. | Michigan State Spartans |
| OF | Morgan Klaevemann | JR. | FSU Seminoles |
| OF | Kelly Christner | SR. | Michigan Wolverines |
| UT | Sierra Hyland | SR. | Cal Poly Mustangs |
| UT | Kendra Lynch | SR. | North Carolina Tar Heels |
| AT-L | Rachel Garcia | FR. | UCLA Bruins |
| AT-L | Paige Parker | JR. | Oklahoma Sooners |
| AT-L | Mo Mercado | SR. | Arizona Wildcats |
| AT-L | Lindsey Cargill | SR. | Baylor Bears |
| AT-L | Emily Watson | JR. | Tulsa Hurricanes |
Third Team
| Position | Player | Class | School |
| P | Allie Walljasper | JR. | LSU Tigers |
| P | Kaylee Carlson | JR. | Auburn Tigers |
| P | McKenna Bull | SR. | BYU Cougars |
| P | Jordan Dixon | SR. | Marshall Thundering Herd |
| C | Chloe Miller | SR. | Wisconsin Badgers |
| 1B | Alex Powers | SR. | FSU Seminoles |
| 2B | Faith Canfield | SO. | Michigan Wolverines |
| 3B | Riley Sartain | SO. | Texas A&M Aggies |
| SS | Lili Piper | SO. | Ohio State Buckeyes |
| OF | Cortni Emanuel | JR. | Georgia Bulldogs |
| OF | Nicole Evans | SR. | Illinois Fighting Illini |
| OF | Danica Mercado | SR. | Oregon Ducks |
| UT | Sydney O'Hara | SR. | Syracuse Orange |
| UT | Vanessa Shippy | JR. | Oklahoma State Cowgirls |
| AT-L | Emily Lochten | JR. | FAU Owls |
| AT-L | Kayli Kvistad | JR. | Florida Gators |
| AT-L | Katie Reed | SO. | Kentucky Wildcats |
| AT-L | Jessica Twaddle | SR. | Murray State Racers |
| AT-L | Ali Aguilar | SR. | Washington Huskies |