2020-21 CoSIDA Softball Academic All-District teams
As a player on the softball diamond, Hillsdale College junior Elaine Townley played a major role in one of the best seasons in school history in 2021.
In the classroom, Townley was just as special, and it’s the combination of those two performances that have the junior from Carnation, Washington earning an honor that a Charger softball player hasn’t received since 2017.
On Thursday afternoon, Townley was recognized as one of the 11 members of the 2020-21 College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-District softball team representing District 4 at the NCAA Division II level.
District 4 is one of eight districts at the Division II level and roughly corresponds to the Midwest Region in NCAA Division II parlance, including teams from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference as well as the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
The Academic All-District program, part of CoSIDA’s Academic All-America Program that’s been running since 1952, recognizes the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom.
Townley, the Chargers’ every-day third baseman, had an outstanding season for the Chargers in 2021, playing in all 52 games and batting .315 with 15 extra base hits and 27 RBIs. The junior finished in the top 15 in the G-MAC in runs, hits, RBIs, doubles, home runs, walks and stolen bases, and was one of the region’s best defenders at her position, leading the G-MAC in assists.
She earned second-team All-G-MAC honors at her position in 2021, helping the Chargers to a 33-19 record that’s the third-best all time in program history, the program’s fourth NCAA Tournament berth, and multiple NCAA Tournament wins for the first time ever.
As a student, Townley has been stellar. A mathematics major, she holds a GPA of 3.97, making the dean’s list at Hillsdale College all six semesters, with four 4.0 semesters. She earned the 2021 President’s Scholar Athlete award for maintaining a GPA above 3.8 and is one of just eight athletes at Hillsdale College with a GPA above 3.95.
Townley also is an active volunteer, she’s worked with the Community Action Agency’s Preschool Goal Program, as well as with the Feline Friends program volunteering at a local cat shelter, as well as with multiple charity fundraisers through her sorority, Chi Omega.
The junior is the Charger softball program’s first Academic All-District honoree since Bekah Kastning in 2017. By receiving the All-District honor, Townley moves on to be considered for CoSIDA Academic All-American honors, to be announced on July 28. If selected, Townley would become just the third Hillsdale softball player to achieve the honor, joining Julie Maloney and Dawn Morin, who received the award in 1991.
Photo by Kasidy Carson