RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – For the second time since joining the Great American Conference, an OBU female athlete has been named the conference Athlete of the Year as softball player Kayleigh Jones picked up the honor on Wednesday afternoon.
The other, tennis All-American Kim Moosbacher, collected the league's end-of-the-year accolade in 2020.
Jones notched the award on the heels of one of the most historic pitching seasons in school history. In the spring, she posted school records for single-season wins (31) and strikeouts (315) while leading OBU to its first-ever NCAA tournament victory and GAC regular season title.
Jones' play in the circle warranted consensus First-Team All-American nods from the D2CCA and NFCA, firsts in the program's Division II era. Furthermore, she was named the central region Pitcher of the Year and tabbed a First-Team honoree on the NFCA and D2CCA All-Region squads.
The Claremore, Okla. native also claimed conference Pitcher of the Year bragging rights and was unanimously named to the All-GAC First Team. She was the first twirler in GAC history to rack up 30-plus wins and over 300 strikeouts. Additionally, she garnered league Pitcher of the Week honors eight times and saw a Division II Wilson/NFCA National Pitcher of the Week nod once.
Jones finished the year ranked top 10 nationally in wins, strikeouts, ERA (0.78), WHIP (0.81), complete games (27), and shutouts (13). Her season featured two no-hitters, thrown against Arkansas Tech and Emporia State, and three broken school career records. They are as follows: strikeouts (766), wins (60), and solo no-hitters (4).
In 232.0 innings pitched, opposing teams hit .171 against her while she tallied 16 contests with at least 10-plus punchouts.
