Softball | 6/22/2015 1:41:00 PM
Moon Township, Pa. – Senior
Nicole Sleith of the
Robert Morris University softball team was honored by the Northeast Conference Monday for her performance on the field and in the classroom as she was tabbed the 2015 NEC Softball Co-Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
To be eligible for the NEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year in a sport, a student-athlete must have earned a minimum of 60 semester hours, maintained a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.20 and participated with distinction as a member of a varsity team.
Sleith's honor marks the fourth time in six years that a Colonial softball player has taken home this award, and she is the fifth distinct student-athlete in program history to claim this piece of hardware.
Sleith, who was recently selected as the NEC's Female Student-Athlete of the Year, reset multiple program records in her final collegiate campaign in 2015 while still putting forth notable effort in the classroom.
Sleith carried a 3.72 grade point average as a biomedical engineering major. She was one of just 16 Division I pitchers to earn
Capital One Academic All-District First Team honors this May for her combined academic and athletic exploits, the second straight year she claimed this honor. She is a three-time National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-America Scholar-Athlete (with the 2015 awards still to come) and was named a Dean's Scholar by the School of Engineering, Mathematics and Science. Sleith is participating in the University's integrated bachelor/master program and intends to earn a Master of Science in engineering management in December 2015. She plans to pursue a career in the medical research field of engineering.
Sleith struck fear into opposing offenses from the circle throughout her collegiate career. She was a four-time NFCA All-Region honoree, the first in school history, and was selected as the Northeast Conference Pitcher of the Year on three occasions, one of only two players in league history to win the award three times. She is one of just 11 players nationally, and one of three not from a Power Five conference, to claim all-region honors in each of the past four seasons.
Sleith accumulated 22 wins in 2015, finished the regular season with a 1.65 ERA and completed a career-high 31 of her 34 starts in her final collegiate campaign. She broke the school's single-season strikeout record, and tied the league's single-season K mark, with 296 as she averaged more than nine strikeouts per seven innings, a career best. She not only led the league in strikeouts but also ranked among the top 10 in Division I. Sleith spun a career-best nine shutouts in 2015, the most by a Colonial since 1998 and one of the top 10 marks nationally entering the NCAA Tournament. She finished the regular season with an opponent batting average under .200 for the third consecutive season. She was a workhorse within league play, throwing nearly every inning for RMU, as she tossed four shutouts while striking out 120 against just 18 walks. She faced 20 batters with the bases loaded throughout the course of the season and struck out 10 of them. Sleith put forth the most impressive performance of her career in 2015 by throwing a perfect game in a postseason elimination contest. She retired each of the 21 batters she faced while tossing a no-hitter for the third consecutive season.
Sleith broke the RMU career strikeout record during a NEC sweep in April, and finished with 932, and also broke the Colonial all-time wins record by picking up her 78th during the 2015 postseason. Among Division I athletes active in 2015, Sleith ranked among the top 10 in career strikeouts, shutouts (27), complete games (98) and saves (13).
Sleith led Robert Morris to three regular-season conference championships in her four years and was instrumental in helping the team to a program-record 35 wins in 2012.
In addition to the honor for Sleith, a total of 77 student-athletes from Robert Morris covering five spring sports, including 55 female student-athletes, were named to the 2015 NEC Spring Academic Honor Roll. To be eligible for the honor roll, student-athletes must have posted a cumulative GPA of 3.20 and be an active member of an officially recognized varsity team. Freshmen are eligible for the honor roll.
Of RMU's 77 student-athletes to be named to the 2015 NEC Spring Academic Honor Roll, 23 earned spots on the NEC Spring Commissioner's Honor Roll. To garner the honor, a student-athlete must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.75, and freshmen are eligible for the honor roll.
To view the entire list of Robert Morris student-athletes that competed in a spring sport named to either the 2015 NEC Spring Academic Honor Roll or the 2015 NEC Spring Commissioner's Honor Roll, please click on the respective links associated with this article.
