Sandy Lewis Named First Team Academic All-American
5/29/2003 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 29, 2003
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Senior Sandy Lewis (Empire, Mich.) was named today to the 2003 Verizon Academic All-America Softball University Division First Team, while Margaret Schick (Grass Lake, Mich.) earned third-team honors. Lewis and Schick become the first Spartan softball players to earn Academic All-American distinction since Carrie Carpenter and Margaret Hollis were both first-team picks in 1999.
Members of the Academic All-America team are student-athletes who must be a starter or important reserve and carry a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 or higher. Team members are selected by a vote of the members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Lewis, who has a 3.63 GPA in human biology, was named a third-team All-American last week. She led MSU in batting average (.369), runs (39), runs batted in (37) and on-base percentage (.472), while tying for first in hits (65) and ranking second in steals (22), doubles (11), walks (28) and sacrifices (15). Her batting average was sixth best in a single-season in MSU history, and she also made the MSU single-season top ten charts in runs (tied for third), hits (tied for fourth), stolen bases (fifth), walks (fifth), RBIs (tied for sixth), doubles (tied for eighth) and sacrifices (tied for eighth). Lewis was named first-team All-Great Lakes Region and first-team All-Big Ten, was twice named Big Ten Co-Player of the Week and was named to the NCAA Region 2 All-Tournament team.
Schick, who owns a 3.90 GPA in human biology, set MSU's career stolen bases record this season and finished her career with 81 thefts - 21 more than anyone else in MSU history. Schick ranked second in the Big Ten in stolen bases this year with 27, which is one shy of her own single-season school record which she established last year. Schick hit .275 this season with 35 runs scored while starting all 59 games at shortstop. Her 35 runs scored ranked third on the team and are tied for ninth best in a single season in Spartan history.
Michigan State finished its season with a 40-19 overall record and placed third in the Big Ten with a 13-6 mark. The Spartans, in their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1999, reached the Region 2 Finals before bowing out against No. 2 UCLA.