Three Spartans win All-SSC honors as Fantone earns Freshman of the Year

MELBOURNE, Fla. - The Sunshine State Conference presents the 2021 softball postseason awards. SSC champion Rollins College collects six accolades, including Coach of the Year. In total, 28 student-athletes from nine member institutions are recognized on the All-SSC softball teams. Voting for the All-SSC softball awards was conducted among the league's head coaches.

SSC Softball All-Conference History: All-SSC Teams | Players & Coaches of the Year

Cheyenne Nelson of Florida Tech is selected as the Player of the Year. Abbey Busby from Palm Beach Atlantic University earns the Pitcher of the Year nod, while the league office recognizes the University of Tampa's Lauren Fantone as Freshman of the Year. Rollins' Michelle Frew has been chosen as SSC Coach of the Year by her peers for the fourth time. It marks the third time that four different institutions won the awards in the same year¹.

Nelson, a junior from Snohomish, Washington, leads the SSC with a .418 batting average and 41 hits. The outfielder finished the season third in league slugging percentage (.520) and fourth in on-base percentage (.438). Defensively, the outfielder registered a .972 fielding percentage following 33 putouts and two assists in 36 chances. Nelson breaks a 24-year drought for the Panthers as she becomes the second in program history to win Player of the Year².

Busby made 17 appearances and threw 14 complete games for Palm Beach Atlantic in the shortened 2021 season. She ended the regular season with a 12-4 record for the Sailfish with 115.2 innings pitched. Busby, a native of Raymond, Mississippi, led the conference in wins, innings pitched, and earned run average (0.42). She was Top-5 in opponent batting average (.187), strikeouts (76), runs allowed (15), and earned runs allowed (7). The senior is the first Sailfish athlete to earn Pitcher of the Year laurels.

Fantone started 20 of Tampa's 22 games this season, leading her squad in hits (21), batting average (.368), on-base percentage (.400), and slugging percentage (.456). The DeLand, Florida product's batting average ranks third in the SSC, while her on-base and slugging percentages are also Top-10. Defensively, the outfielder recorded a 1.000 fielding percentage following 28 putouts and two assists in 30 chances. Fantone is the second Spartan to win Freshman of the Year accolades³.

Frew takes SSC Coach of the Year for the fourth time in her career after leading Rollins to the program's fifth conference title. The Tars finished the regular season with a .889 winning percentage in conference play (16-2) and the No. 21 NFCA national ranking. Under Frew's guidance, the Tars were atop the SSC leaderboard in slugging percentage (.406), on-base percentage (.350), earned run average (0.84), and batting average against (.157). She remains the only Rollins head coach to win the award.

Mariah Galhouse earned a spot on the first team as she finished the year with a .300 batting average. She finished the season with 21 hits, 4 doubles, and a homerun for Tampa. Galhouse also pitched herself to a 9-1 record and finished with a .96 earned run average. 

Corynn Miner was named to the second team as she led Tampa with a .85 earned run average on twelve starts. Of the twelve starts Miner was able to complete 10 games. She finished the year second in the conference with 89 strikeouts and had 7.60 strikeouts per seven innings. 

Highlighting the repeat winners for 2021 is Kacie Kelly of Saint Leo University, who earns All-SSC First Team for the fourth time in her career. Kelly becomes the ninth softball athlete to earn All-SSC First Team laurels each year of her college career⁴. Nelson, Busby, and Rollins' Ashley Worrell also repeat as All-SSC from 2019⁵. Nelson moves up to the First Team following Second Team honors in 2019. Busby was named Honorable Mention in 2018 and 2019 before breaking through to the First Team this season. Worrell repeats as a Second Team honoree from 2019. Kelly and Worrell have previously been named SSC Freshman of the Year.

Player of the Year: Cheyenne Nelson, Florida Tech

Pitcher of the Year: Abbey Busby, Palm Beach Atlantic

Freshman of the Year: Lauren Fantone, Tampa

Coach of the Year: Michelle Frew, Rollins

* = 2019 First Team, 2018 First Team, 2017 First Team, 2017 Player of the Year, 2017 Freshman of the Year

^ = 2019 Second Team

† = 2019 Honorable Mention, 2018 Honorable Mention

~ = 2019 Second Team, 2019 Freshman of the Year

¹ 1998: [Stephanie Caldwell, Barry (POY); Julianne Coleman, FSC (PiOY); Desiree Crouteau, Saint Leo (FOY); & Michelle Frew, Rollins (COY)] and 2019: [Suka Van Gurp, NSU (POY); Makaleigh Dooley, Tampa (PiOY); Ashley Worrell, Rollins (FOY); Val Silvestrini, Florida Tech (COY)]

² Elisa Bartolo, Florida Tech

³ Meagan Burke, Tampa (2021)

⁴ Four Year First Team dating back to 1985-86: Stephanie Caldwell, Barry (1997-00); Megan Copeland, Barry (2013-16); April Elston, Florida Southern (1998-01); Sherry Howell, Eckerd (1990-93); Sarah Kohlbrenner, Florida Southern (2004-07); Kellie Robinson (1989-92); Christine Roser, Rollins (2008-11); Jess Shepherd, Florida Southern (2004-07)

⁵ No Sunshine State Conference All-Conferences awards were issued in Spring 2020