May 19, 2016
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Senior Macy Jones (Ashburn. Va.) garnered NFCA All-Great Lakes Region First Team honors and senior Lexi Knief (Ramsey, N.J.) earned NFCA All-Great Lakes Region Third Team honors. The honor marks the first of Jones career and the second for Knief as she earned third team honors in the 2015 campaign.
Jones marks the first Penn State softball player to notch first team all-region honors since Cassidy Bell garnered the honor in both 2012 and 2013. Furthermore, it marks the first time since two Penn State student-athletes have been names to an all-region team in the same year since the 2009 campaign when both Jackie Hill and Danielle Kinley nabbed second team honors.
Jones started all 53 games this season for Penn State, spending the most time as the starting left fielder. The senior outfielder has tallied 18 multi-hit games and 10 multi-RBI games for Penn State, while carrying a 16-game hitting streak and a 21-game reached base streak. Furthermore, Jones ranks third in the Big Ten in doubles (17), tied for fourth in hits (66), ranked fifth in runs scored (54), seventh in batting average (.398), slugging percentage (.699), on-base percentage (.502), home runs (11), and total bases (116). The starting left fielder ranked 35th in the country in doubles per game and ties for 45th in runs per game. This season the Ashburn, Va. native paced the Nittany Lions with a .398 batting average and 41 RBI that helped her to break the all-time RBI record at Penn State with 137 career runs batted in.
Jones etched her name in the Penn State single season record book eight times in her senior campaign, including ranking second in single season doubles with 17 and finishing her career at Penn State as the all-time RBI leader with 137, while ranking in the top-10 in nine other career batting categories for the Blue and White. The Ashburn, Va. native has appeared in 208 games, starting 207 and was a Second Team All-Big Ten honoree in the 2015 campaign and capped off her senior season as a First Team All-Big Ten honoree.
Knief started 50 games in the outfield for Penn State with 57 hits which included 13 doubles and three triples. The Ramsey, N.J. native tallied 19 multi-hit games and eight multi-RBI games for Penn State, while carrying a six-game hitting streak and a 12-game reached base streak. Furthermore, Knief struck out just 11 times in 160 at-bats. Knief led the Big Ten in sacrifice flies (4), tied for fifth in triples (3) and sixth in doubles (13). Starting in center field, Knief has had 57 putouts, six assists and made just one error in her senior campaign.
Knief holds the single season hits record at Penn State, tallying 75 hits in her junior season en route to a NFCA All-Great Lake Region Third Team honor. The starting center fielder also ranks in the top-10 in two single season batting categories and eight career batting categories for the Nittany Lions and is a two time All-Big Ten Second Team honoree and earned First Team All-Big Ten honors in her senior campaign. The Ramsey, N.J. native appeared in 190 games with 177 starts in her time at Penn State with 207 hits and 64 RBI for the Blue and White.