PEORIA, Ill. -- Senior Brittany Fairbairn (Lombard, Ill./Glenbard West/Kankakee C.C.) was named a Capital One Academic All-American Thursday according to an announcement by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). The first Bradley softball player to earn Academic All-America honors since 1995, Fairbairn was a Second Team Academic All-America selection.
The Academic All-America honors are the first for a Bradley student-athlete since men's tennis player Evgeny Samoylov was a Third-Team Academic All-America pick in 2009 and Fairbairn is the first female Academic All-America at BU since women's golfer Charlotte McGinnis was a second-team selection in 2007.
In addition, Fairbairn joined Julie Jehle (second-team in 1995) and Amy Pera (third-team in 1995) as the only softball players in program history to earn the distinction and is the fifth female Academic All-America choice in Bradley's history. Fairbairn was one of four Missouri Valley Conference softball players selected.
A first-team all-conference honoree in the outfield, Fairbairn led the team with a .351 batting average and her 61 hits this spring tied for the eighth best single season total in school history. She hit an impressive .400 in Missouri Valley Conference play and led the Valley with seven triples. Fairbairn also paced the team in doubles, slugging percentage, on base percentage, sacrifice hits and stolen bases.
Voted the team's MVP for the second consecutive year, Fairbairn was also selected as the squad's most outstanding and defensive player this spring. In addition to ranking second on the team with 24 RBI, she had 14 outfield assists on the year and threw out an impressive six runners at the plate. An elementary education major, Fairbairn owns a 4.00 cumulative grade point average and was a First-Team Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete.
To be eligible for Academic All-America® consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director.
