University of Minnesota Athletics
Richardson Named Senior CLASS All-American
5/27/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Senior CLASS Award Release
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- It was announced Wednesday that University of Minnesota senior utility player Kaitlyn Richardson has been named a 2015 Senior CLASS Award First-Team All-American--one of five players nationally to claim such honors.
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. 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.
A four-time member of the Dean's List, Richardson is a human resources and industrial relations major going for her Bachelor of Science in Business degree with a minor in marketing in the Carlson School of Management.
The Phoenix native is a two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, was a 2013 CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-American and Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and was a 2014 NFCA All-America Scholar Athlete. She also earned the University's Patty Berg Legacy Award for excellence in competition and in the classroom while representing the values of the athletics department.
Richardson capped her career with the third-best career batting average in program history at .388 and is Minnesota's all-time leader in doubles with 64, walks with 138, on-base percentage at .502 and slugging percentage at .678. She also tied for second with 179-career RBI and was fourth in home runs with 40.
In her time at Minnesota, the Phoenix, Ariz. native helped lead the team to 160-64 overall record by starting in all 224 games. From 2012-15, the Gophers qualified the NCAA Tournament in three-straight years for the first time ever, won their first Big Ten Tournament title since 1999 and reached their first-ever the NCAA super regional.
As a senior, Richardson was named a U of M Outstanding Student-Athlete Achievement Award recipient, was Second Team All-Big Ten and First Team NFCA All-Great Lakes Region and was a Big Ten All-Defensive Team and Big Ten Sportsmanship Award honoree. She closed out her time on campus with two All-American selections, three All-Big Ten honors and three all-region nods.
In guiding Minnesota to its winningest season ever at 49-11 in 2015, Richardson reached base in 53 of 60 games, including all seven of its postseason contests, had a .374 batting average and a team-best 1.122 OPS. She had seven game-winning hits and scored a pair of game-winning runs and registered a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage at first base.
In addition to impressive efforts on the field an in the classroom, Richardson has done 117-plus hours of community service with a plethora of different organizations in her time at Minnesota.
2015 Senior CLASS Award First-Team All-Americans
Lacey Waldrop, Florida State (overall winner)
Griffin Joiner, Kentucky
Shelby Pendley, Oklahoma
Kaitlyn Richardson, Minnesota
Kaitlyn Thumann, Baylor
2015 Senior CLASS Award Second-Team All-Americans
Callie Alford, Georgia State
Farish Beard, South Alabama
Ally Carda, UCLA
Cheyenne Cordes, Cal
Kathlyn Medina, Florida
