Hammer Awarded Postgrad Scholarship
7/23/2013 12:00:00 AM | Softball
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Shortstop Brittany Hammer (Manheim, Pa.) of the Seton Hall University softball team will be the recipient of a 2013 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, it was announced Monday by the NCAA.
Hammer, who graduated from Seton Hall in May with a degree in business administration and a cumulative grade point average of 3.893, will receive a $7,500 scholarship to be used toward postgraduate study. Starting later this summer she will begin a graduate assistant position with the sports information office at Marymount University as she pursues her MBA.
The prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship was awarded to 29 female and 29 male spring sport student-athletes across all three NCAA divisions. The awards are also bestowed upon fall and winter student-athletes with only a select group of 174 male and female individual winners announced each year.
In order to be eligible for the scholarship a student-athlete must demonstrate tremendous success in the field of play and in the classroom, having completed their final year of athletic eligibility while maintaining a 3.2 cumulative GPA.
Hammer, who was named a Capital One Second-Team Academic All-American in May, enjoyed a spectacular senior season for the Pirates, starting all 51 games at shortstop while batting .335 with nine doubles and 37 runs scored.
Hammer hit .386 against conference foes while boasting a .507 on-base percentage in BIG EAST play which led to her being named a Third-Team All-BIG EAST selection for the first time in her career. She helped lead the Pirates to an 8-13 conference record, securing the No. 8 seed for the BIG EAST Championship which represented the program’s first postseason berth since 2009.
Starting in 179 of her 184 games player over her stellar four-year career at Seton Hall, Hammer graduated ranked seventh in school history in doubles (29), eighth in base hits (161), eighth in runs scored (93) and seventh in batting average (.310). Her 37 runs scored during the 2013 season represented the fifth-best single-season effort in program history.
Hammer’s on field success was perhaps surpassed by her academic and leadership exploits. She was named the 2012-13 Seton Hall Athletics Female Scholar Athlete of the Year and was the recipient of the Department of Athletics Most Valuable Pirate award which highlights a senior student-athlete who has displayed leadership and dedication while making exemplary contributions in the field of competition and in the classroom.
Serving two years as the Seton Hall Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) President, Hammer also received the BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Award, which is bestowed on one student-athlete from each BIG EAST sponsored sport based on academic credentials, athletic accolades and volunteer work and community service.
