Greensboro Sports

Greensboro, N.C. — Guilford College’s Kelly Hale (Toler, Ky./Belfry) earned Second Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District III softball honors Thursday from the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). CoSIDA members nominated and selected the academic all-district teams.

Kelly Hale

The all-district squads are comprised of softball student-athletes from Division II and III institutions in the five-state area from Virginia to Florida. Nominees were starters or important reserves of sophomore academic standing or above who maintained at least a 3.2 grade point average.

Hale enjoyed arguably the finest softball season in the program’s seven-year history. She earned Second Team All-Atlantic Region from the National Fastpitch Coaches’ Association earlier this week. The three-year starting first baseman hit .431 with nine homers and 43 RBIs, all school records, en route to First Team All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) honors. She ranked second in the league in batting average and on-base percentage (.529) and third in homers and slugging percentage (.741) through games of April 28. The left-handed hitting Hale had 13 multiple-hit games this year and led the club with 12 contests with at least two RBIs. She ended the season on a 13-game hitting streak. One of her best games came in Guilford’s April 8 win at Mary Baldwin College where she went four-for-four with a double, home run and three RBIs.

Hale helped second-year head coach Dennis Shores’ club to the best season in school history. The Quakers went 20-21-1 (8-10 ODAC) and set school records for wins, runs, batting average and hits in a season. Guilford returned to the six-team ODAC Tournament for the second time in school history after a five-year absence. Shores could return as many as 14 letter winners from this season’s team in 2009, including Hale.