Hammer Named Academic All-American
5/23/2013 12:00:00 AM | Softball
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Seton Hall University senior shortstop Brittany Hammer (Manheim, Pa.) was named a Capital One Softball Second-Team Academic All-American, it was announced Thursday afternoon by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Hammer is the fourth student-athlete in Seton Hall softball history to receive Academic All-America accolades and she is the program’s first Academic All-American since SHU Hall of Famer Megan Meyer was named the Softball Academic All-American of the Year in 2005.
Hammer graduated earlier this week with a degree in business administration and a cumulative grade point average of 3.893 after posting a 3.918 GPA during her final semester. She was named a Capital One First-Team Academic All-District II honoree on May 3.
In order to receive consideration for Academic All-America honors a student-athlete must excel in the classroom and on the playing field and Hammer wrapped up an impressive four-year career with a stellar senior campaign.
Hammer started all 51 games at shortstop for the Pirates in 2013 and hit .335 with a team-high nine doubles and 37 runs scored to go along with 16 RBI, 13 stolen bases and a .410 on-base percentage.
Those statistics were even more impressive in BIG EAST play as she led Seton Hall with a .386 average against conference foes while reaching base in a team-best 50.7 percent of her at-bats. Her season was capped off by being named Third-Team All-BIG EAST for the first time in her career.
Hammer leaves an indelible mark on the Seton Hall softball program after starting in 179 of her 184 games player in four productive seasons as her name will now be found throughout the program’s record book.
She is ranked in the top-10 in program history in a number of key offensive categories including seventh in doubles (29), eighth in base hits (161), eighth in runs scored (93) and seventh in batting average (.310). Her 37 runs scored in 2013 were the fifth-most in a single-season in Seton Hall history.
Hammer was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll three times in her career, most recently on May 6 after she helped lead Seton Hall to a series win at Georgetown University to conclude the regular season and wrap up the program’s first postseason berth since 2009 in the process.
In the critical series win she hit .667 with five runs scored, including a 4-for-4, four run performance in a must-win situation in game two of the three-game set.
In addition to all of her achievements on the field and in the classroom Hammer served two years as Seton Hall’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee President, helping bolster a number of community initiatives aiding a variety of groups ranging from local food banks to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).
Hammer was named the 2013 Seton Hall University Scholar Athlete of the Year and one of two BIG EAST Softball Scholar Athletes of the Year. She was also the recipient of the Seton Hall Department of Athletics’ Most Valuable Pirate Award, annually bestowed on a senior student-athlete who displayed leadership, dedication and exemplary contributions on the field, in the classroom and in the community.
The Pirates finished the regular season with an 8-13 record in the BIG EAST, the most conference victories for Seton Hall since the 2010 season, and qualified for the BIG EAST Tournament as the No. 8 seed before falling to No. 1 seed Notre Dame in the conference quarterfinals.
