2024 Tucci/NFCA DII Player/Pitcher of the Year Watch List
As a returning All-American in the circle, there's little doubt that Hillsdale College junior pitcher Joni Russell ranks among the nation's best at the NCAA DII level.
The National Fastpitch Coaches Association provided further confirmation on Thursday afternoon, as the organization tabbed Russell as one of 120 players across the sport's eight regions to make the Watch List for the 2024 Tucci/NFCA Division II Player and Pitcher of the Year awards.
The list is broken down into the eight NCAA Regions (Atlantic, Central, East, Midwest, South, South Central, Southeast and West) with up to 15 student-athletes represented in each region. The list is compiled by the elected members of the NFCA Division II All-American Committee with one head coach representing each of the eight NCAA regions. To be eligible, a student-athlete's head coach must be a member.
Voted on by the NFCA's Division II All-American Committee, the 2024 Tucci/NFCA Player and Pitcher of the Year Award will be announced on May 27 following the conclusion of the NCAA Division II National Championships. All student-athletes are eligible for the end-of-the-season award and do not have to be on this list to be considered.
Russell was one of 15 players and six pitchers from the Midwest Region to make the watch list, and also one of five G-MAC players to earn consideration.
The junior from Cable, Ohio entered 2024 on the heels of an all-time great season for Hillsdale College in 2023, that saw her become just the second consensus All-American pitcher in program history. That season, Russell helped lead Hillsdale to a G-MAC Tournament title and NCAA DII Tournament appearance with a 19-9 record and two saves in 32 appearances. Along the way, she shattered the program's previous record for single-season strikeouts with 268 to date, 52 more than the old record set by Danielle Stiene in 2015, and her 0.76 ERA was the second-lowest in program history. The junior's 2023 strikeout total ranked fifth in the nation at the NCAA DII level, and her ERA ranked fourth. Russell also had eight shutouts in 2023, one shy of the program record for a single season, and she also broke a program single-game record for strikeouts with 19 in a 4-0 victory over Malone. Along with All-American honors, Russell also was named the 2023 G-MAC Pitcher of the Year, a first for Hillsdale, as well as earning her second-straight first team All-G-MAC honor.
So far in 2024, there's been no drop-off for Russell, who's 10-3 in 14 appearances with a 0.90 ERA and 117 strikeouts, good for 10.5 per seven innings. Russell has six double-digit strikeout games and three shutouts so far, and set Hillsdale's career strikeouts record against Quincy on March 2, surpassing Sarah DeAngelo's 474 from 1998 to 2001. She currently has 545 strikeouts halfway through her junior season, and she also ranks sixth all-time at Hillsdale in pitching victories with 43, sixth in innings pitched with 408.1, and third in career shutouts with 13.
Russell and the Chargers are in action this weekend, playing at home for the first time in 2024 with contests against Kentucky Wesleyan on Friday and Trevecca Nazarene on Saturday. In those contests, Russell is slated to go head to head with two other watch list nominees, sophomore Megan Matheis of Kentucky Wesleyan and senior Kendall Andrews of Trevecca Nazarene.