NFCA Division III All-Americans

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - TCNJ softball's Maya Knasiak capped off her historic junior season with a well-earned selection to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-America First Team, as announced by the organization this afternoon. The junior is the first Lion pitcher to be named an NFCA All-American since 2000, and joins Donna O'Connell (1987) and Jennifer LoPresti (1991) as just the third First-Team honoree in program history.
 
Knasiak served as one of the top arms in the nation all season long en route to yet another distinction to pair with her All-Conference and All-Region honors, ranking among the best in all of Division III in shutouts (10, 1st), WHIP (0.60, 2nd), hits allowed per seven innings (3.03, 2nd) ERA (0.86, 6th) and strikeouts (150, 7th) at the conclusion of the regular season.
 
The junior's 10 shutouts still serve as the most in DIII despite not having played in over a month. That feat comes thanks in large part to Knasiak engineering one of the most dominant stretches in program history during which she pitched 60 consecutive scoreless innings from March 7 to April 7 – a stint that included six straight complete-game shutouts.
 
By the end of the regular season, Knasiak compiled a 14-4 record, tossing 13 complete games while fanning 150 batters in just 113.1 innings of work. The junior would go on to break TCNJ's single-season strikeout (174) record during the postseason, also becoming the fastest player in program history to eclipse 400 career strikeouts.
 
What further separated Knasiak from other top pitchers in the nation was her added prowess at the plate, where she finished the regular season slashing .403/.452/.727 with career-best marks in hits (31), RBIs (25), runs (11), doubles (8) and home runs (5). The junior entered postseason play as one of just eight players in all of Division III with at least 100 innings pitched and five home runs, helping Knasiak end the year with more RBIs at the plate (25) than earned runs allowed in the circle (14).
 
The NFCA All-America teams are voted on by the Association's All-America Committees. In Division III, the committee is comprised of one member head coach from each of the NCAA's 10 regions.