COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Colorado Christian’s Kenzie Middleton is the 2023 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Softball Player of the Year, the league announced Tuesday alongside its individual awards, all-conference rosters, Gold Glove team and honorable mention list. Alongside Middleton’s Player of the Year honor, CCU’s Kali Crandall was named RMAC Pitcher of the Year, while Colorado Christian’s Larry Hays was voted the RMAC Coach of the Year. Metropolitan State University of Denver’s Jenna Medhus tied a bow on the league’s individual honors as the Freshman of the Year. RMAC individual awards, all-conference and Gold Glove rosters are nominated and voted on by the league’s 12 head coaches. Coaches are not permitted to vote for themselves or their players.
Middleton claims the RMAC Softball Player of the Year award, along with a first-team all-conference nod, as a key figure on the Cougars’ potent squad that finished the regular season with a 52-4 overall record and a 42-2 mark in conference play. She is a staple for the No. 8 Cougars and leads the RMAC with a .417 batting average. She ranks among the nation’s top three with 83 hits and 21 doubles and has 16 home runs on the season. Middleton also leads NCAA Division II with 164 bases as 43 of her hits have gone for extra bases. The Golden, Colo., native has hits in 51 of her 56 appearances on the season, 22 of which were multi-hit games, and enters the postseason with hits in 21 of her last 22 games.
Crandall tacks on yet another accolade to her illustrious Colorado Christian career as a first-team all-conference member and the RMAC’s Pitcher of the Year following her role in the Cougars’ successful regular-season slate. Crandall has been lights out in the circle this season and earned seven RMAC Pitcher of the Week honors. Entering the RMAC Softball Tournament, she holds 208 strikeouts on the season, a mark that stands 10th in the country and has a 1.53 earned-run average (ERA) for the season. She has delivered 12 shutouts and three no-hitters throughout her impressive 2023 campaign and boasts a 27-2 record in the circle.
Medhus is the RMAC Freshman of the Year and a first-team all-conference honoree in her debut season for the Roadrunners after closing the regular season with 33 hits and a .351 batting average. She has made starts in 34 of her 42 appearances and accounts for 16 extra-base hits and 26 RBI. The freshman is also proficient in the circle for MSU Denver and leads her squad with 12 wins and a 2.83 ERA. Over 104 innings pitched, Medhus fanned 62 batters while securing nine complete-game performances and one shutout.
For the second consecutive season, Hays is the RMAC Softball Coach of the Year after leading the Cougars to the regular-season title. In his fifth season at the helm for CCU, Hays led his team to its highest national ranking, No. 8, in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA). Colorado Christian has been dominant all season long, dropping just two conference games and four games in total. Hays has the Cougars’ bats firing as the team leads the nation in doubles (119) and winning percentage (.929). CCU also stands second nationally with 22 shutouts and third in the country with 531 hits.
Of the 29 RMAC Softball All-Conference selections, 11 institutions are represented with Colorado Christian’s nine honorees leading the way. MSU Denver and Regis each have four all-conference members, while Colorado Mesa earns a trio of selections, followed by Adams State and Chadron State, which present two all-conference players apiece. Black Hills State, Colorado School of Mines, CSU Pueblo, New Mexico Highlands and University of Colorado Colorado Springs round out the postseason roster with one honoree each.
Six schools highlight the RMAC Softball Gold Glove team, an all-defensive roster that highlights the league’s top fielders at each position. CCU leads the way with a trio of selections, followed by Colorado School of Mines’ two honorees. Chadron State, CSU Pueblo, MSU Denver and Regis round out the Gold Glove roster with one spot each.
The RMAC Softball Tournament begins on Thursday, May 4, at Colorado Christian’s All Star Park in Lakewood, Colo. No. 4 seed Colorado Mesa will square off against No. 5 seed Colorado School of Mines in the tournament opener, set for 9 a.m. MT. Each game of the RMAC Softball Tournament will be broadcast on the
RMAC Network.