TYLER, TEXAS – UT Tyler softball garnered a total of 17 All-Lone Star Conference Awards and three Special Awards as announced by the Lone Star Conference at Wednesday night's championship banquet.
 
Pitcher Christian Haygood was named the Lone Star Conference Newcomer of the Year, Makayla Garcia the Lone Star Conference Freshman of the Year and Sam Schott the Lone Star Conference Academic Player of the Year. UT Tyler placed six Patriots on the All-Lone Star Conference First Team List (Courtney Plocheck, Sam Schott, JT Smith, Genesis Armendariz, Christin Haygood, Nicole Price) and four on the All-Lone Star Conference Second Team List (Michelle Arias, Audrey Escamilla, Makayla Garcia, Cassidi Mullen). Additionally, the Patriots earned three Lone Star Conference Golden Gloves (Nicole Price, JT Smith, Sam Schott).
 
Crimson Bryant and Makayla Garcia were named to the All-Freshman Team and Sam Schott and Michelle Arias to the All-Academic Team.
 
The Patriots finished the regular season 46-7 on the year and claimed a fourth straight Lone Star Conference Regular Season Championship as Co-Champions alongside West Texas A&M with a 37-5 mark in Lone Star Conference play.
 
Haygood's selection as the league's Newcomer of the Year marks the fourth consecutive season in which a pitcher from UT Tyler has earned the award. Haygood finished the regular season with a perfect 14-0 record on the year and ranked second in the Lone Star Conference with a 1.63 ERA on the year.
 
The Huffman, Texas native struckout 72 batters in 77.1 innings pitched, allowing just 18 earned runs
 
Garcia earned the league's Freshman of the Year title after registering a .361 batting average on the year. She scored 26 runs and totaled 10 extra-base hits in 2024.
 
Schott was voted as the Scholar Athlete of the Year Award for her combined efforts in the classroom and on the field. The Longview, Texas native is majoring in biochemistry with a 4.0 grade-point average and has earned recognition on the CSC Academic All-District list (2023) and the LSC Commissioner's Honor Roll.
 
She volunteers with the non-profit Refugee International assisting in providing free and safe medical care to persons in need and led UT Tyler with seven home runs while batting .373.
 
The complete list of 2024 Lone Star Conference postseason awards can be found below.

2024 LSC SOFTBALL ALL-CONFERENCE AWARDS
 
Special Recognition
 
Player of the Year: Diana Murtha, West Texas A&M
Pitcher of the Year: Cheyenne Floyd, Angelo State
Freshman of the Year: Makayla Garcia, UT Tyler
Newcomer of the Year: Christin Haygood, UT Tyler
Coach of the Year: Michael Mook, West Texas A&M
Academic Player of the Year: Sam Schott, UT Tyler

First Team
 

Player	Team	Pos	Yr.	Hometown
Samantha Gutierrez	Eastern New Mexico	C	Jr.	San Diego, Calif.
Victoria Gonzalez	Texas A&M International	1B	Jr.	Harlingen, Texas
Ericka Gomez	St. Mary's	2B	Sr.	Stafford, Texas
Courtney Plocheck	UT Tyler	SS	Gr.	Deer Park, Texas
Diana Murtha	West Texas A&M	3B	Gr.	Summerlin, Nev.
Reba Reyes	St. Mary's	OF	Sr.	Brownsville, Texas
Sam Schott	UT Tyler	OF	Jr.	Longview, Texas
JT Smith	UT Tyler	OF	Jr.	Decatur, Texas
Lauren Granger	West Texas A&M	OF	So.	Minnetonka, Minn.
Brittni Rufus	West Texas A&M	OF	Sr.	Mansfield, Texas
Cheyenne Floyd	Angelo State	P	Jr.	Liberty Hill, Texas
Genesis Armendariz	UT Tyler	P	Gr.	Hobbs, N.M.
Heidi Vortherms	West Texas A&M	P	Jr.	Sioux Falls, S.D.
Taighen Whitzel	Eastern New Mexico	DP	Sr.	Carlsbad, N.M.
Alondra Vasquez	Eastern New Mexico	UTL	Sr.	Santiago, Domin. Repub.
Emilee Boyer	West Texas A&M	UTL/P	So.	Harrisburg, S.D.
Taylor Rowley	Cameron	SS	Sr.	Valley City, Kansas
Tiarra Delrosario	Lubbock Christian	OF	Gr.	Las Vegas, Nev.
Skylar Herrera	Lubbock Christian	SS	Gr.	Odessa, Texas
Jill Dickson	Oklahoma Christian	P	So.	Edmond, Okla.
Alyssa Leblanc	Texas Woman's	UTL	Sr.	Katy, Texas
Kayla Gonzales	Texas A&M-Kingsville	SS	Sr.	San Antonio, Texas
Aaliyah Ortiz	Texas A&M-Kingsville	3B	Sr.	San Antonio, Texas
Christin Haygood	UT Tyler	P	Jr.	Huffman, Texas
Nicole Price	UT Tyler	2B	Jr.	Baytown, Texas

