Softball's Moultrie & Horton Pick Up Capital One Academic All-District 4 First Team Honors
Friday, May 4, 2012 | Softball
For the second-consecutive season, Florida softball senior Michelle Moultrie (Jacksonville, Fla.) and junior Kelsey Horton (Valrico, Fla.) both grace the Capital One Academic All-District 4 First Team honor roll, released Thursday. The duo will next advance to the 2012 national ballot for Academic All-America consideration.
Just a day before the No. 6 Gators kick off a pivotal conference three-game set at No. 3 Alabama in Tuscaloosa for the regular-season finale – and shot at the SEC regular-season Championship – Moultrie and Horton made it UF's 11th-consecutive season with at least one Academic All-District member.
Since Florida head coach Tim Walton stepped on campus at the helm of the Florida softball program, a staggering 21 Academic All-District and/or Academic All-America accolades have found their way to the UF program through the diligent classroom work of 11 Gator softball student-athletes, highlighted by a nation-leading four Academic All-Americans last year.
Moultrie, who completed her undergrad degree at the University of Florida in Business Administration with a specialization in Sport Management just this week, was one of those four Academic All-Americans last season. After earning Capital One Academic All-District 3 First Team honors for the first time during her UF career, Moultrie was then a Capital One Academic All-America Third Team honoree in 2011.
Also a top-10 finalist for the 2012 Lowe's Senior Class Award and USA Softball's Player of the Year Award, Moultrie Leads SEC in batting average and fielding percentage, ranks third in hits, doubles and on-base percentage, checks in fifth in runs scored and slugging percentage, ninth in homers throughout 2012 league play. UF's career stolen-bases leader, Moultrie has dropped 23 bunt singles this season to contribute to her 69 overall donning the Orange and Blue.
Both Horton and Moultrie have additionally been named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll through each year of their Gator careers, respectively.
Horton, who boasts a 3.7 GPA as a Nutritional Sciences major, picks up her second-consecutive Academic All-District honor as a Gator, first earning the accolade as a sophomore in 2011. Having stepped up as UF's catcher this year, Horton Leads UF and the league in doubles (7) through SEC play and has gunned down nine runners on the base paths this season, six in league play. Moultrie and Horton are two of five Gators who are error-free on the season defensively for the Orange and Blue.
The 2012 Capital One Academic All‐District Softball Teams are selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America. The Academic All‐District teams and are divided into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada. This is the first year of the expanded Academic All‐America program as CoSIDA moves from recognizing a University Division (Division I) and a College Division (all non Division I) and doubles the number of scholar‐athletes honored. For baseball and softball, only First Team All-District teams were selected,
NCAA DIVISION I (AL, FL, GA, PR, SC)
FIRST TEAM
Pos. Name School Yr. Hometown GPA Major
P Jessica Nori FLORIDA STATE So. Weston, Fla. 3.76 Entrepreneurship
P Jackie Traina ALABAMA So. Naples, Fla. 3.66 Social work
C Kelsey Horton FLORIDA Jr. Valrico, Fla. 3.70 Nutritional Sciences
IF Cassie Boese GEORGIA STATE Sr. Middlebury, Ind. 4.10 Accounting
IF Jackey Branham ALABAMA Jr. Troy, Mo. 4.00 Secondary Education / science
IF Kaila Hunt ALABAMA So. Evans, Ga. 4.00 Secondary Education / mathematics
IF Cassie Reilly-Boccia ALABAMA Sr. Yorktown Heights, N.Y. 3.75 Human Performance / exercise science
OF Kirstin Austin FLORIDA STATE Jr. Temple Terrace, Fla. 3.48 Exercise Science
OF Shannon Bear GEORGIA TECH Sr. Grayson, Ga. 3.83 Biochemistry
OF Kayla Braud ALABAMA Jr. Eugene, Ore. 3.92 Public Relations
OF Michelle Moultrie FLORIDA Sr. Jacksonville, Fla. 3.35 Business Administration
DP Kaela Jackson SOUTH CAROLINA Sr. Morristown, Tenn. 3.63 Psychology
