SAN ANTONIO, Texas – After posting another stellar conference mark (23-1) and winning the program’s third straight regular season title, Texas Lutheran University was rewarded with a sweep of the league’s four major awards in exclusive 2016 all-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) voting by the league’s head coaches. Complete Release

The Bulldogs have the most wins (37) of any Division III program heading into this weekend’s conference tournament and have been ranked third in the nation by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association for four consecutive weeks.

Taylor Yancey was selected as the conference Offensive Player-of-the-Year and, for the third consecutive season, teammate Taylor Grissom was selected the conference’s Pitcher-of-the-Year. Kaymee Gooden was voted SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year while TLU head coach Wade Wilson was named the SCAC Coach-of-the-Year – also for the third consecutive year.

In addition, Texas Lutheran tied its own conference record with eight First Team All-SCAC selections – equaling the eight First Team selections the Bulldogs were awarded in both 2014 and 2015. Trinity University also had eight First Team selections in 2000 and 2001.

Yancey, a senior first baseman from Magnolia, Texas, leads the SCAC heading into the conference tournament in both batting average (.487), hits (56), doubles (20), runs batted in (43) and total bases (85) and is also in the top 10 in the league in five other offensive categories, including on-base percentage (.534 – second), slugging percentage (.739 – second), runs scored (37 – fourth), home runs (3 – seventh) and walks (13 – 10th). Her current batting average of .487 would currently place her sixth all-time for a single season in SCAC history and her 20 doubles are already the second-most for a single season in league history. Yancey is the third straight Texas Lutheran student-athlete to earn SCAC Player-of-the-Year honors – marking the first time in league history the winner has come from the same institution in three consecutive years.

The consensus choice for SCAC Player-of-the-Year, Yancey received six of seven votes from the coaches during the balloting process. Sophomore outfielder Taylor Curtis of Southwestern University received the remaining first place vote.

Grissom, a senior right-hander from Spring, Texas, is a perfect 14-0 heading into this weekend’s SCAC tournament. In addition to her league-leading 14 wins, she is second in the conference in both opponent’s batting average (.204) and shutouts (four) and third in earned run average (1.39). She also has nine complete games (seventh in the SCAC) and 39 strikeouts (ninth in the SCAC). During her three seasons in the SCAC, Grissom currently possesses the best winning percentage of any pitcher in league history (.896 – 43-5) and her 1.03 career ERA is the second-best. She joins Erin Mulvey of Trinity (2005-2007) and Megan Soultz of DePauw (2008-2010) as the only pitchers in conference history to win the award three straight years.

In a tightly contested ballot, Grissom received four votes for SCAC Pitcher-of-the-Year, while senior right-hander Kaci Wellik of Trinity received the remaining three votes.

Gooden, a junior outfielder from Mart, Texas, made her presence felt immediately for the Bulldogs after a successful two-year stint at McLennan College. She is currently batting .360 with five home runs (second in the SCAC), 32 runs scored (sixth in the SCAC) and 37 runs batted in (fifth in the SCAC), and she is fifth in the league in stolen bases with 22. Gooden had one of the more prolific days in league history in earning Week 9 SCAC Player-of-the-Week honors. In a doubleheader sweep of Southwestern, she was a perfect 6-for-6 from the plate with two home runs and nine RBI. Since the program joined the SCAC prior to the 2014 season, Gooden is the first Texas Lutheran player to earn Newcomer-of-the-Year honors.

In the balloting for SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year, Gooden received four votes from the coaches. Freshman first baseman Wendy Gillet of Centenary College received two votes and first-year utility Celeste Silvas of Southwestern received the remaining first-place vote.

In his fifth season at Texas Lutheran, Wilson led the Bulldogs to a third straight SCAC regular season title and a 23-1 conference mark – giving the program a dominant 67-2 league record in three seasons as a member of the SCAC. This year’s TLU squad has outscored its conference competition 210-41 while batting .386 and notching a 1.51 ERA and continued to extend its SCAC record for consecutive conference wins before an April 2 loss to Southwestern ended the streak at 49. In his five years at the helm of the Bulldog program and heading into this weekend’s conference tournament, Wilson has amassed an overall record of 159-46 (.776), which is the best winning percentage of any softball coach in league history (minimum of five years) and the sixth-most total wins. This is the fourth consecutive conference Coach-of-the-Year honor for Wilson as he was honored as ASC Coach-of-the-Year in 2013 before earning the award the last three seasons in the SCAC.

Wilson was the clear choice for SCAC Coach-of-the-Year among his peers, garnering six votes in the selection process. Mark Suire of Centenary College received the remaining first-place vote.

2016 SCAC Player-of-the-Year
Taylor Yancey, Texas Lutheran University, Senior, First Baseman, Magnolia, Texas

2016 SCAC Pitcher-of-the-Year
Taylor Grissom, Texas Lutheran University, Senior, Pitcher, Spring, Texas

2016 SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year
Kaymee Gooden, Texas Lutheran University, Junior, Outfielder, Mart, Texas

2016 SCAC Coach-of-the-Year
Wade Wilson, Texas Lutheran University, 37-2 Overall Record (23-1 SCAC)

To view the entire 2016 SCAC All-Conference Team, click here.