Second Team
 

Keilei Garcia	Angelo State	C	Sr.	Hemet, Calif.
Tatiana Trotter	Angelo State	OF	So.	Lubbock, Texas
Mikenzey Patterson	Eastern New Mexico	OF	Sr.	Roswell, N.M.
Hope Banales	Lubbock Christian	OF	Sr.	Tucson, Ariz.
Maxine Valdez	Lubbock Christian	P	Gr.	Buda, Texas
Whitney Walde	Oklahoma Christian	C	Sr.	Oklahoma City, Okla.
Savannah Youngblood	St. Mary's	P	Jr.	Kingwood, Texas
Breana Carr	Texas A&M-Kingsville	OF	Sr.	Kingsville, Texas
Lindsey Evans	Texas A&M-Kingsville	OF	Jr.	Corpus Christi, Texas
Michelle Arias	UT Tyler	3B	Gr.	San Antonio, Texas
Audrey Escamilla	UT Tyler	C	Gr.	Welsaco, Texas
Makayla Garcia	UT Tyler	DP	Fr.	Lubbock, Texas
Cassidi Mullen	UT Tyler	OF	Sr.	Royse City, Texas
Gabriella Valforte	West Texas A&M	UTL	Sr.	Keller, Texas
Ramona Fossum	Western New Mexico	C	Sr.	Mescalero, N.M.

Third Team
 

Laylonna Applin	Angelo State	OF	Fr.	Stamford, Texas
Averie Gunther	Angelo State	3B	Jr.	Sachse, Texas
Kaiden Boren	Cameron	C	Jr.	Harrah, Okla.
Tinley Schmidgall	Cameron	DP	Jr.	Yuma, Ariz.
Cecilia Jurado	Eastern New Mexico	OF	Gr.	El Monte, Calif.
Marissa Rodriguez	Eastern New Mexico	P	So.	Buena Park, Calif.
Riley Flores	Lubbock Christian	2B	So.	Lubbock, Texas
Kamryn Gibbs	Lubbock Christian	OF	Sr.	Slaton, Texas
Grace Anderson	Oklahoma Christian	P	Jr.	Tishomingo, Okla.
Kiley Brewster	Oklahoma Christian	UTL	So.	Wichita, Kansas
Aaliyah Brown	Oklahoma Christian	1B	Sr.	Oklahoma City, Okla.
Lauren Gonzales	St. Mary's	OF	Sr.	San Antonio, Texas
Kennedy Griego	Texas A&M International	3B	So.	Covina, Calif.
Megan Guericke	West Texas A&M	1B	Sr.	Alexandria, S.D.
Ashley Mandell	West Texas A&M	P	Fr.	Lindstrom, Minn.

All-Freshman Team
 
[Sorted in alphabetical order by team name]
 

Laylonna Applin	Angelo State	UTL	Stamford, Texas
Addison Lindemann	Midwestern State	P	Holliday, Texas
Gabriela Banda	St. Mary's	INF	San Antonio, Texas
Kylie Goad	Texas A&M International	RHP	Henderson, Texas
Piper Morton	Texas Woman's	SS/C/OF	Kilgore, Texas
Crimson Bryant	UT Tyler	P	Sulphur Springs, Texas
Makayla Garcia	UT Tyler	UTL	Lubbock, Texas
Ashley Mandell	West Texas A&M	P	Lindstrom, Minn.
Emily Liskai	West Texas A&M	OF	Waterville, Ohio
Hannah Martinez	Western New Mexico	MID/UTL	Carlsbad, N.M.

2024 LSC Softball All-Academic Team
 

Cheyenne Floyd	Jr.	Angelo State	Interdisciplinary Studies	Liberty Hill, Texas
Tiarra Delrosario	Sr.	Lubbock Christian	Accounting	Las Vegas, Nev.
Kylie Janzen	Sr.	Oklahoma Christian	Exercise Science	Moore, Okla.
Katie Dillon	Jr.	St. Edward's	Criminal Justice	Houston, Texas
Destini Trahan	Sr.	UT Permian Basin	Child & Family Studies	Nederland, Texas
Sam Schott	Jr.	UT Tyler	Biochemistry	Longview, Texas
Michelle Arias	Gr.	UT Tyler	Master Business Administration	San Antonio, Texas
Emilee Boyer	So.	West Texas A&M	General Business	Harrisburg, S.D.
Brittni Rufus	Sr.	West Texas A&M	Master Public Administration	Mansfield, Texas

2024 LSC Softball Golden Glove Awards
 
[Outfielders sorted in alphabetical order by team name]
 

Player	Team	Pos	Yr	Hometown
Taylor Rowley	Cameron	SS	Sr.	Valley City, Kansas
Alondra Vasquez	Eastern New Mexico	3B	Sr.	Santiago, Dominican Republic
Maxine Valdez	Lubbock Christian	P	Gr.	Buda, Texas
Whitney Walde	Oklahoma Christian	C	Sr.	Moore, Okla.
Aaliyah Brown	Oklahoma Christian	1B	Sr.	Oklahoma City, Okla.
Reba Reyes	St. Mary's	OF	Sr.	Brownsville, Texas
Kristy Alanis	Texas A&M International	OF	Sr,	Alamo, Texas
Nicole Price	UT Tyler	2B	Jr.	Baytown, Texas
JT Smith	UT Tyler	OF	Jr.	Decatur, Texas
Sam Schott	UT Tyler	OF	Jr.	Longview, Texas
Brittni Rufus	West Texas A&M	OF	Sr.	Mansfield, Texas