Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Duran-Sellers named First Team Academic All-American
05/24/2012 | 12:00:00 | Softball
May 24, 2012
By Bill Ford
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois senior softball player Mallory Duran-Sellers has been named a CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-American for the second consecutive season.
Duran-Sellers earned first team designation this season after being named to the second team a year ago. She becomes the eighth player in program history to earn multiple Academic All-American honors, giving SIU softball its 23rd overall honor. Among all Division I programs, only Nebraska (29), has had more Academic All-Americans than the Salukis.
An English education major with a cumulative 4.0 GPA, Duran-Sellers is a three-time Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete and was honored as the MVC's Elite 18 Award recipient for softball at the 2012 MVC Tournament.
The 2012 MVC Player of the Year, Duran-Sellers broke the MVC single-season record for runs scored with 61 and tied SIU's single-season record with 45 walks in 2012. The Windsor, Colo., native ranked third in the MVC in batting average at .362 in addition to driving in 24 runs with a team-high 17 stolen bases. She finished the season with a .982 fielding percentage in center field with 104 putouts and only two errors.
A three-time All-MVC selection, Duran-Sellers ended her career as Southern's all-time leader with 162 runs scored. She also tied for fifth in SIU history in stolen bases (46), tied for eighth in career batting average (.327) and finished 10th in doubles (27).
Duran-Sellers was named Second Team NFCA All-Mideast Region last week, making her a candidate for All-American. The NFCA All-American teams will be announced next week. She is also a finalist for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, which will be announced during the Women's College World Series.
