Hammer Named Academic All-District
5/3/2013 12:00:00 AM | Softball
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Senior shortstop Brittany Hammer (Manheim, Pa.) of the Seton Hall University softball team was named First-Team Capital One Academic All-District II, it was announced Thursday evening by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Hammer carries a 3.89 cumulative grade point average and will graduate in May with a degree in business administration. She is the first Seton Hall softball student-athlete to be named First-Team Academic All-District since Ashley Forsyth and Danielle Zanzalari in 2010.
In order for a student-athlete to be eligible for Academic All-District honors, he or she must be at least a sophomore in academic standing and carry a minimum of a 3.3 cumulative GPA. The teams are selected based on a combination of academic and athletic merits.
As a First-Team All-District honoree Hammer is now eligible for Academic All-America consideration. The NCAA Division I Capital One Academic All-America softball teams will be announced on Thursday, May 23.
Hammer has been a mainstay at shortstop for the Pirates over her four-year varsity career. She has seen action in 180 games, making 175 starts.
This year Hammer has started at shortstop in all 47 games for Seton Hall, and currently ranks fourth on the team with a .320 batting average and second in runs scored (32), doubles (seven) and stolen bases (12). Her numbers are even more impressive against BIG EAST foes, where she is batting .333 with a .468 slugging percentage and a team-best .475 on-base percentage.
When she graduates in May her name will be prominently displayed throughout the Seton Hall softball record books. She ranks ninth in program history with 155 career hits, tied for eighth with 27 doubles, ninth with 88 runs scored and 10th with a four-year batting average of .305.
Hammer’s impact during her career at Seton Hall has also been felt away from the softball diamond. She is currently serving her second-consecutive term as the Pirates’ Student-Athlete Advisory Council President, helping spearhead community initiatives that include annual food drives, a Gatorade pong tournament to benefit Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and the Reading with the Pirates program. Hammer was named the Seton Hall Female Scholar Athlete of the Year at the annual SAAR Awards Banquet on April 25.
With Hammer as one of the team leaders the Pirates are currently in the hunt for their first BIG EAST Tournament berth since the 2009 season. Entering the final weekend of competition Seton Hall ranks 10th in the conference standings, trailing eighth-place Connecticut by just a half game.
Seton Hall wraps up its regular season with a three-game series at Georgetown this Saturday-Sunday, May 4-5, in Washington, D.C. The teams will compete in a doubleheader on Saturday before playing the finale on Sunday.
