SEGUIN, Texas – After posting a perfect conference record for the second time in three years, fifth-ranked Texas Lutheran University was awarded at least a share of each of the league’s four major awards in exclusive 2017 all-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) voting by the league’s head coaches. Complete Release

The Bulldogs’ Kaymee Gooden was selected as the conference Co-Player-of-the-Year, and teammate Maitlin Raycroft earned both Newcomer- and Pitcher-of-the-Year honors. TLU head coach Wade Wilson was named the SCAC Coach-of-the-Year for the fourth consecutive year.

Jade Miller of the University of Dallas shared SCAC Player-of-the-Year honors with Gooden.

Gooden, a senior outfielder from Mart, Texas, is currently ranked in the top 10 in almost every statistical category heading into this weekend’s conference tournament. She leads the league in triples (five) and home runs (eight) and is second in RBI (34) and total bases (81), third in runs (34), eighth in batting average (.369), second in slugging percentage (.730) and ninth in hits (41). She earned NFCA National Player-of-the-Week honors – as well as SCAC Player-of-the-Week honors – for games played the week of April 3-9 after batting .700 with two doubles, a triple, two home runs, 10 runs batted in and four stolen bases in a four-game sweep of Dallas. Gooden is the fourth consecutive Texas Lutheran softball student-athlete to earn SCAC Player-of-the-Year honors.

Miller, a freshman from Plano, Texas, currently leads the SCAC in batting with a .472 average heading into this weekend’s conference tournament and is on pace to become just the 12th player in league history to hit .470 or better for an entire season. Her 58 hits lead the SCAC and are the most in by a University of Dallas player in a single-season in program history. She is also in the top 10 in the league in runs (32 – fifth), doubles (nine – seventh), triples (three – fourth), stolen bases (29 – second), total bases (79 – third), on-base percentage (.500 – third) and slugging percentage (.642 – third). Miller is just the third first-year player, and the first since Caitlynn Dykes of Trinity in 2012, to earn at least a share of SCAC Player-of-the-Year honors.

Gooden and Miller each received three votes in the SCAC Player-of-the-Year balloting, while first-year outfielder Sydney Scott of Southwestern University received the remaining first-place vote.

Raycroft, a junior right-hander from Spring, Texas, has been the most electric pitcher in all of NCAA Division III softball this season. An eight-time SCAC Pitcher-of-the-Week and two-time NFCA National Pitcher-of-the-Week selection, Raycroft shattered the single-season Division III record for no-hitters with eight and is just one shy of Michele Granger's 1993 NCAA all-division record of nine. Heading into this weekend’s tournament, she is 18-2 with an ERA of 1.06 (both tops in the SCAC) and has struck out a school-record 194 batters in 119-1/3 innings pitched. She leads NCAA DIII in shutouts (13), is second in hits allowed per seven innings (2.17) and opposing batters are managing just a .093 batting average.

Additionally, Raycroft is among 25 softball players in NCAA Division III being considered for the 2017 Schutt Sports/NFCA Division III National Player of the Year honor.

Raycroft received six votes for SCAC Pitcher-of-the-Year, while first-year right-hander Lindsey Longuet of Southwestern received the remaining vote. The results were similar In the Newcomer-of-the-Year balloting as Raycroft, who is a transfer from Galveston College, received five votes from the coaches while Longuet of Southwestern received the remaining two.

Raycroft is the second consecutive Bulldog to earn Newcomer-of-the-Year honors, following Gooden’s selection a year ago, and her selection as Pitcher-of-the-Year marks the fourth straight year that a TLU hurler has walked away with the honor.

Wilson, who is in his sixth season at Texas Lutheran, guided the program to another SCAC regular season crown this season after successfully leading the Bulldogs to SCAC regular season and tournament championships each of the team’s three previous years in the conference. This year’s squad earned its fourth regular season title with a perfect 22-0 conference mark and is currently ranked fifth in the nation with a 34-4 overall record heading into this weekend’s SCAC tournament. Wilson has amassed an overall record of 199-53 in his tenure at TLU, which includes a stellar 89-2 mark (.978) in SCAC regular season play.  This is the fifth consecutive conference Coach-of-the-Year honor for Wilson as he was honored as ASC Coach-of-the-Year in 2013 before earning the award the last four seasons in the SCAC.

Wilson garnered four votes from his peers for SCAC Coach-of-the-Year, while Mark Suire of Centenary College College, Amy Meyer of Schreiner University and Angela Froboese of Southwestern all received one vote each. 

2017 SCAC Co-Players-of-the-Year
Kaymee Gooden, Texas Lutheran University, Senior, Outfielder, Mart, Texas
Jade Miller, University of Dallas, Freshman, Outfielder, Plano, Texas

2017 SCAC Pitcher-of-the-Year
Maitlin Raycroft, Texas Lutheran University, Junior, Pitcher, Spring, Texas 

2017 SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year
Maitlin Raycroft, Texas Lutheran University, Junior, Pitcher, Spring, Texas

2017 SCAC Coach-of-the-Year
Wade Wilson, Texas Lutheran University, 34-4 Overall Record (22-0 SCAC) / Top Seed in SCAC Tournament

To view the entire 2017 SCAC All-Conference Team, click here.