OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Senior pitcher Kelsey Aikey has been named one of 30 NCAA Division I softball candidates for the 2020 Senior CLASS Award. The Cedar Falls, Iowa, native is the first student-athlete in WKU Softball program history to be named a candidate and is the lone honoree from Conference USA this season.
"What a great honor for Kelsey to be recognized as a candidate for the Senior CLASS Award," head coach Amy Tudor shared. "This is another great accomplishment and we are very proud of her."
To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School ®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
Aikey is a health science major on The Hill and is on track to graduate in December 2020 with her Bachelors of Science degree. She's earned a spot on the Conference USA Commissioner's Honor Roll twice and landed a C-USA Academic Medal distinction as a freshman while also posting numerous semesters on the WKU Dean's List.
In the community, Aikey has found many ways to make her mark. When she's back home in Iowa from college during the summers, Aikey participates in the annual Habitat for Humanity Women's Build, aiding the in the construction of houses back in her local community. Aikey has dedicated hundreds of hours to giving back to the game that's given her so much. Aikey holds winter and summer camps in Iowa to help train young pitchers from her community and share her knowledge and love of the game. In addition to her own camps and lessons, Aikey also helps develop and train softball players through numerous additional camps. She's the varsity assistant coach at her former high school in the summers, guiding the pitching staff and helped them lower their ERA by more than a run and a half in just one season. As a part of the WKU Softball team, Aikey has visited elementary schools to read to students in addition to participating in an annual Southern Kentucky Special Olympics Softball game.
Across her career to date, Aikey owns a 2.62 career ERA and a 37-23 record across 109 appearances and 52 starts. She's tossed 22 complete games, eight complete-game shutouts, an extra-inning no-hitter, and owns 14 career saves – a WKU career record that is tied for third among all active NCAA pitchers. Aikey's pitched more than 400 innings in her three-plus years on The Hill so far and owns 392 strikeouts. She was named a 2019 Second Team All-Conference USA selection, 2020 Preseason All-Conference honoree, four-time Conference USA Pitcher of the Week, Conference USA All-Freshman Team, NCAA Top Performance honoree from Louisville Slugger/NFCA (2019) and College Sports Madness' C-USA Player of the Week (2019).
The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists later in the season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition.
2020 Senior CLASS Award Candidates
Kelsey Aikey, WKU
Aliyah Andrews, LSU
Sis Bates, Washington
AnaMarie Bruni, South Florida
Maria Cegledy, Kent State
Cassidy Clark, San Jose State
Montana DeCamp, North Dakota Stat
Tristen Edwards, Nebraska
Amber Fiser, Minnesota
Morganne Flores, Washington
Celene Funke, Louisville
Adriana Gambino, Manhattan College
Nikki Grupp, ETSU
Karli Hamilton, Texas Tech
Jessie Harper, Arizona
Ava Lawson, Northern Kentucky
Katie Marino, Notre Dame
Nicole Mendes, Oklahoma
Ali Milam, Marist
Hunter Mundy, Radford
Claire Oberdorf, Marist
Brittany Pickett, North Carolina
Stella Preston, Mercer
Marnie Skinner, Iona College
Mary-Hannah Smith, Lehigh
Julia Smith-Harrington, Towson
Amber Swinarski, Columbia
Alyssa Walker, Chattanooga
Kayla Wedl, UIC
Keri White, Appalachian State
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