From Case Western Reserve University Athletics
Case Western Reserve University junior Ilissa Hamilton (S. Abington Township, Pa. / Scranton Preparatory School) was named to the Google Cloud Academic All-America Second Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), following her successful season both athletically and academically for the Spartans in 2019.
Hamilton received the honor in her first year eligible for the award, after transferring to CWRU at the start of her sophomore campaign. She becomes the fourth Spartan this year to win the award, joining Dee Gose (football), Karley King (volleyball) and Rocco Maue (baseball) and the 108th selection in the history of CWRU athletics.
Hamilton becomes just the third player in the history of the CWRU softball team to win the award, joining former Spartans Katie Wede (2018 first team) and Makenzie Lein (2014 second team).
Hamilton claimed her second-straight berth on the All-University Athletic Association team in 2019, securing a spot on the league's second team. She finished the year second among all league players with 115 strikeouts and tied for third with 13 victories. She went 13-6 overall, recording a 3.00 ERA over 121.1 innings of work, including 19 starts and 23 appearances, while also batting .270 during the season with a pair of home runs and 11 runs batted in. Hamilton was named the UAA Pitcher of the Week once during the season, and has accumulated the award six times during her career as a Spartan. In addition, she was named the Most Outstanding Player at the Notre Dame Region and the Most Outstanding Pitcher at the Holland Super Regional in 2018 during her inaugural season with the Spartans, helping the team reach the World Series for the first time in program history, and finish fifth in Division III.
Academically, Hamilton holds a perfect 4.0 cumulative grade point average as a Biomedical Engineering major at Case Western Reserve. She has received UAA All-Academic honors over her career as well.
Case Western Reserve finished the 2019 regular season with a 25-13 overall record, including a 10-8 mark in University Athletic Association play. It marked the seventh-consecutive winning season for the Spartans.