GREENVILLE, S.C. – The National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) announced its 2022 All-Central Region Team on Wednesday as Mid-America Christian softball head coach Robert Wakefield was named the Coach of the Year, redshirt freshman pitcher Rachel Eggleston was tabbed the Player of the Year and three other Evangels were selected to the 15-player team.
Junior outfielders Rachel Humburg and Cailey Parsells as well as junior shortstop Mikaylee Allen were also selected to the NCCAA All-Central Region Team.
In his 11th season as the head coach of the MACU softball program, Wakefield has led Mid-America Christian to a 32-22 overall record and the squad has been on-fire going into postseason play, winning 14 of its last 18 games, which includes the program's first ever win over No. 2 Oklahoma City in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament on May 6.
Last season, Wakefield guided the Evangels to the team's first ever NCCAA National Championship after defeating Concordia-Ann Arbor (Mich.) 3-2 in the championship game on May 20, 2021.
In her first season as a starter, Eggleston has so far amassed a 16-10 record in the circle with a 2.92 ERA off a 1.22 WHIP and a .266 opponent batting average. In 31 appearances and 25 starts, Eggleston has thrown 141.2 innings and has struck out 113 batters while issuing only 26 walks.
The Kiowa, Okla. native has cemented herself in the MACU record books as she currently has the third-most wins by a pitcher in a season (16) and is just barely sitting outside the top five in strikeouts (113), three away from matching Kaitlyn Ulmer for fifth (116, 2010). Eggleston is also just one of three pitchers in the NAIA Era to post a plus-four strikeout-to-walk ratio at 4.34, joining last year's NCCAA Central Region Player of the Year Katie Long (4.61) and Team of the Decade honoree Morgan Wardlow (4.30, 2017).
Earning All-Region honors for the second straight year, Parsells has continued to be a bandit on the basepaths for the Evangels in 2022. Parsells enters the NCCAA World Series as the nation's leader in stolen bases (50) and has scored the third-most runs (48) while amassing a .271 batting average (38-of-140) with three doubles, five triples, a home run and 28 RBIs. The Oklahoma City product has been sensational in getting on-base, ranking second in the nation in hit-by-pitch (12) and sixth in walks (21) for a .408 on-base percentage, matching Allen for the team-lead.
After being the hero for MACU in last season's NCCAA National Championship, Allen has put together a sensational season from the dish, leading the team with a .346 batting average (53-of-153) with seven doubles, four triples, two home runs, 31 RBIs and 42 runs scored to go with 40 stolen bases. The Moore, Okla. native's 40 stolen bags sits only behind Parsells for the NCCAA lead while her 42 runs scored sits in a tie for 10th in the nation.
In the NCCAA Championship game last year, Allen hit the go-ahead solo home run down the left-field line to make it a 2-1 game in the third inning before scoring the game-winning run on a walk-off suicide squeeze bunt single by Olivia Roberts in the bottom of the eighth to seal the 3-2 victory.
Rounding out the All-Central Region honorees, Humburg is collecting her first regional honor after wrapping up Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament play with a .322 batting average (46-of-143) with 18 doubles, a triple, 28 RBIs and 25 runs scored. The Oologah, Okla. native ranks fifth in the NCCAA in doubles and needs just three more to move into a tie with teammate Kassie Martin (2021) and Ashley Newman (2010) for the most two-baggers hit in a season.
Mid-America Christian will be the Central Region representative at the NCCAA Softball World Series being played at the Kansas City Royals Youth Academy in Kansas City, Mo. from May 17-19. The Evangels earned the automatic berth from the Central Region after posting the second-highest power rating in the NCCAA at 4.419, being one of only two teams in the nation to boast an above-4.0 power rating.
