Senior right fielder Hannah Day has been selected by the Akron Racers in the 2016 National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) Senior Draft.
The softball draft was held at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee.
Day, who was selected by the Racers with the fourth pick in the fifth round, or 30th overall, currently owns a .343 batting percentage and a .745 slugging percentage with just nine regular season games remaining.
With the selection, Day becomes the first Trojan to be taken in the NPF draft and the second to play in the league. The first was Heidi Johnson who also played for the Racers in the 2009 season.
Day leads the Sun Belt with 56 RBIs and is second in total bases with 102. Nationally, she ranks fourth in RBIs, thanks to an average of 1.38 RBIs per contest.
She also ranks 11th in the country in home runs with 15 total and an average of 0.38 homers per game.
Day also became the first Trojan to be named both the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) and the USA Softball National Player of the Week. In a series against Appalachian State, she put on a 13-for-16 performance with 20 RBIs, six home runs, three doubles and 12 runs.
Before transferring to Troy for her junior and senior seasons, Day played at Northwest Florida State College, leading the Raiders with a .431 batting average, a .807 slugging percentage, 59 hits and 63 RBIs. She led her team to a 39-17 overall record.
“I am extremely proud for both Hannah and the Troy softball program,” said Beth Mullins, the Trojans’ second-year head coach. “Hannah is a talented all-around player and will do great things at the next level.”
In the 2015 season, the Racers finished at an overall record of 22-26-0 with no batters batting a percentage above .399 and with an inconsistent runs-per-game average. It’s a good guess that Day was selected for her offensive capabilities, helping to improve those stats in the team’s 15th season.
Day won’t be able to sign with the Racers officially until the Trojans’ 2016 season is complete according to NCAA rules. It will be interesting to see how Day will adjust from the college level to the professional level in the span of just a couple weeks as the Racers’ season starts Tuesday, May 31.
“Day & Messer are the classic Joey draft picks that everybody goes, ‘who?’ ”
said Joey Arrieta, Akron’s general manager, after the draft. “Then they prove to be All-NPF players everybody is talking about.”
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