LOUISVILLE, Ky.| Olivia Lackie and Victoria Ortiz were both named second-team all-South Region by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association on Thursday, while Meredith Keel earned third-team all-region honors from the organization.

The honor for Lackie and Keel marks the third and second times, respectively, that the two have been named all-region, while it is the first for Ortiz from the organization. Lackie, who was also named third team each of the past two seasons, becomes just the second player in program history to earn all-region three times, joining Hannah Campbell who did so 2011-13. 

The selections mark the 22nd, 23rd and 24th overall all-region selections for the program and the third-straight spring that the program has multiple players receive all-region honors.
 
The awards honor softball student-athletes from the Association's 10 regions with first, second and third-team selections. NFCA member head coaches from each respective region nominated student-athletes and voted for the teams. All awarded student-athletes now become eligible for the 2023 NFCA Division I All-America squads.
 
The 2023 NFCA Division I All-America teams, voted on by the NFCA DI All-American Committee, will be announced on Wednesday, May 31.

Lackie became the first player in program history to be named the Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year and earned first-team all-league honors for the third-straight spring earlier this month. The Walker, La., native finished the season with a 21-6 record and two saves, while posting a 1.52 earned run average and 214 strikeouts. She was named SBC Pitcher of the Week on six occasions this season, which tied Devin Brown's single-season mark. The six selections were the fourth-most in a season by a SBC pitcher, and the most since Summer Ellyson (Louisiana, 2019). She also has received the honor 11 times in her career, which also tied a standard set by Brown.

Lackie set both the single-season (12) and career (31) marks for shutouts at South Alabama this spring, and she currently ranks second in the NCAA in shutouts, while also ranking among the Top 30 nationally in wins, strikeouts and ERA. Lackie leads the Sun Belt in shutouts and ranks in the top three in opposing batting average, ERA, strikeouts, strike-to-walk ratio and wins.

Led by Lackie, the Jaguar pitching staff ranks as of the top in the nation tied for seventh with two other teams in shutouts (19), tied for eighth in earned run average (1.63), 11th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.97) and tied for 16th in strikeouts (361).

Joining Lackie on the second team was Ortiz – who also earned first-team all-SBC honors for the second time in her career two weeks ago. Ortiz made the most of her final campaign becoming South's career leader in multi-RBI games (37), extra-base hits (81) and doubles (46), while ranking among the career leaders in hits, home runs and RBI. Her 49 RBI this season were fourth-most in program history. 

The redshirt senior has ranked among the conference leaders in doubles and RBI, while sitting just outside the top 10 in several other categories. Ortiz led the club in batting average (.349), slugging percentage (.624), home runs (9) and RBI, while ranking second on the club in hits (52) and doubles (12). Ortiz was been even better in conference play hitting .409 with 28 of her 49 RBI have coming against league foes, including eight of her 16 multi-RBI games. Ortiz reached base safely in 29-straight games during the season, a new single-season record.

Keel – who earned second-team all-SBC accolades – was outstanding at the top of the lineup for the Jaguars this spring. The graduate senior had at least one hit in 36 of South's 53 games, including 14 multi-hit efforts, which were second-most on the club. Keel led the team in hits (55), while she has scored 43 runs – tied for seventh most in the SBC – recorded 11 doubles, three home runs and 30 RBI. Her 23 walks also led the club and she set career highs in hits, runs scored, home runs and RBI.

Keel had at least one hit in 20 of her 24 conference games, including six multi-hit efforts, and there was only one league game in which she didn't reach base safely. She recorded 11 extra-base hits, drove in 15 runs and scored 25 times at the top of the Jaguar lineup in conference play. Keel scored multiple runs in eight of her SBC games this spring, and committed just one error in 64 defensive chances at third base in league games.

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