Tennessee senior Meghan Gregg and Florida junior Kelly Barnhill were named the SEC Player and Pitcher of the Year, respectively, in the all-conference portion of the 2018 JWOS Awards.
Gregg hit .329 against SEC opponents during the conference season, with six home runs and twenty RBI. Coming off of the SEC’s Player of the Year award in 2017, Gregg ended her final season in orange and white with a .394 overall batting average and sixteen home runs, to go along with a slugging percentage of .770.
Barnhill continued her dominance in the circle in her third season as a Gator, posted a 1.41 ERA in conference games, giving up just nineteen runs in ninety-four innings of work, while striking out 127 in that same span. Overall on the year, Barnhill ended the regular season with a 0.93 ERA and an opponent’s batting average of .103. She enjoyed a strikeout/walk ratio better than 4.5/1.
South Carolina head coach Beverly Smith earned the conference’s Coach of the Year honor from JWOS after leading her Gamecocks in a remarkable turnaround and a storybook season. Picked 12th in the conference in the preseason coaches poll, Smith’s squad finds themselves with a first-round bye in the SEC tournament and a virtual sure-thing to host a regional in Columbia.
First-year pitcher Mary Haff of Arkansas was named the Freshman of the Year after ending the regular season with a 1.51 ERA overall and a 2.47 mark in conference play. Haff was 24-6 on the year and collected 218 strikeouts with just thirty-one walks, good enough for a strikeout/walk ratio better than 7/1.
The full list of award winners and all-conference first team can be found below:
2018 JWOS SEC Awards
Player of the Year: Meghan Gregg, Tennessee
Pitcher of the Year: Kelly Barnhill, Florida
Coach of the Year: Beverly Smith, South Carolina
Freshman of the Year: Mary Haff, Arkansas
All-SEC team:
P – Kelly Barnhill, Florida
P – Brittany Gray, Georgia
C – Mia Davidson, Mississippi State
IF – Meghan Gregg, Tennessee
IF – Alyssa DiCarlo, Georgia
IF – Aubrey Leach, Tennessee
IF – Tori Vidales, Texas A&M
OF – Amanda Lorenz, Florida
OF – Cortni Emanuel, Georgia
OF – Victoria Draper, Auburn
At-Large – Mary Haff, Arkansas
At-Large – Allie Walljasper, LSU
At-Large – Amanda Sanchez, Missouri
At-Large – Mackenzie Boesel, South Carolina
At-Large – Katie Reed, Kentucky
