BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON
A trio of Arkansas women’s softball players were named preseason All-Americans Monday by Softball America.
Razorback junior catcher/third baseman Hannah Gammill was named to the first team while redshirt senior pitcher Chenise Delce and Duke graduate transfer second baseman Kristina Foreman were selected to the second team.
All three were named last week among the 50 players on the watch list for Softball America’s 2023 Collegiate Player of the Year.
The No. 6 Razorbacks, who are back-to-back SEC Champions and were 48-11 last season while advancing to the NCAA Tournament Super Regionals , are picked to finish third this season in a vote of the league coaches.
Gammill, who was a Softball America postseason first-team All-American in 2022, hit .374, had 18 home runs and drove home 51 runs while starting all 59 games at third base.
Gammill his transitioning to catcher this season, which will begin Feb. 10 with the Rebel Kickoff in Las Vegas.
“She has been removed from catching for awhile, but that was her primary position her last year of travel ball,” Arkansas head coach Courtney Deifel said. “…I think she is someone that you are just going to see get comfortable every game. I’m only talking defensively because offensively she is going to be great.”
Delce, the second consecutive pitcher Arkansas hurler named the SEC Pitcher of the Year, was 19-3 with a 2.28 ERA and also notched two saves.
She pitched five shutout while tossing 14 complete games and fanned 188.
“Chenise is someone who has a very high standard for herself,” Deifel said. “I don’t think there is going to be any extra pressure outside that changes how she approaches anything. She is really, really solid in who she is and what she does and she has never been more confident than she is now.”
Foreman was a star for four years at Duke and started 48 games at second base for the Blue Devils last season.
She hit .358, hit 15 homers and drove in a school-record 56 RBIs and had a .966 fielding percentage on 118 total chances.
The team opens its season Feb. 10 at the Rebel Kickoff in Las Vegas with Weber State, the first of five games over three days.
The Razorbacks will also have games against UNLV, Southern Utah and Baylor and a second contest with Weber State that weekend.
Arkansas will then travel the following weekend to the TaxAct Invitational in Clearwater Florida that will include games against No. 4, No. 19 Duke, No. 24 Louisiana, Indiana and Nebraska.
The home opener for Arkansas will be Feb. 23 with a doubleheader slated against No. 15 Arizona at 3 p.m.
Photo John D. James
