College Softball News – Guilford’s Howard Named to All-State Team

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Guilford College’s Rachel Howard (Efland, N.C./Cedar Ridge) earned First Team College Division All-State softball recognition from the North Carolina Collegiate Sports Information Association (NCCSIA) Tuesday. A second-team all-state pick last spring, Howard is Guilford’s third two-time all-state softball honoree.


Rachel Howard (Efland, N.C./Cedar Ridge)

The all-state squads consist of NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA student-athletes from North Carolina colleges and universities. North Carolina sports information directors submitted nominees and NCCSIA members selected the teams for the 12th straight year.

Howard earned Third Team All-Atlantic Region honors from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and Second Team All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) recognition in May. The senior first baseman led the Quakers and ranked second in the ODAC with a career-high .458 batting average, Guilford’s fourth-highest average all-time and the 54th-highest figure in NCAA Division III. She topped the conference with 14 doubles and her .540 on-base percentage and 54 hits both stood second in the league. Howard collected 38 RBI, third-best in the ODAC, 80 total bases and four home runs. She won the league’s first Hitter of the Week Award of the season and hit safely in all but six games. Howard had 17 multiple-hit games and 11 contests with two or more RBI. She plated a season-high four runners thanks to a grand-slam home run versus Keystone and was three-for-four with a homer and three RBI the game before against Mary Baldwin College.

Howard finished her career with a .394 batting average, the second-highest in school history. She also stands second among the Quakers’ all-time doubles (40) and RBI (118) leaders, and is third in hits (182), total bases (263), walks (46) and fielding percentage (.974). Howard leaves with Guilford’s career marks for fielding chances (842) and double plays turned (31).

Howard helped coach Dennis Shores’ Quakers to a 24-17 overall record (11-9 ODAC). Guilford qualified for its second straight ODAC Tournament this year and could return as many as 18 students from the 2015 club next year.