From Case Western Reserve University Athletics
Case Western Reserve University senior outfielder Katie Wede was named to the Google Cloud Academic All-America Division III Softball First Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) for her success both athletically and academically during the 2018 season and over her career.
Wede becomes only the second member in the history of the Case Western Reserve softball team to be named an Academic All-American. She joins infielder Makenzie Lein (2014 Second Team) as Spartans to have won the award.
She is one of four CWRU student-athletes to be named an Academic All-American this academic year, and becomes one out of the 101 student-athletes in the history of Case Western Reserve athletics to receive the honor.
This accolade comes just after Wede was presented with the NCAA Elite 90 Award for the 2018 NCAA Division III Softball Championships. The Elite 90 is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals for each of the NCAA's championships.
Academically, Wede is a three-time UAA All-Academic honoree, and has recorded a perfect 4.00 grade point average as an Accounting major.
In addition to her work in the classroom, Wede has been one of the team's leaders on the field, earning All-UAA First Team honors this season for the second time over her career. She started all 50 of the team's games during the season and completed her senior year with a .308 batting average with four doubles, 15 runs batted in and 42 runs scored, while stealing a school-record 26 bases on 28 tries. She is also the program's career record holder with 76 stolen bases. Wede was named the Most Outstanding Player at the NCAA Super Regional and earned UAA Player of the Week honors after batting .400 (four-for-10) with two runs scored and two stolen bases during the three games at Hope College.
The Spartans finished the 2018 season with a program-best 38-12 overall record. Case Western Reserve qualified for the NCAA Division III Tournament for the second time in program history during the campaign, and made its' first-ever appearance in the finals round of the NCAA Championships. CWRU finished tied for fifth at the championships, which is the highest national finish for any team in Case Western Reserve University athletics history.